12-week guided program

Learn to draw anything you see.

SketchMind takes you from stick figures to confident sketches — with structured lessons, daily practice prompts, and feedback from a working illustrator.

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Next cohort starts September 8, 2026 · 48 seats left

Who this is for

Complete beginners

You haven't picked up a pencil since school. That's fine — Module 1 starts with how to hold one properly.

Career switchers

You're moving into design, animation, or game art and need drawing fundamentals fast — not a four-year degree.

Hobbyists stuck in a rut

You draw occasionally but your work looks flat. You want structure, not another random YouTube tutorial.

Parents & teachers

You want to teach kids art but feel unqualified. This course gives you the skills AND the lesson plans.

Full curriculum

12 modules. 36 lessons. 60+ practice prompts. Every module builds on the last.

  • Lesson 1.1 — The Artist's Eye: Why your brain filters out visual details, and how to switch modes. Observation exercises using everyday objects.
  • Lesson 1.2 — Line Quality: Ghost drawing, contour exercises, and why wobbly lines are better than stiff ones.
  • Lesson 1.3 — Your First Sketchbook Setup: Paper types, pencil grades (HB, 2B, 6B), and the one eraser you actually need.
Practice prompts: Draw your coffee mug from 3 angles. Do 20 one-minute gesture sketches of people walking outside.
  • Lesson 2.1 — Building Blocks: Everything is a sphere, cylinder, or box. Learn to break complex objects into simple forms.
  • Lesson 2.2 — Foreshortening: Why things look weird up close, and how to make them look right on paper.
  • Lesson 2.3 — Construction Drawing: Step-by-step method for drawing any object by stacking basic shapes.
Practice prompts: Draw a shoe, a backpack, and a fruit bowl — each as overlapping simple forms first.
  • Lesson 3.1 — One-Point Perspective: The horizon line, vanishing points, and drawing a street scene step by step.
  • Lesson 3.2 — Two-Point Perspective: Rotating objects in space. Draw a building corner from eye level.
  • Lesson 3.3 — Three-Point & Dynamic Angles: Worm's-eye and bird's-eye views. When to break the rules.
Practice prompts: Draw your room in one-point, your house exterior in two-point, and a skyscraper from below in three-point.
  • Lesson 4.1 — The Value Scale: Why color is secondary. Mapping light to dark on a 1–10 scale.
  • Lesson 4.2 — Cast Shadows & Form Shadows: Where shadows fall, why edges are soft or hard, and the terminator line.
  • Lesson 4.3 — Rendering Textures: Metal, fabric, wood, skin — how light behaves differently on each surface.
Practice prompts: Shade a sphere, a cube, and a crumpled piece of paper under a single lamp. Draw a chrome spoon from life.
  • Lesson 5.1 — Rule of Thirds & Golden Ratio: Placing focal points that pull the eye. Why centering everything is boring.
  • Lesson 5.2 — Leading Lines & Depth: Using foreground, midground, and background to create space on a flat page.
  • Lesson 5.3 — Visual Hierarchy: How to guide the viewer's attention through a drawing like a director guides a scene.
Practice prompts: Redraw the same scene three ways using different compositions. Design a book cover with a single focal point.
  • Lesson 6.1 — Proportions & the Mannequin: Head-to-body ratios, the 8-head system, and building a posable stick figure.
  • Lesson 6.2 — Gesture & Movement: Capturing energy and weight in 30-second to 2-minute sketches.
  • Lesson 6.3 — Hands, Feet & Faces: The three things everyone struggles with — simplified construction methods that actually work.
Practice prompts: 50 gesture drawings from a timer app. Draw your own hand in 5 different poses. Sketch a face from a photo, then from imagination.
  • Lesson 7.1 — Facial Proportions & Planes: The Loomis method and Asaro head. Understanding the skull beneath the skin.
  • Lesson 7.2 — Eyes, Nose & Mouth: Detailed construction for each feature. Common mistakes and how to fix them.
  • Lesson 7.3 — Hair & Expression: Drawing hair as shapes, not strands. Capturing emotion through subtle angle changes.
Practice prompts: Draw 5 self-portraits in different lighting. Copy a Renaissance portrait. Draw a friend from a photo, focusing on likeness.
  • Lesson 8.1 — Atmospheric Perspective: Why distant things are lighter, bluer, and less detailed. Creating depth with value alone.
  • Lesson 8.2 — Natural Elements: Trees, rocks, water, clouds — construction methods that avoid the "lollipop tree" problem.
  • Lesson 8.3 — Urban Sketching: Drawing buildings, streets, and crowds on location. Working fast and loose.
Practice prompts: Draw a landscape from a window in 20 minutes. Sketch a tree in every season from memory. Do a 15-minute urban sketch at a café.
  • Lesson 9.1 — Tools & Workflow: Clip Studio, Procreate, or Krita — choosing your weapon. Tablet settings and brush setup.
  • Lesson 9.2 — Translating Pencil Skills: How everything you've learned applies digitally. Layers, undo, and the danger of infinite zoom.
  • Lesson 9.3 — Your First Digital Piece: Take a pencil sketch and finish it digitally — full walkthrough.
Practice prompts: Redraw 3 pencil exercises digitally. Create a character bust with clean line art. Paint a simple still life using only value.
  • Lesson 10.1 — Finding Influences: How to study artists you love without copying them. Building a visual reference library.
  • Lesson 10.2 — Exaggeration & Simplification: Making choices that give your work a voice — line weight, proportion shifts, detail levels.
  • Lesson 10.3 — Consistency: Developing a repeatable process so your work looks like it belongs to the same artist.
Practice prompts: Draw the same character in 3 different styles. Redraw your Week 1 mug sketch. Create a 4-panel comic strip in your emerging style.
  • Lesson 11.1 — Selecting Your Best Work: Why less is more. Curating 10 strong pieces instead of 50 mediocre ones.
  • Lesson 11.2 — Photographing & Scanning: Making your physical art look professional online. Lighting, angles, and color correction.
  • Lesson 11.3 — Building Your Portfolio Site: Simple, effective online presence. What clients and employers actually look at.
Practice prompts: Curate your top 10 pieces from the course. Photograph them properly. Write a 100-word artist bio.
  • Lesson 12.1 — Daily Practice Systems: How to keep improving without a course. The 15-minute habit that compounds.
  • Lesson 12.2 — Finding Your Community: Online groups, local meetups, and critique exchanges that actually help.
  • Lesson 12.3 — What to Learn Next: Color theory, painting, animation, concept art — a roadmap for every direction.
Practice prompts: Design your own 30-day drawing challenge. Write down 3 goals for the next 6 months. Share one piece publicly and ask for critique.

