Bought at gumroad.

com/mitchleeuwe
YOU'LL LEARN:
The basic techniques
HOW TO START to draw characters,

DRAWING
by mitch leeuwe
vehicles and buildings
bought at gumroad.com/mitchleeuwe

Copyright © 2021 by Mitch Leeuwe

HOW TO START
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reselled, reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of
DRAWING
the publisher. For personal use only

mitchleeuwe.nl
by mitch leeuwe
Printed in the Netherlands
First Printing, 2021

Graphic design: Harmke Leeuwe

harmke.com

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 Hi there!
Let me introduce myself. I’m Mitch Leeuwe and am an illustrator from the Netherlands. I always drew a lot as a kid. I
even had the childhood dream to become an animator at Disney. During my teenage years, I lost that dream. Luckily, I
slowly started drawing more and more. When I was 19, I began to do some freelance work as a graphic designer, which
made me consider picking up drawing again. I attended several drawing programs at schools, but I learned most from
online resources. Now, I’m a freelance artist working on visual development. This means I design characters, props,
and backgrounds for games, animation, and toys. However, you probably know me from my Instagram account, where I
release tutorials and more. My goal is to create a place where people can learn what I wanted to learn when I started out.

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 Let’s go!
Awesome that you made the first
step to learn how to draw by buying
this bundle. I often get questioned
on how to get started. Honestly, the
best way is just to start drawing and
keep drawing. I understand that that
probably sounds very lame, and
when I started out, I’ve searched
for a simple answer. But there is no
other answer.
This ebook contains multiple lessons
for you to learn the foundations of my
drawing techniques. I have added
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some examples you can use for practice by following the steps. Try to stay as close as possible and try to understand
each step.
I think it’s also important to realize that learning to draw takes time and patience. Don’t be afraid to try, experiment, and
maybe fail sometimes with this. I have been there too. By don’t giving up and try and try again, you can grow as an
artist. If it feels hard, remind yourself that this means that there is space to learn something new.
It doesn’t matter whether you draw with a pencil in your sketchbook or on a digital device for learning to draw. Use
whatever suits you or experiment with different things to find this out.
So, let’s get started! Just start drawing, practice as much as you can, and have fun.
Best,
Mitch Leeuwe
 construction
If you’d like to draw characters, drawing
with construction can help you a lot. By
construction, I mean ‘how the character
is built up from basic shapes.’ Basic
shapes are a cube, a sphere, and a
cylinder.
To understand how construction works,
look at this example of the egg. See how
the shapes distort from these different
angles. In the front view, the eye looks
different than in ¾ perspective.
eggsercise
Try this for yourself with a roundish
object like an egg or a Ping-Pong
ball. Draw a face on it, and look at it
from different angles. Draw your egg
in points of view.
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When I draw characters, I always
think in 3D and in terms of
construction. In this image, you can
see the steps I take to draw a head.
Try to draw this head and follow
the steps I show. Notice that you
can draw basically everything you
want by using basic shapes. When
you draw the details on top of these
shapes, you let them follow these
shapes’ lines. Think of it as a texture
that follows the 3D shape, like with
the egg.
learn more!
check out my ebook about
character design
 how to draw a dog
When drawing characters, it's perfect to start with some
basic shapes. Here, I began by drawing a flat circle. In
step 2, I drew an ellipse inside this circle, making the circle
appear three-dimensional. In step 3, I added a horizontal
ellipse. The dotted line emphasizes that the line is going
around and back of the other lines. Notice how this gives
an angle to the sphere.
As 'man's best friend,' the dog is a very popular character to draw. When I was a kid, a dog actually was one of the first With the next step (4), I start adding shapes on top of the
things, after stick figures, I liked to draw the most. In this blog, I'll give you tips on drawing a dog step by step, and I'll ball. Try to think as if you're using clay to sculpt the basic
show you how you can apply these steps to draw other animal characters. shapes. Start with the biggest shapes first; in this case,
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the mouth and the eyes. At step 5, I add the ears, jaws,
and cheeks, and it starts to look more like a dog now. The
smaller shapes, like the nose, eyebrows, and beak, are
added in step 6. Now you have a final sketch you can use
to make the final drawing, and you can start adding the
colors.
exercise
Copy the dog’s head by following the steps in this
example. Try to copy it as closely as possible.
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 drawing emotions
When you draw a character, you want to be able to
show what your character feels and/or thinks. These
thoughts and feelings are translated to emotions,
which result in expressions. These expressions bring
your characters to life.

There are seven different basic emotions: anger,

fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, surprise, and
contempt. For each of these basic emotions, there
are sub emotions. For example, a sub-category of
happy consists of emotions like fulfilled, content, glad,
complete, satisfied, optimistic, or pleased.
exercise
Brainstorm a list of emotions and draw those in the
most simple, graphical way you can. Try to apply
them to the dog on the previous page, or another
character.
It’s challenging to draw original unique expressions
from memory. That’s why I would advise you to use
a mirror and act out some expressions, then try to
draw these (see photo above). Another great way
to practice drawing expressions is to watch people
in public. For example, when you’re on the train, you
can observe people and try to draw those expressions
in your sketchbook. If you find that difficult, first draw
them in a more realistic way and then simplify it using
the real reference.

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 squash and
stretch
When drawing facial expressions, it’s
essential to understand the head’s
basic anatomy and how it moves
when there is an expression. See
the differences between the three
different balls above. For example,
notice how the head becomes
stretched when there is a shocked learn more!
expression. You can also see the
opposite of this (head becomes check out my ebook about
squished) when there is an angry facial expressions
expression.

