The road to mastering drawing starts here.

There is often a mystery that clouds the visual arts with confusion and uncertainty. This is largely because most of us were never given serious art instruction in our childhood years. Jake Parker breaks down the fundamentals of basic drawing and cuts through the fog with so much clarity you'll be saying, "I could do that".

This video takes you from simple line construction under-drawings all the way to solid render lines of objects and characters, including his famous "Skull Chaser!" If you struggle with drawing characters, objects, or any form, you will understand how easy it can be if you follow his simple instructions.

Note: This class is in our fundamentals series and therefore covers beginning level concepts and ideas.

In this class you will learn:

  • How to use simple shapes as the groundwork for any object

  • How to draw those simple shapes in perspective

  • How those shapes can be used to construct a tree, car, or character and virtually anything

  • How the under-drawing is essential to drawing complex objects

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About the Instructor

Illustrator/Cartoonist Jake Parker

For the last 25 years Jake has worked on everything from animated films to comics to picture books. For several years he worked for Reel FX and Blue Sky Studios on such projects as Horton Hears a Who, Rio, and Epic. He is the creator of the popular Inktober drawing challenge. Jake currently works as an illustrator and cartoonist on children's books and comics. He works out of his home studio in Arizona.

Course curriculum

    1. Course Goals

    2. Opening Drawing Activity

    3. Opening Activity Instructions

    1. Drawing and Omelets

    2. The 3 Elements

    3. Brain VS Eye

    1. Introduction

    2. 1 - Paper

    3. 2 - Pencils

    4. 3 - Pens

    5. 4 - Erasers

    6. 5 - Markers

    7. Tools Closing

    8. Tools List

    1. Introduction

    2. Contour Lines

    3. 1 - Upside Down Drawing

    4. 2 - Contour Line Drawing

    5. 3 - Negative Space Drawing

    6. Drawing Exercises Print Packet

    1. Introduction

    2. Physiology

    3. Staight Lines

    4. Sketching VS Drawing

    5. Parallel Line Exercise

    6. Points and Lines Exercise

    7. Drawing Ellipses

    8. Drawing Squares

    9. Perspective Drawing

    1. Introduction

    2. Primary Shapes

    3. Shapes in Perspective

    4. Drawing a Cube

    5. Drawing 3D Shapes

    6. Combining Shapes

    7. Cutting Shapes

    8. Shape Packet

About this course

  • 53 lessons
  • 4.5 hours of video content
  • 44 Videos
  • 3 Downloads

Reviews

5 star rating

Worth the subscription alone!

Timothy Pedersen

This ONE lesson alone is worth the monthly subscription!!!! Jake Parker is a genius and teaches the basic principles of art in this easy tutorial! Worth ever...

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This ONE lesson alone is worth the monthly subscription!!!! Jake Parker is a genius and teaches the basic principles of art in this easy tutorial! Worth every minute it takes of your day! Constant practice is necessary, obviously, but it's so simple how Parker teaches it!!!

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5 star rating

Awesome Course for Beginners and Professionals Alike

Carlos Martinez

For the most part, this course refreshed my mind on a lot of the fundamental things that are required in art such as breaking down complex objects into simpl...

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For the most part, this course refreshed my mind on a lot of the fundamental things that are required in art such as breaking down complex objects into simple shapes like cubes and spheres. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to think and see more like an artist. Both beginners and professionals could benefit from completing this course.

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5 star rating

How to Draw Everything Love!

Jan Harrell

I am so impressed with this course and the teacher. I needed to start from the very beginning, because I am a late-life self-taught learner. Seriously, the...

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I am so impressed with this course and the teacher. I needed to start from the very beginning, because I am a late-life self-taught learner. Seriously, the chance to do this brings tears to my eyes! Great teacher.

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5 star rating

Excellent

Alex Diaz

I loved this course. Most of the stuff I already knew it, but Jake's approach helped me understand it better and deeper. It really meant a big leap in my dra...

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I loved this course. Most of the stuff I already knew it, but Jake's approach helped me understand it better and deeper. It really meant a big leap in my drawing skills!

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5 star rating

An excellent and most of all straight to the point course.

