How to Draw Basics courses are designed to teach learners the fundamental drawing skills they need to be able to draw anything through a naturalistic lens. Naturalism is a method of learning to draw with three principles in mind: understanding of the subject, observational skills, and practice of artistic technique. These courses combine lecture periods, worksheets, and free-hand drawing to ensure learners understand the material and get ample practice time. In my How to Draw Basics courses, students will learn basic art vocabulary, easily repeatable exercises to practice outside of class, and other basic drawing skills. During our drawing periods, I enjoy getting to know your learner and allow students to talk amongst themselves. I think art is most fun when it is communicative! 

HtDB: Still Life Drawing Camp includes five classes. This course will cover naturalistic topics through the lens of still life drawing. In this class your learner will learn observational skills, contours, beginning principles of values, composition, and more. They should come away with a large variety of easily repeatable exercises to practice, numerous practice sketches, and a final project: a three to five object still life drawing. Learners will be encouraged to work with both graphite and charcoal mediums. No background knowledge is required!

How to Draw Basics 101: Materials: This class will teach learners by hands on experience, allowing them to play and draw with materials. They will create a graphite scale and charcoal scale, practice using erasers and other tools. Then, they will learn how to properly take care of these materials. Learners are encouraged to ask questions and bring their own materials to the class! Creation of scales teaches learners about values, how to create them and eventually how to apply them to drawings. Learning how to properly use and take care of materials is one of the first steps on the artistic journey. Learners. should come away from this class with a wealth of knowledge on various drawing materials, respect for these materials, and a sense of artistic responsibility.

How to Draw Basics 102: Contours: This class will teach learners with a combination of a brief PowerPoint lecture followed by practice of various exercises. Your learners will complete a series of three exercises designed to train your learners to separate what they know from what they see, teach them what a contour is, and improve their concentration and hand-eye coordination. These exercises include: knowing versus seeing, an inverted recreation of Picasso’s Great Head, 1946, and a series of blind-contour drawings. Your learners should complete this course with an understanding of what a contour is and how to draw contours, improved concentration and hand-eye coordination, and a familiarization of naturalism. They will have a wealth of exercises to practice and continue to improve! 

How to Draw Basics 104: Light and Values: Class will begin with a lecture that will cover exactly how light works, explain why light is important, demonstrate how light can be emotional and narrative, and introduce important vocabulary. After our lecture period, learners will have the rest of class to work on two Shading Technique Worksheets. The first worksheet will work as a value study or scale that will teach students how to get different values from their four shading techniques: rendering, hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling.Time permitting, the class may have the option to work on object studies. 

How to Draw Basics 106: Composition: This class is designed to teach your learner about what a composition is, and how to create a successful one through a PowerPoint lecture that introduces important vocabulary and practicing sketching through a view-finder. Our lecture will begin with the two most fundamental decisions an artist has to make when they begin thinking about how to compose their piece: orientation and whether the piece is opened or closed. After our conversation about those two decisions, I will outline various methods of arranging objects and thinking about composition, such as the eight elements of successful composition. Once the lecture is complete, students will have the rest of the time in class to work on four composition sketches.

How to Draw Basics 107: Still Life: This class is designed to teach learners what a still life is, allow them to assemble their own, and give ample time for them to complete their first still life in class. This class is will begin with a brief PowerPoint on what still lives are as well as examples of still lives from various artists. The rest of the class period, your learner will be hard at work assembling, composing, and drawing a still life with the knowledge they have gained from previous classes.  I will act primarily as a guide, focusing on helping students by answering questions and giving suggestions. At the end of class, your learner will have completed a three to five object still life worthy of framing and putting on the wall!