Before lockdown hit, I had been looking at some courses to improve my drawing/painting skills. I learnt the basics years ago at Art School, and drew, painted and sketched a fair bit during my degree, but since then, until recently, I hadn’t really done a lot. A few gifts for people, sketches and layouts for work… not a great deal. In the last year or so, I have been doing more, working on my lettering, calligraphy, doing more for fun, working on artwork for people or for work, and I decided to refresh my skills.
I was already planning on doing an online course, I didn’t have a lot of time, so I wanted something flexible, and that I didn’t have to go to far (or leave the house at all if possible) as I was planning on doing it in between looking after Willow, and in the evenings. I did some research and at the time Udemy had a deal on their courses, and seemed to have the best reviews, so I bought the course. Within a few weeks, I had gathered some supplies, and then the lockdown hit. I bought several more courses… and I began.
This course was just over 11 hours, and most of the videos were around 10-15 minutes long. Most of the videos, I drew along with the instructor, and made a few notes, then either went off and did my ‘homework’ or re-did the tutorial at my own speed. The instructor – Jaysen Batchelor – was very good at explaining the concepts, and going over how to do things, and I was surprised at how quickly and how well I managed to draw most of the ideas and lessons. I am not a beginner, but there were definitely some things that looked or felt very intimidating that were actually not too bad, some little tips here and there that have greatly improved my drawing and all in all a good chance to practice.
Here are a few of the many, many pages of drawings and sketches that I did during the course…
And some of the pieces I was particularly pleased with…
In particular, I really enjoyed drawing the perspective landscapes and buildings, it took me back to when I was 16-18, doing A-level Design & Technology, and I loved the look of the images. I also loved drawing people, specifically faces. I have always avoided it as I thought it was hard, and that I could never do it, but once I took the classes in this course, I really enjoyed drawing eyes, noses, mouths, ears… I found it hard to stop!
I have signed up for two more courses on Udemy, another illustration course incorporating coloured pencils and paint, and an ink and watercolour course, so once I’m done I’ll report back…! This course was brilliant, having joined the Facebook page and seen other people’s work as well, I definitely think this is a good course for beginners right through to very advanced who want to brush up on skills and concepts. The videos were the perfect length, I could fit one in here and there, or sit and go through a few at a time, and there were resources for you to use as well (imagery, grid sheets etc.) The course is normally £149.99, I had a discount code and bought it during a sale, and paid £19.99, but it was worth more than this! Well worth a look if you have some time on your hands and want to learn.