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English, Spanish, 1 more
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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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English, Spanish , 1 more 
English, Spanish , 3 more
The Loomis method for drawing proportions of the faceStructure of the body's anatomy using gridsHow to draw hands correctlyUse the dot method to draw difficult body partsUnderstand the theory of perspective: the five different point perspectivesDiscover the essential aspects of gesture drawing, eg: Line of Action, WeightTurn complex shapes into basic blocksDraw realistic looking clothes on the bodyGive your character's movement and flow with the directional axisIf 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!
2+ Hours of on-demand videos
13 Assignments
10 Reference images
Book resource list
Certificate of Completion
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!
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.
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.
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!
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. 🙂
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.
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? 🙂
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
In this practice video, Maria shares with you a fun exercise designed to take you out of your comfort zone and free your imagination!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Course rating
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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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