Learn mixed media drawing - Online

Course: Learn to Draw Using a Range of Media — 6-Weeks

Course date avaialable in Autumn 2026 dates to be annonunced

Overview This six-week online course introduces fundamental drawing skills and gives hands-on experience with a variety of drawing media: graphite, charcoal, ink, colored pencil, conte crayon, and pastel. The course is suitable for beginners and developing artists who want to build strong observational skills and learn how each medium behaves.

Course goals

• Develop accurate observation and proportion skills

• Learn mark-making, value control, and edge treatment across media

• Understand material-specific techniques and appropriate surfaces

• Build a small portfolio of finished studies and a final mixed-media drawing

• Gain confidence in choosing media to express form, texture, and mood

Materials list (basic)

• Sketchbook (9x12 or 11x14 recommended)

• Graphite pencils: HB, 2B, 4B, 6B

• Kneaded rubber eraser and vinyl eraser

• Charcoal: vine and compressed; charcoal pencils

• Conte crayons (black, sanguine, white optional)

• Soft pastels or pastel pencils

• Colored pencils (set with basic hues)

• India ink and dip pen or brush pen; waterproof black ink

• Blending stumps/tortillons and paper towels

• Fixative spray (workable and final)

• Drawing papers: smooth Bristol, medium tooth drawing paper, textured pastel paper

• Masking tape, ruler, and a mahl stick or similar support

Weekly breakdown

Week 1 — Foundations: Line, Shape, and Proportion

• Focus: basic visual vocabulary — contour, gesture, and construction

• Media: graphite (HB–4B)

• Exercises: blind contour drawing, timed gesture poses (30s–2min), measuring proportions with sighting

• Technique: building form with simple shapes, establishing light source and shadow patterns

• Assignment: three timed gesture sheets + one finished graphite study (still life or figure from photo), practiced sighting notes

Week 2 — Value and Form with Graph

Course: Learn to Draw Using a Range of Media — 6-Week Intensive

Overview This six-week course introduces fundamental drawing skills and gives hands-on experience with a variety of drawing media: graphite, charcoal, ink, colored pencil, conte crayon, and pastel. Each week combines technical demonstration, guided exercises, short assignments, and a cumulative project. The course is suitable for beginners and developing artists who want to build strong observational skills and learn how each medium behaves.

Course goals

• Develop accurate observation and proportion skills

• Learn mark-making, value control, and edge treatment across media

• Understand material-specific techniques and appropriate surfaces

• Build a small portfolio of finished studies and a final mixed-media drawing

• Gain confidence in choosing media to express form, texture, and mood

Materials list - you will need to provide these materials

• Sketchbook (9x12 or 11x14 recommended)

• Graphite pencils: HB, 2B, 4B, 6B

• Kneaded rubber eraser and vinyl eraser

• Charcoal: vine and compressed; charcoal pencils

• Conte crayons (black, sanguine, white optional)

• Soft pastels or pastel pencils

• Colored pencils (set with basic hues)

• India ink and dip pen or brush pen; waterproof black ink

• Blending stumps/tortillons and paper towels

• Fixative spray (workable and final)

• Drawing papers: smooth Bristol, medium tooth drawing paper, textured pastel paper

• Masking tape, ruler, and a mahl stick or similar support

Weekly breakdown

Week 1 — Foundations: Line, Shape, and Proportion

• Focus: basic visual vocabulary — contour, gesture, and construction

• Media: graphite (HB–4B)

• Exercises: blind contour drawing, timed gesture poses (30s–2min), measuring proportions with sighting

• Technique: building form with simple shapes, establishing light source and shadow patterns

• Assignment: three timed gesture sheets + one finished graphite study (still life or figure from photo), practiced sighting notes

Week 2 — Value and Form with Graphite and Charcoal

• Focus: value scale, midtones, reflected light, and rendering cylindrical and planar forms

• Media: softer graphite and vine/compressed charcoal

• Exercises: value scale, edge control (hard vs. soft edges), gradient blends, chiaroscuro studies

• Technique: using eraser as drawing tool; lifting highlights; avoiding overworking

• Assignment: tonal still life in charcoal (full range of values) and short reflection on media choices

Week 3 — Gesture, Texture, and Expressive Marks with Conte and Charcoal

• Focus: expressive mark-making and texture representation

• Media: conte crayons and charcoal on toned paper

• Exercises: massing with broad strokes, hatching/cross-hatching, suggesting texture (hair, fabric, wood)

• Technique: working from midtone ground, using white conte for highlights, balancing economy of marks

• Assignment: portrait or figure study on toned paper using conte and charcoal (include a short note on mark choices)

Week 4 — Line and Contrast with Ink

• Focus: contour confidence, line weight, hatching, ink wash techniques

• Media: India ink with dip pen/brush or brush pen; optional gray ink washes

• Exercises: continuous line drawings, varied line-weight studies, cross-hatch value builds, ink wash tonal studies

• Technique: planning vs. improvising in ink; using reserves and negative space; combining pen and wash

• Assignment: two ink pieces — one linear (pen) and one wash-based (brush/brush pen)

Week 5 — Color and Detail with Colored Pencil and Pastel

• Focus: color layering, blending, and detailing; translating value studies to color

• Media: colored pencils (layering), soft pastels or pastel pencils

• Exercises: limited-palette color studies, color mixing in pencil/pastel, edge control in color

• Technique: burnishing colored pencil vs. keeping tooth for texture; fixing pastel layers; preserving highlights

• Assignment: small color study (still life or fruit) in colored pencil and a complementary pastel study emphasizing gesture and color temperature

Week 6 — Mixed Media Final Project and Portfolio Review

• Focus: applying learned techniques to a larger mixed-media drawing; critique and refinements

• Media: student’s choice — encouraged combination (charcoal + conte + white pastel; ink line + pastel wash; colored pencil over ink)

• Exercises: preparatory thumbnails, material tests, building up layers

• Technique: integrating media harmoniously, using fixative appropriately, finishing touches