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Fundamentals of Drawing

with Maria Lia Malandrino
4.7 (337)
Join Maria as she explains and demonstrates the foundational principles of drawing that every artist needs to know!
English, Spanish, 1 more French English, Spanish, 3 more French, German, Portuguese
2+
hours
20
lessons
Beginner to Intermediate
level
Maria Lia Malandrino

Your Instructor

Maria Lia Malandrino is an illustrator and visual development artist from Turin, Italy. Since 2017 she has been working for such brands as Disney and Oxford University.

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2+
hours
20
lessons
Beginner to Intermediate
level
English, Spanish , 1 more
Languages
  • French
English, Spanish , 3 more
Subtitles
  • French
  • German
  • Portuguese

What you’ll learn

  • The Loomis method for drawing proportions of the face
  • Structure of the body's anatomy using grids
  • How to draw hands correctly
  • Use the dot method to draw difficult body parts
  • Understand the theory of perspective: the five different point perspectives
  • Discover the essential aspects of gesture drawing, eg: Line of Action, Weight
  • Turn complex shapes into basic blocks
  • Draw realistic looking clothes on the body
  • Give your character's movement and flow with the directional axis
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Description

If you are new to drawing this is the must-have course to start your art journey!

In these 19 value-packed tutorials, Maria introduces you to the foundational principles of drawing that are essential for every artist (or aspiring artist) to know, including anatomy, perspective and figure drawing.

Whether you are a beginner and just entering the world of art, or if you already have years of experience and want to brush up on the fundamentals, this course is for you! You can expect a good mix of theory and practical demonstrations by watching as she applies the theory to real life illustrations.

By the way, did you know that going to art school is not a must in order to become an incredible artist? Maria shares some of her personal artistic journey, having switched careers to pursue art, and gives you the encouragement to start out and keep practicing in order to see growth. It’s never too late to start!

There’s so much in store for you. Let’s dive in!

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Who is this course for

  • Absolute beginners who want to learn the foundations of art
  • Experienced artists who wish to review the fundamentals or enhance their skills
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This course includes

  • 2+ Hours of on-demand videos
  • 13 Assignments
  • 10 Reference images
  • Book resource list
  • Certificate of Completion
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Used in course

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What you'll need

  • Just a paper/sketchbook and a pencil
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Lesson Plan

with Maria Lia Malandrino
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00

Introduction

04:26

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Welcome to the Fundamentals of Drawing!

In this intro video, you’ll get to know your course instructor, Maria Lia Malandrino, and also get a quick overview of what you will learn in this course. She is really excited to help you start your artistic journey on the right foot. Having entered the art world later on without formal education, be encouraged that it’s never too late to start! 

There’s so much in store for you here!

01

The Basics of Anatomy, Part 1

09:08

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The very best place to start: Human anatomy!

Anatomy is such a broad subject that entire courses are devoted to this topic alone. However, this lesson is a good starting point to guide you in drawing the human body and it’s proportions in an anatomically correct way.

02

The Basics of Anatomy, Part 2

11:24

In this second lesson of Human Anatomy, Maria talks about three fundamental aspects of drawing a human body: muscle, fat and bone.

These three are the most visible elements of a person’s appearance. Without knowledge of the characteristics & structure of bones, muscles and fat, it’s harder to draw believable characters and poses.

03

Face & Head Anatomy

09:09

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Maria teaches the theory behind head and face anatomy as well as covers practical methods to draw faces with correct proportions (always keep in mind that heads are round, not flat).

You will learn a simple way to understand the head shape and discover how to draw any head with ease in just 3 steps! 

04

Face and Head Proportions

12:11

When starting out, you’ll find the famous Loomis  method to be quite useful in understanding the relation between the various elements in the face and where they are positioned. Maria breaks down and explains this method in detail, giving you clear guidelines so you no longer have to wonder why the ear you just drew looks a bit off. 🙂

05

Anatomy of the Hand

08:37

Whatʼs every artistʼs worst nightmare? Drawing hands!

But worry no more! You will quickly learn how to draw hands correctly using the Loomis method and also get some cool bonus tips from Maria’s personal experience of how to tackle drawing these troublesome body parts.

06

The Basics of Perspective

11:42

This lesson will help you grasp the basics of the five different perspectives, so you understand when and how to use them to give your artwork realistic depth. And since we learn best by doing, Maria also includes several perspective grids as homework files for you to practice on. How cool is that? 🙂

07

The Block Method

08:04

This lesson builds on what you learnt in the previous one. Follow along with Maria as she explains how to apply the principles of perspective to drawing complex character poses. It’s a great way to simplify the process, so even if a pose seems daunting – you can tackle it!

08

Hands in Perspective

06:11

It’s sometimes easy to forget that hands and fingers are 3D objects, so they end up looking flat. In this tutorial, you’ll discover useful tips for drawing hands in perspective, difficult angles or even just normal positions that somehow seem difficult at first — we’ve all been there! 😉 You’ll get the hang of this in no time!

09

Importance of Gesture Drawing

10:56

Gesture/life drawing is about force and movement – it means capturing the dynamics of a pose in a few short minutes and transferring it to paper.

Practicing life drawing regularly is the best thing you can do to improve your skills. Most of the times it is exactly like going to the gym: initially you donʼt feel like going, but when do, you feel great after! 

