People who want to improve their drawing and illustration skills frequently ask Frequently Asked Questions
Questions I am often asked to answer what books, courses, and resources I recommend. Trying to Google it leads to an overwhelming pile of cruft and most of the great resources aren’t anywhere on the first 10 pages of search results.
I’ve compiled all my favourite learning platforms, courses, and books below to help guide you towards the good stuff. Everything below will help teach you how to work in the meat and medium Why You Own an iPad and Still Can't Draw
The failure of drawing materials without mediums and meat of visual language, rather than focusing on the materials (the “which iPad should I buy?” distraction). If you desperately want to focus on tooling, you can read about the hardware and software I use over on What App is That?
I’ve read every book and taken most of the course on this page, so can at least vouch for them first-hand. But be aware it’s not exhaustive. The volume of illustration education available online is constantly growing and I don’t keep close tabs on it anymore.
Learning Platforms and Courses
Schoolism
Primarily aimed at concept artists and digital painters, Schoolism is strong on advanced fundamentals.
Probably too intense for beginners. Dives deep on rendering, composition, and character design.
Recommended Courses
Drawing Fundamentals by Thomas Fluharty
Pictorial Composition by Nathan Fowkes
Essentials of Realism by Jonathan Hardesty
Fundamentals of Lighting by Sam Nielson
New Masters Academy
While a bit old school and slow-paced, the instructors on here are true veterans. Many are classical painters and sculpters, or come from the visual development and film world.
They’re strong on anatomy, traditional painting yechniques, and compositional layout theory.
Recommended Courses
Composition for Visual Artists by Bill Perkins
Constructive Head Drawing by Steve Huston
Elements of Traditional Composition by Glenn Vilppu
School of Visual Storytelling
Strong on beginner fundamentals – great for anyone just getting started.
Jake Parker and Will Terry teach drawing and digital painting from the ground up through sets of well-designed, hands-on exercises.
Recommended Courses
How to Draw Everything by Jake Parker
Basic Perspective Drawing by David Hohn
Painting Color and Light by Will Terry
Creative Composition by Will Terry
Art of Aaron Blaise
Animation, animals, and character design are the focus here. Ex-Disney artist Aaron Blaise leads most of the courses – his teaching style is friendly and laid-back.
These courses assume basic drawing skills and cover more advanced topics.
Recommended Courses
Taking Control of Colour by Ronnie Williford
Character Design by Aaron Blaise
The Art of Storyboards by Lyndon Ruddy
Peter Han
Infamous for his pen and ink techniques, Peter is a master of the Dynamic Sketching style that has spread throughout the art education world. He’s a seasoned instructor who knows how to break down concepts into simple, understandable principals.
He runs online courses and individual mentorships a few times a year, as well as in-person workshops in LA and Europe
Draw a Box
A community favourite, this site walks you through the core concepts of Dynamic Sketching in a well-organised set of lessons.
Covers the essentials of drawing smooth lines, creating textures, and (obviously) drawing good boxes! You can even get feedback on the homework assignments through their group discord or subreddit.
Modern Day James
James is an independent creator running a patreon and selling individual gumroad courses. The style is more directed at game design and concept art for films, but builds on top of classic drawing techniques that are valuable no matter what kind of medium you’re interested in.
Ty Carter
Another independent teacher, Ty is a background designer from the animation world creating tutorials on Patreon and Gumroad.
Strong on lighting & colour theory, stylised illustration techniques, and visual design principals
Concept Design Academy
An in-person training school in Pasadena, California that offers a full curriculum of foundational illustration and design skills.
The instructors are all working professionals in the concept art industry, and teaching courses on evenings and weekends.
Ctrl+Paint
An impressivly high-quality and sizeable collection of video tutorials by Matt Kohr. The videos focus on fundamental painting techniques, specifically around building skills for concept art and digital work.
A great spot for beginners – Matt covers all the basics in a well organised sequence.
Books
