Digital Drawing 101

Calling all digital artists!!! Nearly everyone can who can hold a open file on a digital drawing app can learn to draw well... with lots of practice and good instruction! If you are willing to try something new and learn to "see" in a new way, your drawing abilities will improve. In this on-going digital art class, practice a new drawing technique every week using your choice of digital device and app.

⭐New to Outschool? Message me before you enroll!!!⭐

This is a beginner digital drawing class for students who are interested in drawing, but have no previous knowledge. In this class, students will learn to "see" as an artist, focusing on positive and negative space, details, values, and textures that others may never notice. Many of the exercises in this class are based upon Betty Edward's book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain;" these methods have served me well in teaching others to draw realistically for nearly 20 years. We will draw from reference photos, drawings, and from life. 

Every lesson is designed to give learners a new way to think about drawing and art-making in the digital world. The list of techniques will rotate back around again with a different subject matter each time, so you can continue to take the class and review techniques with a unique drawing at the conclusion of every class.

During instruction, I will create along with your learner so they can pick up little artist's tricks from me on-screen. I will alternate screensharing my screen and students' screen. 

Please log in to Outschool/zoom on the same device as your digital art app to facilitate easy screen-sharing. If you can, I also recommend logging into the classroom on two devicec so learners can watch my share screen more easily.

Please make sure your learner has access to a pixel-based (raster) graphics drawing app for class. These are some of the most popular ones:
Procreate (iPad)
Adobe Photoshop (paid subscription on a laptop)
Photopea (free in laptop browser)
GIMP (free laptop install)
Medibang (free laptop or mobile install)
Autodesk Sketchbook (free laptop or mobile install)
ibis Paint (free laptop or mobile install)
Krita (free laptop install)
(See SUPPLIES section for further details.)


Schedule of Topics:
Week of 3/3: Still Life on Colored Ground - Drawing with White on Black (Arrange & draw a real object in YOUR house!)
Week of 3/10: Quadrant Upside-down drawing (Teacher provides image-- students MAY bring their own!)
Week of 3/17: Shadow Shading - Coloring Book Method 
Week of 3/24: Photo Crop & Color Adjust
Week of 3/31: Human Portraits
Week of 4/7: Drawing beginning with Negative Space & Contours (Teacher provides image)
Week of 4/14: Character & Fashion Design
Week of 4/21: Shading simple 3-D objects from life - 2 Point Perspective
Week of 4/28: Upside down drawing
Week of 5/5: Gesture drawing (Human figures in action!)
Week of 5/12: Still Life (Arrange & draw a real object in YOUR house!)
Week of 5/19: Value: Shadow-shape drawing - Rotoscoping
Week of 5/26: Contour drawing (Blind contour, Modified!)
Week of 6/2: Human proportions (How big are those feet anyway?)
Week of 6/9: Shading simple 3-D objects - Spheres, Cones & Cylinders
Week of 6/16: Landscapes - Drawing from a photo
Week of 6/23: Shading simple 3-D objects from life - 1-point Perspective
Week of 6/30: Vase / Face Illusions (Positive/ Negative Space)
Week of 7/7: Sketching animals using Shapes (Class chooses animal/creature!)
** This topic list will repeat with different images so you can repeat the topic cycle. **
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Full-curriculum and assessments or evaluation is available for homeschool students! The work is equivalent to a middle school or high school Drawing 1 class or Graphic Arts 1 but is easy enough for upper elementary students or as a fun after-school activity. Grading and critical feedback will be provided privately through Outschool student messages. The class may be repeated for continued credit (Drawing II, etc.); I will provide leveled-up assignment variations in class for intermediate students and teen learners.