Everything You Need to Know About Drawing
The art training they forgot to teach you in school.
Whether you've never held a pencil or you're coming back to the basics, we'll walk you through it step by step, grounded in the time-tested methods of the masters, minus the pretension. Drawing is supposed to be fun. Let's keep it that way.
One-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
Bouguereau · Égalité devant la mort · 1848
The masters weren't slow. The real academic training was fast, structured, and built for working artists. That is the method this course hands back to you.
Real Student Progress
Before and after, built on the fundamentals.
Before
After · drag or use arrow keys
9 months between before & after
"The way Jake and Ramon teach art really resonated to me. It made sense, it was transformative."
Paolo Torregrosa
@paolinsky_minis
Before
After · drag or use arrow keys
a year and a half between before & after
"Jake and Ramon’s teaching has been so instrumental in my art education as a “self-taught” artist. The skill they’ve helped me develop has opened new doors for me, whether it’s the ability to satisfy commissions or even compete in art competitions. Art has become my passion, and I honestly don’t believe I would have came to such a heading without them."
Jacob L
jacobldraws.vercel.appOne-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
Why trust our version of the history?
Because we did the reading, and have the receipts.
Ramon Hurtado has spent years researching 19th-century French academic training, with the credential to back the claim: his work has been published by the Getty. He's taught the same ideas at DreamWorks Feature Animation, Riot Games, the Society of Illustrators in Los Angeles, and the Émile Cohl Atelier in France. Jake Taplin built one of the largest drawing-education channels on YouTube (@JakeDontDraw, 535K) teaching these fundamentals to beginners. Between them: the depth to know what's true, and the gift for making it make sense.
DreamWorks Feature Animation · Riot Games · Society of Illustrators, LA · Émile Cohl Atelier · Getty-published research
Watch the Trailer
See what's inside
From your first lines to a finished portrait, with the reasoning behind every step. Take a look, then come draw with us.
Curriculum
What you'll learn, step by step.
- — Meet Jake & Ramon, and the simple materials you actually need to start
- — Easy techniques to track proportions and get any drawing to look right
- — How to keep your drawings full of character, fluidity, and personality
- — A complete cast drawing demonstration, putting it all together
- — Make your drawings feel 3-dimensional using simple forms
- — The simple proportions of the head, made easy to remember
- — Build a head step-by-step: bones, fat, and muscle, one layer at a time
- — Sketch skulls with Jake to understand the structure under the face
- — Master each facial feature with clear, step-by-step breakdowns
- — The basics of light and shade: add depth without the overwhelm
- — Traditional charcoal techniques for sculpting form
- — Use what you know about form to understand what you actually see
- — Sketch from master portrait paintings alongside Ramon
- — Watch Jake and Ramon each draw a finished portrait from start to finish
- — A structured, easy-to-follow way to apply everything you've learned
- — Simple composition and how to plan with quick thumbnail sketches
- — Bring a drawing to a polished finish you'll be proud to share
One-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
What You'll Be Able to Do
You're not learning to copy. You're learning to see.
Draw confidently, every time
Feel good holding a pencil, knowing you can sketch anything using a simple, logical process.
Create portraits that feel alive
Draw people who look like living, breathing people, even if you're just starting out.
Finally understand light and shadow
Learn to shade with a clear logic, so you build depth instead of guessing at it.
Make art you're proud of
Build a foundation strong enough to draw the things you've always wanted to make.
And here's what you get
35+ in-depth video lessons
Traditional drawings, digital demos, and clear visual breakdowns, all built to make the method easy to follow and easy to practice.
21+ hours, lifetime access
A complete video library that's yours to keep, the whole method in the order it should be learned, at your own pace.
Downloadable resources
Reference images, material lists, and study notes accompany every chapter to support you every step of the way.
Private Discord community
Join a community of artists taking the course alongside you. Share your work and make real connections.
From Our Students
In their words.
"For years, I tried numerous 'traditional' art instruction methods that only left me confused and unfulfilled. Ramon changed all that. He helped me realize that attaining a skill level comparable to 19th-century standards was not only achievable, but could be incredibly enjoyable. Ramon hasn't just taught me the art of drawing and painting; he has instilled in me a joy and confidence that has spilled over to every aspect of my life."
Nathe Thompson
@nathe_thompson"When I started learning from Jake, I couldn't see my own abilities or potential. Through his coaching, I grew to recognize my strengths and passions. Jake teaches more than drawing. He teaches the ability to see possibilities, growth, and art within yourself."
