Stress free Sketching – Sheldon Borenstein

If you are recently embarked on your artistic journey, you probably have a lot of questions. What materials do I need? How should I practice? Who are the best artists to study? Sheldon Borenstein has been educating young artists at his own art academy in Southern California for decades and he is an expert on helping students succeed and create careers in the arts. In his humorous (sometimes downright silly) style, Sheldon will teach you the essentials about sketching and drawing, and set you up to start your artistic career on the right foot. From how to hold a pencil, to the elements of scribble, shape, form, and laws of light, this fun and essential course is everything you need to get started!

1. What are the Fundamentals of Drawing?

What materials do you need to get started? How do you set up your studio to draw? What are the fundamentals of drawing? Who is Cross-Contour Man?! Sheldon will answer all of these questions in this first lesson.

2. Scribble: The Soul of the Drawing

You may have heard that gesture or movement is one of the most important elements in great drawing. Whether you’re doing animation or fine art or comics, we use gesture to bring our drawings to life. Sheldon teaches you an easy way to understand this concept by the use of “scribble.”

3. Shape: The Graphic Element

If the scribble or gesture is the soul of the drawing, then shape is what gives your drawing specifics. This graphic element is one of the most important compositional tools and it’s of the utmost importance to the artist! Learn how to apply shape to your gestural scribble drawings in this lesson.

4. Form: Giving your Drawings Solidity

As draftspeople we need to make marks on a flat surface to create an illusion of three dimensional space. Form is the most important tool we have to create that illusion! Learn how to use form to make your drawings feel solid and structural.

5. Light & Shadow

Now that you have learned about gesture, shape, composition, and form, it’s time to bring the illusion to life with light and shadow. Learn a simple way of understanding this complex topic, with an emphasis on strong visual communication.