A complete drawing course by Jake Taplin and Ramon Hurtado
The art training they forgot to teach you in school.
Go from your first lines to a finished charcoal portrait you're proud of, using the same structured method that trained the 19th-century masters. Fundamentals that give you the tools you need to express your creativity. It doesn't take talent or expensive materials, it's about focusing on what's most important and giving yourself the skills needed to grow.
One-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
Jake Taplin teaches drawing online as @JakeDontDraw to 500K+ YouTube subscribers. Ramon Hurtado has taught at DreamWorks, Riot Games, and Émile Cohl Atelier.
From the course · charcoal portrait demonstration
The more drawing advice you find, the harder it becomes to know what actually matters.
One teacher tells you to start with gesture, another with construction. You're told to study anatomy, ignore anatomy, change materials, or follow a completely different process. Most of this advice can be useful. Without a foundation to fit it into, you end up collecting techniques or just drawing more and hoping improvement happens on its own.
What struck us about 19th-century training was how practical it was. Students learned a few core skills, then had the space to apply them to real drawing problems and learn from the results. That gave them a way to keep learning, whatever they wanted to make next.
The Method
We went back to see how artists actually learned.
We studied the records left by the 19th-century Paris academies instead of repeating the myths that grew around them. Teachers had different methods, but the foundation stayed consistent. Students learned to see accurately, understand form, organize light and shadow, and bring those skills together in complete drawings.
We kept the parts that still hold up and built them into a course you can follow at your own pace.
From Module 02 · Form & Proportion
You're not learning to copy. You're learning to see.
Often, students learn to copy a photograph exactly as they see it, or they struggle to make their drawings feel truly three-dimensional. That's why we break portrait drawing down into simple, understandable layers. The goal isn't to recreate a photograph. It's to capture the essence of your subject, including their personality, emotions, and presence, and create something that feels real.
Real Student Progress
See what focused practice changed for these students.
Jacob L · a year and a half
Paolo Torregrosa · 9 months
“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.”
“The way Jake and Ramon teach art really resonated to me. It made sense, it was transformative.”
One-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
What You'll Learn
The lessons build on each other, so you always know what comes next.
We teach the course through portrait drawing because it brings accuracy, form, and light together in a single subject. But these fundamental skills carry over into figure drawing, painting, and any other art you wish to create. We treat the portrait as a training ground for strengthening your ability to see.
- 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
Introduction & Accuracy
3hr 52m · 11 parts
Form & Proportion
7hr 56m · 9 parts
Light & Shadow
3hr 42m · 6 parts
Full Demonstrations
6hr 31m · 9 parts
One-time purchase · Lifetime access · 14-day money-back guarantee
Meet Your Instructors
Jake Taplin
@JakeDontDraw · 500K+ on YouTube
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
@Ramon.Alex.Hurtado · Head teacher
I'm a painter, art instructor, and cat dad living in Paris. 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.
DreamWorks Feature Animation · Riot Games · Society of Illustrators, LA · Émile Cohl Atelier · Research published by the Getty
From Our Students
Our students explain what changed for them.
Common Questions
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. We mostly demonstrate in charcoal, the medium of the 19th-century academies, but you can follow along with whatever you already have. The course includes full material breakdowns with simple, inexpensive options, so there's nothing you have to buy before you start.
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.
You have 14 days to watch the lessons, try the material, and decide. If it isn't right for you, email us and we'll refund the purchase. There are no hoops. We'd rather you trust us than feel stuck with something you won't use.
Get the Course
Everything You Need to Know About Drawing
A single atelier term can cost anywhere from $2,000 to more than $17,000. A year of weekly classes can cost even more. This is that training, made better and more approachable, for a one-time price equivalent to less than $14 per hour of instruction.
- 35+ video lessons, 21+ hours of teaching
- Lifetime access to your video library
- Downloadable references, material lists, and study notes
- Private members' Discord community
- Subtitles in 6 languages
- 14-day money-back guarantee
14-day money-back guarantee · Instant access