Mauricio Flores

This course is just amazing, so clear and punctual. All the info here is valuable and it delivers with simplicity and elegance. I wish more of the courses th...

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This course is just amazing, so clear and punctual. All the info here is valuable and it delivers with simplicity and elegance. I wish more of the courses this site provides were more and more like this one: simple, clear and without all the unimportant interrumptions so commonly found in other ones.

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5 star rating

Best Lesson Ever

Jack Coney

Ive been drawing on and off for a long time and have stuck to the stuff I am comfortable drawing. (NOT IMPROVING OR LEVELLING UP) Ive always wanted to create...

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Ive been drawing on and off for a long time and have stuck to the stuff I am comfortable drawing. (NOT IMPROVING OR LEVELLING UP) Ive always wanted to create characters and imagine a story and personality behind them. My only problem was being able to draw characters and scenes that I was happy with. I always felt that i had potential as an artist but could not show improvement quick enough for me to stay motivated. During and after taking this class I IMMEDIATELY saw that with combining these ideas and techniques I showed a big leap of improvement. It turns out I always had it in me and I just needed a push in the right direction and to re-build my foundation on techniques to drawing. This class was fantastic for equipping me with all the necessary tools to draw EVERYTHING I COULD IMAGINE! This class is the best drawing class out there and i recommend it to everyone wanting to LEVEL-UP. I thank Jake for taking the time to help everyone he can get better at drawing and i cannot wait to take the rest of his classes!

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4 star rating

Finally, I understand how to merge different sets of shapes.

Doris Latimore Johnson

Mr Jake Parker demonstrates the basic drawing concepts in “How to Draw Everything”. You learn about lines, texture, gesture, geometric shaping of forms, etc...

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Mr Jake Parker demonstrates the basic drawing concepts in “How to Draw Everything”. You learn about lines, texture, gesture, geometric shaping of forms, etc. He describes these choices as he does the practice exercises. Drawing from real life he says are necessary. We begin to mentally reference the shapes in our drawings through lines, tone, form, and shading. Missing? Lighting needs a seperate part or video because it is essential to understanding placement of shading and tonal value. Highly recommended. Even if you consider yourself beyond a beginner! Quality guidance, professionally presented, very motivational. As a subscriber, I plan to revisit this class. Mr. Parker, thank you for sharing your real-world skills.

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5 star rating

perfect description, just what I hoped for,

shawn fields

really helpful and intelligent, thank you!

really helpful and intelligent, thank you!

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5 star rating

Finally -- The application of Dimensional Perspective cle...

Diane Gronas

Excellent approach to the understanding of how to build the illusion of 3-D structural forms over a gestural composition on a 2-D surface. The finishing demo...

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Excellent approach to the understanding of how to build the illusion of 3-D structural forms over a gestural composition on a 2-D surface. The finishing demos with inked contours, 3-4 tonal gradations, and black cast shadows will inspire any student to kick up their work to a more professional level. It's all in the basics. A truly top flight college level course that younger students could easily follow. Thanks Jake! Your clear, methodical explanations, were delivered at a nice quick pace that could be reexamined when needed in replay and the downloaded exercise sheets were much appreciated.

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5 star rating

This is How to Start Drawing

Merren Booth

And from here you can go on to color drawing and painting....I am an art school graduate and have been drawing seriously since I was a kid. Jake Parker's cou...

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And from here you can go on to color drawing and painting....I am an art school graduate and have been drawing seriously since I was a kid. Jake Parker's course is how I wished I had learned about drawing. Jake Parker starts with teaching you what representational drawing is, and by the end he has showed you all the fundamental techniques you need in order to draw anything you want to draw, observed or imagined. If you want to draw stylistically or non-objectively, I think it is important that you understand representational drawing, too. (And maybe even first of all; but I'm not the art police, so you do what you want to do.) There is so much information in this course (like a year at art school!) that at first I felt overwhelmed. I wondered if actual beginning drawers would be frustrated or confused. I recommend you do what I did: replay the video when something doesn't make sense, pause the video and go do the drawing for yourself as many times as it takes to "get it", and develop a practice habit (Jake Parker suggests this over and over for good reasons!). I am guilty of not doing the last but I finally see why it will be essential to my success in art. Thank you, Jake Parker.

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