How to shade without smudging everything
The pressure, the direction and the one finger that does all the damage.
Drawing teacher
Drawing for adults who think they can’t draw
I’m Intan. I teach drawing to adult beginners, and I sell workbooks, practice sheets and guides, plus two video courses.
Live session
The next live Q&A
Bring a question; I answer as many as I can.
Saturday, November 14 · 7:00 PM
Save my spotStart here
New here? Start with these.
Choosing your first pencils and paper
Three pencils, one eraser and a pad of paper that will not tear.
Drawing a hand without panic
Boxes, then fingers, then the lines of the knuckle. Draw your own hand.
Setting up a small drawing corner at home
A table, a lamp and a shelf for your pencils, in about ten minutes.
YouTube
Latest videos
Short drawing lessons every Wednesday, one skill at a time, from holding a pencil to a finished still life.
Ten minutes of drawing shapes before breakfast
A warm-up of circles, boxes and lines that makes everything else easier.
Why your drawings look flat, and what to do about it
Three small changes that give a drawing depth, and none of them is talent.
Holding a pencil in three different ways
The writing grip, the loose grip and the underhand grip, and when to use each.
Drawing what you see, not what you think you see
A sheet of glass, a frame and a pencil, and how to see shapes instead of things.
Online course
My course
Video course · 8 lessons
Drawing for Complete Beginners
Eight lessons from your first line to a drawing you are proud of, at your own pace.
- Holding the pencil
- Lines, circles and boxes
- Seeing edges and shapes
- Shading with five values
- Drawing a simple object
- Light and shadow
- A first still life
- Keeping a practice
Downloads and merch
Shop
Downloads arrive by email. Merch is printed to order and shipped by Printful.
PDF
Shapes Practice Sheets
Twelve pages of circles, boxes, lines and curves to warm up your hand before every session.
PDF
Shading Value Scale
A printable scale from the lightest grey to the darkest black, with exercises to fill it.
PDF
Thirty Day Drawing Prompts
One short prompt a day for thirty days, each with a time limit and a hint.
PDF
Still Life Setup Guide
Three simple setups for a first still life, with lighting tips and a shopping list from your kitchen.
PDF
Pencil and Paper Buying Guide
What to buy first, what to skip and how to tell a good pencil from a pretty one.
PDF
Beginner Drawing Workbook
Sixty pages of exercises that take you from your first line to a finished drawing.
About
About me
I have taught drawing for twelve years, mostly to adults who tell me in the first minute that they cannot do it. They have been told so at school, or they told themselves. By the fourth week almost all of them have drawn a pear that looks like a pear, and I have never once had to say it was talent.
Drawing is a skill made of small, boring parts: how you hold the pencil, how you see an edge, how dark a dark can be. I teach those parts one at a time, with practice pages you can pin on a wall and a still life on a kitchen table. It needs a pencil, paper and ten minutes a day, and nothing else.
On this site you can find my practice sheets, a workbook, a set of prompts for thirty days and two video courses, one for complete beginners and one for drawing from life. A short letter goes out every Wednesday with one exercise and something to look at.
Questions
How do the downloads arrive?
After checkout you receive an email with a download link, and the same link is shown on the confirmation page. The sheets and workbooks are PDFs you can keep and print.
Is there merch?
Yes: tees, hoodies, mugs, totes, prints and stickers with my own designs. Each is printed to order and shipped by Printful, and the cost and delivery time show at checkout.
How often do the letters come, and how do I leave?
One every Wednesday. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and it works at once.
I have never drawn anything. Can I start?
Yes. Both the course and the workbook begin with how to hold the pencil and how to draw a straight line. Nobody needs experience.
What do I need to buy?
A pencil, an eraser and a pad of paper. The buying guide says which ones, and the first lesson works with whatever you have.
How much time do I need each day?
Ten minutes is enough. I would rather you drew for ten minutes every day than for two hours on Sunday.
Newsletter
Pencil Notes
A short letter every Wednesday for adults learning to draw: one exercise, one thing to look at and one small thing to try this week.