Sketch Hour Open Sketch Hour
Curriculum

A path through the skills of drawing

8 skill tracks and 30 units, each practiced with timed references. Follow the suggested order in 10 terms, or pick any track.

Start the curriculum
30units in 10 terms

Three units a term, mixing subjects so you don’t spend months on one. About a month per unit, three units per term.

73exercises

Timed poses, longer studies, Studio exercises you check against the reference, and drawing from memory.

405references

258 rendered for practice, and 147 public-domain master works from the Art Institute of Chicago.

The suggested path

Each term takes three units from different tracks. Click a unit to open it in the app.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10

The tracks

Every track starts simple and ends with studies from the masters.

Figure

Movement, structure and proportion of the whole body.

  1. GestureCatch the movement of a pose before any detail. A gesture is a few lines that show where the weight goes and how the body bends.
  2. StructureTurn the gesture into simple forms that sit in space: boxes for the chest and pelvis, cylinders for the limbs.
  3. ProportionMeasure and check. Compare lengths against the head and the torso, then check your drawing on top of the reference.
  4. Master figure drawingsCopy drawings by artists who solved these problems before you, and notice their choices.

Heads

The head as a form you can turn in any direction, then light and likeness.

  1. Ball and planeBuild the head from a ball with flat sides and a jaw. The construction lines show which way the head faces.
  2. Tilts and turnsRead the angle of a head at a glance, without construction lines to help.
  3. Light on the headSee the head as light and shadow shapes. Group the shadows into one flat tone first.
  4. Portrait studiesUse what you know about the form of the head on real faces by master artists.

Perspective

Draw things so they sit convincingly in space.

  1. BoxesFind the horizon and the vanishing points, then draw boxes through, including the hidden edges.
  2. Cylinders and ellipsesDraw round forms in space. Ellipses get rounder the further they are from your eye level.
  3. Rooms and streetsPut whole spaces together: walls, floors and objects that share the same vanishing points.
  4. Real placesFind perspective in real streets, where nothing is perfectly lined up.

Light & value

How light falls on form, and how to group what you see into a few values.

  1. Light on simple formsLearn the parts of light and shadow on simple forms you can see clearly.
  2. Three valuesSimplify what you see into three values: light, middle and dark.
  3. Full rangeGo from three values to a full range, while keeping the big groups intact.
  4. Master value studiesCopy masters of tone and see how few values they really used.

Color & light

Color temperature, value in color, and color from the masters.

  1. Warm light, cool shadowSee color temperature: warm light usually comes with cool shadows, and the other way round.
  2. Value firstColor works when the values work. Check every color study in grayscale.
  3. Landscape colorUse the light of the sky and the air between you and the distance.
  4. Master color copiesCopy a painting to learn how its colors were mixed and placed.

Composition

Arranging shapes and values into pictures.

  1. ThumbnailsSmall, quick drawings of a whole picture: the arrangement of big shapes, not the details.
  2. Light and dark patternReduce a picture to two values to see its pattern of light and dark.
  3. Find the cropThe same scene can make very different pictures. Try crops and guides to find the strongest one.
  4. Film framesFilm directors compose every frame. Study how they place people, light and depth.

Animals

Gesture and structure of animals.

  1. Animal gestureCatch the movement of an animal the same way as a person: line of action first.
  2. Animal structureBuild animals from simple forms: a rib cage, a pelvis, and the bend of the legs.
  3. Animal studiesLonger studies from masters of animal drawing.

Environments

Landscapes and places: big shapes, depth and atmosphere.

  1. Big shapesSplit a landscape into foreground, middle ground and background before anything else.
  2. AtmosphereShow distance with value and contrast: things fade as they get further away.
  3. Your own sceneCombine perspective, value and composition in a place of your own.

Your progress

Exercises tick themselves off when their session or timer finishes. The Learn tab shows your next unit and the minutes spent on each track.

Start with a 30-second gesture.

Term 1 begins with gesture, boxes and light on simple forms.

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