10

Lines & Blocking

08:23

This lesson covers a necessary building block to life drawing – an understanding of lines and blocking. If you draw a shape with lines that lack form no amount of shading will make it a stronger sketch. Watch Maria’s methods for sketching and blocking effectively to give your characters a realistic 3D shape.

11

Line of Action

06:05

The line of action is the imaginary line passing through the core of the body identifying the energy running through the movement of the pose. Learning where to place it and using it as the basis of a sketch will give your art more dynamic flow. You will also learn about the directional axis so your characters will be balanced correctly.

12

Mass, Weight and Rhythm

05:44

When masses are balanced in the body, it results a more harmonious figure. This sense of weight is very useful in figure drawing, making a character look more believable and real. Discover just how to achieve this effect in this tutorial. 

13

The Design

05:20

The last step in figure drawing!

Maria will show you how to complete your sketch by adding shapes to it. You’ll also get a quick summary of  the entire gesture drawing process. Additionally, Maria demonstrates how to create both a realistic and stylized figure and explains the differences. 

14

Sweet Lies

11:04

Creating great characters for a story is a bit like telling a lie—taking something mundane and transforming it into a fascinating and majestic work of art.

This video moves away from realism, and into the world of cartoons, letting your imagination and creativity take over. It’s great fun!

15

Drawing with Shapes (Demo)

06:08

In this practice video, Maria shares with you a fun exercise designed to take you out of your comfort zone and free your imagination!

16

Clothes

07:34

Clothes are a big part of what makes a character stand out – what makes them unique. They not only identify a characterʼs culture, background and time
period, but they say a lot about their personality. Learn her methods and tips as Maria discusses this subject in detail.

17

How to Draw Clothes (Demo)

07:11

Follow along as Maria demonstrates her step-by-step process for drawing a character’s outfit. You can also look forward to some useful general advice for drawing clothes that will significantly enhance your illustrations.

18

Expressions, Acting & Composition

12:27

When a human being is happy or excited their whole body shows it and the face will transform to accommodate the expression. Their attitude and charisma not limited just to the position of the mouth, eyes or eyebrows. 

You’ll learn how to simplify human emotion with expression sheets and discover valuable insight for creating compelling expressions.

19

Recap

03:51

Hurray! You’ve made it to the last lesson! Now you have a solid foundation of the fundamentals of drawing. Well done!!! 

Join Maria in this last video for a quick summary of what you learned and a review of the most important points. As each individual topic could be explored much further, she also includes a reading list of recommended books that you can have a look at. Enjoy!

Student Feedback

337 customer reviews & ratings

4.7

Course rating

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5 star
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The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

(Based on 337 reviews)

Most Liked
Clarity of Instruction 266
Helpful Examples 252
Engaging Teacher 245
Showing 10 reviews of
337
reviews & ratings
VV
Valentina V.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
The way Maria teaches is simple and very clear, this qualities makes her course a perfect starting point. Just remember to stick on every lesson and assignment the right amount of time, like a week for every one or two lessons!
I recommend it for Beginner
24 people found this helpful
J
John

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
Very good course. No beating around the bush, lot of practical examples and tasks for practice. Openly advertises that there is a lot more work to do after finishing this course before you can become an artist.
11 people found this helpful
A
Amanda

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
THIS course is SO INFORMATIVE, helpful, interesting, engaging, I seriously can not say enough things. I mean I READ THE LOOMIS BOOKS and practiced using them and tried to learn with them and never got ANYWHERE NEAR how far i've gotten with this course and I'm only done through lesson 6. My drawings
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before and after this course are ridiculously different. In a good way. I'm serious, even If I only had access to this one course, it would be WORTH IT. It's incredible.
I recommend it for Beginner
7 people found this helpful
M
Mel

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
There are loads of courses out there that teach proportions and figure drawing and form, but something about the way Maria covers it just clicked for me! This is possibly one of the best courses I’ve taken. It’s great for every level. Whether you’re just starting out, or you want to brush up on fund
+ Show more
amentals. This course is well done and down to earth.
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
A
Alex

4 years ago

Verified Purchase
It is an amazing and complete introduction to basic drawing. I keep coming back again and again to correctly make proportions for my drawings. Amazing teacher and great exercises!
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
R
Rebecca

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
Maria is an excellent instructor. This course took the fear out of returning to drawing again.
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
KC
Karoll-ann C.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
Nice assignments!!
I recommend it for Beginner
4 people found this helpful
Dove

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
I loved the flow and all the explanation, you’re a great teacher! Thanks for sharing with passion! <3
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
RL
Raúl L.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
This is the course I was looking for to really learn the basics and build upon them. Thankyou very much!
I recommend it for Beginner
4 people found this helpful
Emily S.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
It was great as an Art Educator to go back and review some fundamentals and to be encouraged. She was a wonderful teacher and very conscious of speaking clearly and succinct. I really enjoyed this course.
I recommend it for All levels
1 person found this helpful
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About the Instructor

Maria Lia Malandrino
Character Designer, Story Designer & Illustrator 6 courses

Maria is an illustrator and story artist from Turin, Italy. She has a BA degree in Magazine Publishing from the University of the Arts London, has studied Traditional Animation at the International School of Comics in Turin and attended a masterclass in Storyboarding at the online school CGMA.


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