Here you can see the same movements but with more detailed heads. Specifically, notice how the stretch and squish of
the head have an influence on the expressions. The nose, eyebrows and other facial details move around the head.

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 body construction
Construction is like the foundation of your character. With
a good construction, you can create a strong and solid
character. To get started, follow these steps:
1. For drawing, I always use three kinds of shapes. A
sphere, a cylinder, and a cube. I use these shapes
because you can build anything with them, and
they are easy to rotate in 3D. You can also stretch
and distort these shapes or combine them to make
variations.
2. When I draw characters, I always use a line of action.
You could also call this the character’s gesture. Here
you can also see the benefit of using 3D shapes when
you allow them to follow an action line. This is also a
great way to practice it. First, draw a line shaped like
an S and let the shape follow the action line. This way,
you get an excellent sense of flow and depth in your
characters.
3. Here you can see how I use spheres, cylinders, and
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cubes to draw a character. Drawing your character
like this helps you to understand how it moves the 3D
world. When you first draw your character like this,
you can add its design on top of it. Starting like this is
way easier and lets you focus on getting the basics
right before adding the details.
exercise
Fill a page with different shapes and
try to see their direction. Now, add the
perspective lines is the direction more
clear now?
learn more!
Here I’m going more in-depth about check out my ebook about Anatomy
drawing the basic shapes. Spheres
are great to build your character
with, but you can’t see the direction
without perspective lines. With
a cylinder, you can see direction
because it has three surfaces.
With a cube, it’s really clear what
the direction is because it has six
surfaces. If the direction and the
volume of a shape aren’t clear, you
can add perspective guides.
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 Other poses
The use of these basic shapes makes it easier to draw a character in different poses. This is because it's easier to
imagine how a sphere, cylinder, or cube looks when shown at different angles.

draw the dog’s body

When I'm drawing the whole body, I
follow the same principles as when exercise
I drew the dog's head. Now, I start Practice these techniques by drawing
with a line of action (see step 1). the examples and follow the steps I’ve
The action line is simply a line that shown you. Draw all the different shapes
represents the pose. Most of the in each step. The significant thing is that
time, it has a simple S shape. I use everyone can start practicing this. Just
this line to give the character some use a pencil and paper.
flow. Without the line of action or
flow, the pose will look stiff. On top of
this line, I draw the limbs by building
construction with basic shapes.

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This is another example of how to use construction. You can also see me using the line of action. Without a line of
action, your character would look stiff and like a doll. Try to look at some classic cartoons and look for the action line in exercise learn more!
those figures. You can also practice drawing action lines and construction by studying these characters. Copy this character step by step. Then do it
again, see and feel how you improved already? check out my ebook about drawing animal characters

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 draw a house
I really like to draw houses, and I like to share with you how
I approach this. I start by setting up a construction with big
basic shapes. This makes it way easier to draw buildings like
this. It’s also a great way to determine the proportions before
you start adding details. Make sure the details follow the
shapes (and perspective) of your construction.
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Think from big to small. So, start with large, lump shapes
and define this step by step. As if you are a sculptor creating
a sculpture.
exercise
Follow the steps I show here to draw this house. If
you find it difficult to add the details, you can also learn more!
focus on the bigger shapes first in your attempts. To check out my ebook about drawing perspective
challenge yourself more, you can change the design
a little bit by changing the elements at step 3.
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draw vehicles The approach of drawing with
construction also applies to vehicles
like this helicopter and tuk-tuk. You
start with the big shapes first. Don’t
forget to add perspective guides to
the tuk-tuk. After this, you can add
the smaller shapes and draw in
some large details, like the windows
and doors. When that is set-up, you
define the design by adding smaller
and smaller details every step.

For coloring your design, I work

the same way: I start with large
color blocks, as you can see in
the helicopter’s image. After that, I
add lighting and shading and some exercise
detailed colors. Draw these vehicles by following the steps. It can look very challenging
at first, but when you follow the steps, I’m sure you can do it!

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 pick up your sketchbook
Learning to draw takes a lot of time (and pencils). Having
a sketchbook with you is an excellent way of getting
that drawing mileage because you can bring it with you
wherever you go in your daily life. This allows you to draw
whenever you feel inspired with real-world references all
around you!
Drawing expressions by using references from your
favorite TV show or movie can also be fun! For bonus
points, draw your roommate, family, friends, or partners
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(trust me, they love it!) when they are around. You can
also take your sketchbook to a public place and see if you
can find some interesting expressions from the people
around you. Whatever you choose to do, remember to
pick up your sketchbook regularly as a practice is the only
way you’re going to become the illustrator you want to be.
Have fun with it and let the creative juices flow.
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 that's it!
I hope you had fun and that I have inspired you to start drawing and keep drawing. It can be challenging at first, but I
assure you it will become easier if you keep going.

This ebook contains some basic lessons about drawing. If you want to learn more about a specific subject,
check out my other ebooks in this bundle. You can start in every ebook, but I recommend to start with learning how to
draw construction and the line of action. After that you could continue with learing perspective. This gives you a good
basic knowledge for the other ebooks.

What helps me is to make drawing a daily habit. Like something you do at a certain time of the day. Even if it is only for
30 minutes, you are making more progress than by not drawing at all.

Tip: Sign up for the newsletter at gumroad.com/mitchleeuwe to be the first to know about new ebooks!

Best,
Mitch Leeuwe

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