Learn How an Illustrator Transforms Basic Shapes Into Beautifully Detailed Drawings

Illustration by Margherita Cole

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If there’s a secret to drawing, it’s that even the most challenging subjects can be broken down into simplified shapes. Doing this makes them easier to tackle, and you can build up your drawing to achieve incredible detail. Illustrator and My Modern Met contributing writer Margherita Cole knows this well; her delightful drawings showcase the power of shapes and how they are vehicles for expression. She wields their power in work often centered around comics and animal portraits.

Cole has shared her drawing expertise through many step-by-step tutorials right here on My Modern Met and in a book titled Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square. Now, she’s doing it another way: in her class on My Modern Met Academy. Titled Drawing 101: Learn the Building Blocks of Sketching, she shares her favorite supplies, essential techniques, and how to draw three distinctly different subjects.

Drawing 101 will teach you how to see the inherent shapes in any subject, from a house plant to a ballet dancer. Then, you’ll get to see Cole work on each drawing and her decision-making along the way. This is one of the most valuable aspects of the class—seeing how an artist thinks as they work.

“I want students to feel like they have a better understanding of drawing tools and supplies,” Cole says, “and what they can do as well as basic techniques that can be applied to projects both small and large.”

Enroll in Drawing 101: Learn the Building Blocks of Sketching on My Modern Met Academy today, and scroll down to see more of Cole’s illustrations.

Illustrator Margherita Cole creates delightful drawings that showcase the power of shapes and how they are vehicles for expression.

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

She wields their power in work often centered around comics and animal portraits.

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

Illustration by Margherita Cole

You can learn to draw like Cole when you enroll in her online class called Drawing 101: Learn the Building Blocks of Sketching on My Modern Met Academy.

Pen Drawing Margherita Cole

Pen Drawing Margherita Cole

Get a peek into her class here:

Margherita Cole: Website | Instagram

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100+ Drawing Ideas That Will Get You Sketching Right Now

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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