The Art of Learning to Draw

You know an aspiring artist when you see one: sketchbook on the lap, bag of pencils and erasers at the ready, a deep focus on committing to paper (or digital “paper”) the intriguing scene unfolding close by.

As art has evolved over the last 500 years, drawing has remained a foundational skill for many artists, believed to improve proficiency in other mediums like painting, sculpture, and architecture. The exhibition Learning to Draw, on view at the Getty Center through January 25, 2026, explores how both artists and nonartists were trained in the techniques of drawing in Europe from about 1550 to 1850.

While artistic styles have morphed through the years, “one of the constants over the centuries was really how little art training changed,” says Julian Brooks, senior curator of drawings at the Getty Museum and cocurator of the exhibition.

And, as it turns out, some art students are still following curricula that echo instruction from the past.

Apprenticeships, the original internships

In Europe, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, drawing was a popular leisure activity for many in the middle and upper classes. “Drawing was just considered a polite thing to know how to do,” Brooks says. It was also reasonably common for people to have a drawing tutor. “That doesn’t mean they studied in academies or went to do life drawing lessons, but they probably could make you a sketch of something. Don’t forget, this is before photography becomes common. If, say, you see a beautiful view or you’re in love with a person, how do you record that? You make a sketch or have an artist make a sketch.”

But if someone wanted to pursue a career in the arts, the most common path was to become an apprentice to an established artist. This varied greatly depending on the time period and place, but apprentices could start as young as 10 or 12 years old, with either the child’s parents paying the artist to take their child on as an apprentice, or the artist agreeing to accept a clearly talented student. For centuries it was a male-dominated profession, though sometimes girls would be apprenticed with women teachers or male relatives.

During an apprenticeship, the budding artist would complete day-to-day tasks for the teacher, such as grinding paints, keeping the studio clean and organized, and occasionally helping with real projects. In exchange, the teacher would provide drawing and painting instruction and sometimes lodging and food.

The teacher could decide the ratio of chores, lessons, and what (if any) work on actual projects the student could do. An apprenticeship typically lasted a few years, and in larger studios there would be an informal hierarchy of less- and more-experienced students. In time, some would move on to establish their own practices. The Italian Renaissance painter Raphael ran an efficient workshop with many pupils, a number of whom were very skilled and opened their own studios after his early death at age 37.

“Raphael’s business was very successful, and he relied on his apprentices to do a lot of the work under his supervision,” Brooks notes. “Raphael did huge projects in the Vatican because of this, because he had these large and capable teams.”

Brooks also points to drawings (above) by Federico Zuccaro, wherein he poignantly depicts the early career of his older brother, Taddeo, in 16th-century Rome (the entire series of 20 works can be viewed here). Taddeo was apprenticed to the artist Giovanni Piero Calabrese, who, in Federico’s telling, compelled Taddeo to do manual labor and withheld food, rarely offering instruction or artistic opportunities.

The first art schools, such as Florence’s Accademia del Disegno, opened in the 16th century to provide formal classes for budding artists and to help raise the status of the arts above their manual origins. Even so, apprenticeships would remain a standard way to enter the art profession for the next 300 years.

The curriculum

The basic principles of how to learn drawing in Europe were essentially formulated in Renaissance Italy. Students began by copying drawings, prints, and paintings—relatively simple 2D works—then progressed to depicting more complex 3D objects like sculptures, either original marbles or plaster casts. Next, they would sketch from life, principally from live models either in their teacher’s studio or rented rooms. These models might pose like mythological characters or hold props, giving students practice depicting the human body in various positions. Drawing in the landscape could sometimes also play a part.

“In some of the early art theory books, it was, ‘Well, this is how you start and this is what you should be doing.’ So it then gets codified. Then in general all the academies in France and elsewhere in the 17th and 18th centuries came to follow what was done in Italy in the 16th century,” Brooks explains. “This method seemed to be an effective way of training people.”

The art of drawing in 2025

While drawing remains a fundamental skill, aspiring artists today face a very different journey than they did 500 years ago. Apprenticeships have mostly become a thing of the past, while a college education in art or design has become a common path. But not every college art program requires students to take foundational drawing classes, and it is possible for artists or designers to build their careers without ever formally learning to draw. For some, drawing remains a vital part of their process; for others, digital tools are their primary medium.