Yan Almeida
"Ramon has helped me change my practice from a source of burnout into a manageable, more cohesive path where improved skill happens as a side-effect of creative expression. I still go back and watch the class recordings, because they are packed with so much useful information."
William Yeats Ihrig
@yeatsihrig"Halftone Studio knows what they are talking about. It goes over the basics of having to draw a face without going over the "secrets" or "special techniques." Just pragmatic advice. It encourages a love of learning and exploring the history behind art."
Emilio Martinez
"This course has given me the ability to go from someone who can’t draw to someone who can make an accurate portrait of friends and family. I can’t even begin to tell you how impressed everyone is with my new found ‘talent’, it’s like a superpower!"
Natalie Robinson
"The course is well-structured and shows a process for portrait drawing that is straight forward. Ramon has good psychological insight on the process that is just as important as the mechanical skills. The experience working with charcoal was new to me and I love it!"
Crandon
Your Instructors
Jake Taplin
@JakeDontDraw
Most people know me from my channel @JakeDontDraw, but not everyone knows I didn't start drawing until I was 19, studying engineering with zero art experience. When I finally decided to learn, I was overwhelmed by how confusing and scattered everything was. There were no clear, simple resources for the fundamentals, so I decided to make them myself. Now I teach drawing the way I wish it had been taught to me: structured, approachable, and actually fun.
Ramon Hurtado
@RamonHurtadoArt
I'm a painter, art instructor, and cat dad living in Los Angeles. I've been passionate about 19th-century French academic training for a long time, especially what it teaches us about not letting perfectionism steal all the fun from our creative work. My guiding principle: everyone can learn to draw, just like everyone can learn to write.
Has taught at
- Beaux-Arts & Entertainment, Paris
- DreamWorks Feature Animation
- Society of Illustrators, LA
- Émile Cohl Atelier
- Riot Games
- Research published by the Getty
Our Mission
The real method, handed back to you.
You've probably been told that learning to draw takes a decade of slow, painstaking work. The artists we admire from 19th-century Paris would disagree. Their training was fast, structured, and built for working artists, and it's still the clearest path to drawing well.
That's the method we teach. We dug into how it really worked, kept what holds up, and left the pretension at the door. You don't need natural talent or a decade in an atelier. You need the right sequence and someone to show you the reasoning. That's the whole course.
Questions
Everything else you might be wondering.
This course is for all levels. If you're just starting out, it gives you a strong foundation. If you've been drawing for years, revisiting the fundamentals through a structured approach sharpens your skills and fills in gaps you didn't know you had.
No, and that's the point. The course teaches fundamentals, not tricks tied to one expensive tool, so you can follow along with whatever you already have. We primarily use charcoal for the demonstrations because it was the medium of the 19th-century academies, so we believe it's the most efficient way to teach and learn the fundamentals, but anything is acceptable. The course includes full material breakdowns that show you exactly what we use and give you simple options to choose from, so there's nothing you have to buy before you start. There's no single material that's absolutely required, and we actually encourage you to experiment.
As little as a couple of hours a week is plenty to see real improvement. With lifetime access there's no clock and no cohort to keep up with, so whether you have thirty minutes on a Sunday or a free afternoon, you move at your own pace. Learning sticks best when you're not cramming anyway.
Never. When you buy the course you get lifetime access to everything: watch the videos as many times as you want, whenever you want. Subtitles are included in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Mandarin.
This course focuses on portrait drawing, but the portrait is just the tool. It teaches the foundational skills of drawing, like form and value, that apply to any subject, including figure drawing and painting. We use the same traditional charcoal techniques that were historically designed to prepare artists for paint, so you're set up perfectly to make that transition.
Yes. We want this course to be accessible everywhere. At checkout, Stripe automatically offers discounted regional pricing in many currencies (BRL, CNY, IDR, INR, MXN, PHP, RUB, THB, TRY, VND). If your currency isn't listed or you have questions, just reach out, we're happy to help.
Then you get your money back. You have a full 14 days to go through the course, try the lessons, and decide. If it isn't right for you, email us and we'll refund you, no hard feelings and no hoops. We'd rather you trust us than feel stuck. Your progress matters more to us than a sale.
Get the course
Everything You Need to Know About Drawing
The whole method, in the right order. Yours for life.
One-time purchase. Lifetime access.
- 35+ video lessons, 21+ hours of teaching
- Lifetime access to your video library
- Downloadable references, material lists, and study notes
- Private Discord community for members
- Subtitles in 6 languages
- 14-day money-back guarantee
14-day money-back guarantee · Instant access