Your instructor

Marina Oliveira

Illustrator & Art Director, 14 years experience

Marina has illustrated three children's books published by Companhia das Letras, directed visual identity for brands like Havaianas and Farm, and taught figure drawing at ESDI (Rio's design school) for six years.

She started SketchMind after realizing that most online drawing courses teach technique without teaching how to see — the actual skill that separates a sketch from a copy.

"I've seen thousands of students go from 'I can't draw a straight line' to selling commissions and getting hired. The difference isn't talent — it's having the right sequence of exercises."

What students say

★★★★★
"I'm a software engineer who wanted to sketch on weekends. After Module 3 I could draw my apartment in perspective. After Module 7 I drew my girlfriend's portrait and she cried. This course is magic."
Rafael Mendes São Paulo, Brazil
★★★★★
"I've tried three other courses. The difference here is the practice prompts — they're specific enough to actually do, not just 'draw something.' I improved more in 4 weeks than in 6 months of YouTube."
Anna Kowalski Warsaw, Poland
★★★★★
"As an art teacher, I was skeptical. But Marina's construction method for hands and faces is the clearest explanation I've ever seen. I now use her approach with my own students."
James Whitfield Portland, USA
★★★★☆
"I went from stick figures to a full character design portfolio in three months. Got my first freelance gig before even finishing Module 11. Only wish the digital section came earlier."
Lucia Fernandez Buenos Aires, Argentina
★★★★★
"I bought this for my 14-year-old daughter. She finished it in 8 weeks and now spends her free time drawing instead of scrolling TikTok. Best parenting investment I've ever made."
Martin Jensen Copenhagen, Denmark
★★★★★
"The perspective modules alone are worth the price. I'm an architect and I still learned things about three-point perspective that four years of university didn't teach me clearly."
Sofia Tanaka Tokyo, Japan
4.9average rating
2,340students enrolled
94%completed the course

Frequently asked questions

A sketchbook (any size), two pencils (HB and 2B), and a kneaded eraser. That's it for the first 9 modules. For the digital module, any tablet and free software (Krita works great) will do. Total material cost: under $15.

About 3–4 hours per week: 1.5 hours for lessons, 1.5–2.5 hours for practice. But the course is self-paced — many students take 16 weeks instead of 12, and that's perfectly fine.

Yes. Module 1 literally starts with how to hold a pencil and make marks on paper. About 40% of our students describe themselves as "absolute beginners." By Week 4, they're drawing recognizable objects in perspective.

Yes — you can submit work for written critique from Marina or her teaching assistants. Most submissions get feedback within 48 hours. There's also a private community where students share work and give each other feedback.

You get lifetime access. There's no deadline, no pressure. If you buy today's cohort but take 6 months, that's fine. The materials are yours forever, including any future updates.

We strongly recommend starting on physical paper for Modules 1–8. The tactile feedback of pencil on paper teaches you things a screen can't. From Module 9 onward, you can work digitally — or stay analog if you prefer.

Full refund within 30 days, no questions asked. If you do the first two modules and don't feel like you're improving, email us and we'll refund you immediately.

Start drawing with confidence.

48 seats left in the September cohort. Your future self sketches — start now.

Enroll Now — $197

One payment. Lifetime access. 30-day money-back guarantee.