One college balancing both traditional and contemporary training is Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Here, all students, no matter their major, must take a semester-long class during their freshman year, Form and Figure, which builds upon centuries of observational practice, rooted in historical approaches dating to 17th-century French academic drawing. Every day for five hours, students learn the basics of life drawing, working from still-life arrangements and live models. They practice key skills like close looking and translating observation into visual language; how to draw not just with their wrist, but with their whole arm; the structure of human anatomy; how to fix mistakes without erasing; and how to create a quick observational sketch in under three minutes. Students also prepare by copying artwork from artists like Michelangelo.

Otis professor Chris Warner, who will retire this December after 30 years as a drawing teacher, points out that the class provides foundational skills at a time when many of his students arrive with very little experience drawing with a pencil; they’re accustomed to doing most of their work using digital tools.

But being able to make a quick, proficient sketch that conveys body language and attitude (known as gesture drawing) can create a fluid and holistic preparatory drawing that will underpin a successful design—even those produced using software programs, Warner argues. Once artists have this basic skill as well as a good understanding of human proportions, they can then add their own style and aesthetic.

“Probably most important is the student’s ability to summarize and unify their subject in a very short amount of time,” he says. “That’s where you see the work really transcend time and place, because it is abstract. But if it’s good, it simply and elegantly conveys the essence of what it is to be human, whether it is a man, woman, or child.”

Otis senior Ava Moss is majoring in fashion and found that learning the basic principles of drawing has improved her ability to quickly sketch the human form in different poses and depict various types of clothing. It was her first time taking a life drawing class.

“In the fashion program we have to pump out so many designs every single week, so you have to be able to loosely sketch, and you also don’t want your drawings to be stiff,” Moss says. “The class really taught me to loosen up my drawing style. It teaches how to look at things objectively and how to put it to paper. It was one of my favorite classes at Otis—I feel like I learned the most from it.”

Try your hand at learning to draw

You don’t have to enroll in art school to take drawing classes in LA though. The following approachable courses are offered weekly, and many are drop-in.

Los Feliz Lifedrawing offers drop-in, uninstructed life drawing workshops three times a week (Mondays and Thursdays, 7–10pm, and Saturdays, 10am–1pm) for a $15 fee. Attendees bring their own materials, and the studio also recommends bringing a drawing board.

Join the Kline Academy of Fine Art in Palms on Wednesdays, 6:15–9:15pm for an uninstructed figure drawing session with a $20 walk-in fee. Or learn from instructors in other weekly classes that teach live motion and classical drawing. (Book ahead for the latter, and bring your own supplies for all these classes.)

At SELA Art Center in Downtown LA you’ll find drop-in, uninstructed figure drawing classes for $20 every Sunday, 10 am–1 pm.

Ann Bridges Art Studio in Koreatown offers instructed life drawing on Saturdays, 10 am–1 pm (enroll in advance for a package of four classes for $250; supplies are provided).

At Lola del Fresno Art Classes in Santa Monica, sessions are held on Saturdays or Sundays, 10 am–12pm or 12–2pm or during the week, 4–6pm (enroll in advance for a package of four classes for $350; most supplies are provided).

No time for a class? You can always stop by the drawing table in the Learning to Draw exhibition, where you’ll find paper and pencils for sketching. Perhaps after seeing the incredible works on display, you’ll feel inspired to try it yourself. The battle, Brooks notes, is approaching that blank sheet of paper and giving yourself permission to try.

“We are so conditioned to look for approval from our peers, and we expect to be able to draw better than a stick figure,” he says. “But if we haven’t made a drawing for decades, why should we expect to automatically have that skill? The reality is, the great artists of the past worked and worked on it. They drew and drew and drew every day, and that’s how they got to where they needed to be. But we can draw what we want, and we have agency to make lots and lots of really bad drawings, and that’s great. You learn something about yourself every time you try and draw.”

Watch Brooks discuss the process of learning to draw then and now in this roundtable discussion with author Ann Bermingham, former art dealer and collector Katrin Bellinger, and Royal Drawing School Director Harry Parker.