#The Best YouTube Channels for Learning How to Draw – Review Geek

If you want to learn how to draw, you can do so from the comfort of your home. There’s no need to load up on expensive supplies or attend art school if you’ve never even put your pencil to paper. With these YouTube channels, you can learn the basics, find subject ideas, and try out a few unique art styles.

These channels are designed to show you the basics, offer up a little inspiration, and help you make the first step, or rather, the first line. While they won’t replace formal art education, they’re plenty sufficient for curious beginners and are the perfect resources to have on hand in case you get frustrated as you’re learning.

What Art Supplies Will You Need?

Besides these awesome videos, you’ll need a few other supplies. However, they’ll vary depending on whether you want to draw digitally or the old fashioned way with pencil and paper. Because you’re just starting out, you won’t need to go all-in on professional art supplies right now, though as you improve, you might find they’re worth investing in. You probably already have basic supplies just lying around your house that you can use.

If you’re a digital artist, you can use your tablet, a compatible stylus, and a simple note-taking app to start with. There are plenty of iOS and Android tablets with pressure-sensitive styluses that are more than up to the task. You can also opt for a dedicated drawing tablet, which are tailored to the needs of artists. As your skills grow over time, you’ll probably want to upgrade your drawing software to something more robust, like Procreate.

Otherwise, you can start off with a sharp pencil and a clean piece of paper. As you progress, however, you can swing by your local art supplies store and pick up a sketchbook and higher-quality drawing pencils and inking pens.

The Best YouTube Channels for Learning How to Draw

General Lessons with Technical Detail: SchaeferArt

Run by artist Brandon Schaefer, SchaeferArt is a great place for budding artists to begin. On it, you’ll find plenty of art tips and lessons, along with broader tutorials, vlogs, and even drawing livestream recordings. The best place to start on the resourceful channel is the Learn to Draw playlist, which covers everything from perspective and learning how to properly see an object, to shading and compositional guidelines.

There is a short, yet powerful, playlist entitled Drawing for Beginners, which covers some of his recommended drawing materials and proceeds to discuss drawing basic shapes. The channel also features a Drawing Tutorials & Lessons playlist wherein Brandon offers a variety of tips and talks about motivation, practicing, drawing methods, shading, and more. Overall, SchaeferArt is a solid jumping off point for brand new artists with a serious interest in drawing, and Brandon’s relaxed and knowledgeable approach takes the pressure off of starting to draw.

For Digital Drawing: Pypah’s Art

For all you aspiring digital artists out there, check out Pypah’s Art. The easygoing channel is run by Filipa Santos, aka Pypah, who is currently pursuing her studies in animation. On the channel, she offers a tutorial of her full digital drawing process, wherein she talks about the Procreate app, along with the specific canvas, brushes, and tools she prefers to use.

She also has a variety of playlists and videos focusing on sketching, animations, and vlogs. Her step-by-step approach to figurative drawings are equal parts educational and insightful. Every video on the channel is high quality, and Pypah’s friendly, approachable attitude makes it easy to want to watch every video on her channel. While she doesn’t always delve into the technical side of things, watching her work her way through an exquisite drawing one step at a time feels almost as helpful as a professional course.

Keep Things Simple: Super Easy Drawings

Okay, not everyone wants to draw profound art. If you only want to learn enough to scratch out a few simple objects, Super Easy Drawings teaches exactly that. On this channel, you won’t have to worry about learning color theory or whether or not you’re using the right pencil. In the videos, we see the artist draws simple versions of a variety of objects—like plants, clothing items, castles, scenery, musical instruments, and more.

You’re encouraged to follow along and draw your own version as the artist goes. You can watch the entire video first to see how things piece together, or you can slow the video down to match your own pace. Videos don’t contain any narration or complex material, so the channel is tons of fun for both kids and adults.

Great for Kids: Art for Kids Hub

The Art for Kids Hub channel is run by Rob and features his wife and four adorable kids. New videos come out every weekday, and in each one, Rob draws fun things alongside one of his kids, step by step. Everything about the channel is super colorful and fun, including their studio, videos are easy enough for kids to follow along with by themselves.

Art for Kids Hub features drawings of all kinds of things, from snacks and mystical creatures to bugs and characters from popular TV shows, movies, books, and video games. Typically, drawings on this channel are completed with Sharpie markers on plain white printer paper, so you can use those as well, or opt for pencils, colored pencils, or other art supplies.

Learn to Draw Anime Characters: Shinigami Arts

If anime is more your speed, Shinigami Arts is a fantastic channel to learn from. The artist on this channel has a solid How to Draw playlist where they draw anime characters step by step and note important features, tools, and tricks as they go. Watching them take these characters from just a few markings on a piece of paper to fully-fledged colorful drawings is both exciting and educational.

Though the channel doesn’t offer traditional tutorials, it does feature a huge variety of anime character drawings. This makes it easy not only to see how your favorite characters are drawn but to experience a wide variety of characters and see how each is constructed. The artist is usually pretty good at pointing out things like whether a chin should be round or pointed, and how to map out facial dimensions to properly lay down the eyes, mouth, and hair. You’ll also get to see them ink, shade, and color the characters, which is great if you want more than a sketch.

Technical Lessons and Figure Drawing: Proko

Another great resource for taking a more technical approach to learning how to draw is Proko. The artist, Stan Prokopenko, is a professional artist and art teacher who focuses on figure drawings. His videos are highly educational but still entertaining and a lot of fun to watch. Even if figure drawings aren’t exactly what you’re interested in, there is plenty to learn here about proportions, anatomy, shading, and so on.

Proko has an incredible Drawing Basics playlist that starts off with simple topics like what drawing supplies are recommended, how to hold and control your pencil, lighting and shading, measuring, depth, and so on. Though he does go into detail with more technical topics, his passion for art and fun personality does a good job of keeping you engaged. With these videos, you’ll create a solid foundation for your drawing skills no matter your preferred art style.

Nothing but Doodles: Pic Candle

Let’s be real. Drawings are cool and all, but sometimes doodles are just better. With the wonderful doodle tutorials available on Pic Candle, you’ll learn all the skills you need to carry you through boring work meetings, boring classes, and boring phone calls. And at this point, what more can we really ask for?

Pic Candle’s artist, Zainab Khan, offers up playlists of tutorials, sketchbook tours, watercolor doodles. It even has a playlist that has suggestions of things you can doodle, in case you’re running short on ideas. The channel’s videos have great production value, cute music, and focus on the art over narration and technical details. It’s lighthearted and fun for everyone!