What Changed After Months of Crooked Figures and Flat Shapes
A step-by-step look at how one person worked through the most common drawing failures and what actually helped them move forward.
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Drawing Fundamentals
Articles & Perspectives
Practical writing on line, form, proportion, and the habits that actually move your drawing forward.
A Second Attempt at Drawing Fundamentals, Done Differently
Noel tried learning to draw once and stopped. This is a breakdown of what he changed the second time and why the order of learning mattered.
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The Specific Reasons Drawing Felt Impossible and What Helped
A clear breakdown of the common points where beginners stall, based on one person's experience working through drawing fundamentals from scratch.
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Where readers spend their time
What gets read and what gets skipped
Most drawing guides get abandoned after the first chapter. The articles here are written to be finished — short enough to read in one sitting, specific enough to be worth it.
Gesture, proportion, negative space, value — each topic has its own pace. Some ideas need a paragraph, others need diagrams and repetition.
Gesture & line quality
Most read
Proportion & construction
High interest
Value & shading
Growing
Perspective basics
Steady
Habits that actually stick between sessions
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Draw for 15 minutes daily rather than two-hour weekend sessions. Frequency builds muscle memory faster than duration.
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Pick one subject per week. Switching topics constantly feels productive but slows down real understanding of any single concept.
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Keep a sketchbook with no eraser. Committing to marks — even wrong ones — teaches you to observe before drawing, not after.
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Compare old sketches to recent ones every four weeks. Progress is invisible day to day but obvious across a month of consistent work.
What this publication covers and what it leaves out
Claimhavens focuses on the fundamentals — line, form, proportion, value, and perspective. Not digital tools, not stylisation, not shortcuts.
If you're after technique-first writing that treats drawing as a learnable skill rather than a talent, the about page explains the approach.
On reading vs. practising
Articles here are meant to be read (with a pencil nearby). The ideas only settle when you try them on paper the same day.
Interviews with working artists
Occasional conversations with practitioners who've worked through the fundamentals in their own way. Browse the interviews.