How long does it take to learn to draw? From Newbie to Pro

Drawing is a skill that cannot be mastered in a day.

I know that better than anyone because I’ve been drawing since I was 3. However, I have been in the business of drawing for the last seven years.

As an artist, the most common question I get asked is, “How long does it take to learn to draw?”

If I tell you that it takes 10,000 hours to master this skill, you will smack me.

So, no, it’s much shorter than that. I can assure you.

However, there are stipulations.

I feel I have enough experience in drawing to give you an approximately correct answer.

In this post, I will cover different questions, like:

How long does it take to learn to draw well?
What are the different levels of drawing and how long does it take to get there?
How to get better at drawing fast?
How long does it take to learn to draw Anime?
How long does it take to learn to draw Anatomy?
How long does it take to learn to draw Cartoons? (my specialty)
How long does it take to learn to draw Comics? (another thing of mine)
How long does it take to learn to draw realistic? (I also have specialized in this)

These questions have varying answers, so I will give you a rough time estimate and provide you with helpful resources and tips if you want to speed up your learning.

I will also provide you with examples to get a better idea of the time you need to learn to draw well.

So, if you really want to learn how to draw and you’re trying to understand how long it will take you to become an expert in a certain field of drawing, then this post will definitely help you!

Ready Freddy?

Let’s begin!

This post includes affiliate links. If you do decide to purchase something, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. For more information, please read my entire Privacy Policy here.

Table of Contents

How long does it take to learn to draw well?

It will take roughly two years if you’ve never held a pencil before and drawn anything at all.

If you’re going from an absolute newbie to somewhat capable of drawing, it will take two years to learn to draw.

Let me elaborate.

Firstly, please note that nobody is born with talent or skill.

It is a myth when people say that “art runs in your genes.”

No, art does not run in anyone’s genes.

You may have a strong passion for art or be drawn to drawing (pun intended). And the rest is up to you.

You will have to start from scratch and slowly build up your drawing skills.

If you practice daily for 30 minutes to an hour, you can easily pick up the skill in one to one a half years.

If you practice drawing 4-6 hours a day, you can definitely reduce that time to months or a year.

However, learning to draw depends on the following:

Your ability to make quick strokes
Your hand and wrist movements
The power of your observation skills
Your ability to comprehend color theory and draw emotions
Your ability to translate what you imagine to your canvas/paper
How fast you pick up drawing
How many hours you put into drawing every day
Whether you are learning by yourself or have somebody teaching you.

Some of these quantifiers cannot be determined until you start drawing.

For instance, I can draw people and characters very well.

But I don’t know how to sketch scenery or a landscape.

I don’t have much practice in that arena, so it would take me a while to learn how to do that.

Learning to draw requires you to first fall in love with the process.

I’ve written a detailed post on the benefits of drawing here.

How long does it take to learn how to draw?

How long does it take to learn to draw well

Now if you want a technical answer, let me break it down for you.

There are five levels of drawing skills according to me.

Beginner: A Beginner Artist with a basic understanding of drawing but has never actually drawn much.
Proficient: Where you are able to draw a piece of art somewhat proportionately and understand the concept of light and shadow.
Intermediate: Intermediate Artists understand proportion and can even form depth with their drawings by shading. They are beginning to study Anatomy.
Advanced: Here you already know human anatomy, color theory, and understand perspectives but are strengthening your skills to practice them all perfectly.
Pro: Pro Artists not only have excellent observational skills but can draw almost anything with close to 95% accuracy. They will be adept at sketching realistically and be able to mix colors and achieve nearly 90% accuracy with their colors.

Let’s get down and dirty with the details.

How long does it take to learn to draw as a beginner artist?

It takes at the most 2-3 months to become a beginner artist.

Here, you just have to build a daily routine of drawing and practice for 30 minutes daily. Here are a few books I recommend for Beginner Artists:

It is important to build a daily habit of drawing.

As a beginner, you will learn how to hold the pencil and perform light strokes as well as learn how to control your wrist movements.

With consistent practice, you can move to become a Proficient Artist in a quarter of a year!

How long does it take to learn to draw as a Proficient Artist?

It will take six months to a year to become a proficient artist.

This is provided you draw consistently and start learning how to add depth to your drawings. You already have a good idea about light and shadows if you’ve gone through the books I’ve mentioned above.

But in this stage, you will develop your shading skills and understand how to represent objects somewhat proportionately.

How long does it take to learn to draw as an Intermediate Artist?

This will easily take you two years or more.

You will be studying anatomy and figure drawing.

Drawing movements does take some time to master. And with regular practice, you will be able to capture movements and poses in your drawings. I will talk about studying anatomy later on in the post.

How long does it take to learn to draw as an Advanced Artist?

This will easily take 4-5 years.

You will be learning several skills like:

Perspectives (this will help you learn how to draw situations and backgrounds)
Human Anatomy (you will be refining your anatomy skills at this point)
Color Theory (you will develop a solid understanding of color and how to tell a story or convey emotions and moods just by using various colors)

At this stage, you will be able to develop your own art style, and you will be able to modify your characters and style them as you wish.

This is where most comic artists, storyboard artists, illustrators, and cartoonists are at. People who sketch portraits realistically are also at this level.

Most storyboard artists are advanced artists

They are all advanced artists.

And once you reach this level, you can apply to Design Studios or Art and Animation Studios like Disney or Pixar.

The possibilities are endless if you reach the Advanced Skill level.

How long does it take to learn to draw as a Pro Artist?

Becoming a Pro means refining all of your drawing skills.

It requires years and years of practice – probably 8-10. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to becoming a Pro Level Artist except for daily practice and studying.

It involves implementing everything you’ve learned to create beautiful pieces of art.

You don’t necessarily need to reach this level to be called an Artist.

If you are an Intermediate or Advanced artist, you can still do a lot of work and be paid for your work.

It all depends on finding the right target audience for your artwork.

How to get better at drawing fast?

Okay, so if ten years is sounding dreary to you, then here are a few ways you can get better at drawing fast.

If you want to cut down the time, I would suggest joining an Art course at a University. This is the best option if you’re going to become a professional Artist or Illustrator.

However, if you do not have the time and resources for this option, it’s okay to learn yourself.

Here’s what I recommend.

1. Build a drawing routine first

Draw every single day.

Abandon perfectionism. It doesn’t have to be a master drawing or sketch. Just focus on what you like drawing.

I would suggest starting with 20-30 minutes daily of pencil sketching every single day. And draw anything. By anything, I mean:

Your coffee cup
A tree outside your window
Your favorite video game character
Your car

Anything!

The idea is to get the ball rolling and build a drawing routine.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Get an old sketchbook (don’t get a pretty one because you’ll feel overwhelmed to make your drawings perfect) and just get started.

The idea is to fill the book with as much art as possible.

Now, if you’re finding it challenging to come up with prompts, I highly recommend getting these books:

These books will help you stay accountable.

And if you are building a drawing habit, these books are exactly what you need!

So, ditch perfectionism and just get started.

2. Experiment with different mediums

The drawing tools you use really have an effect on your art.

Stick to traditional art initially because you need to develop your drawing skills.

Practice on paper, but feel free to experiment with different tools.

When you just get into drawing, it will be tempting to try different mediums. Do that. Because this is what will help you fall in love with the process of drawing.

It is essential to know what tools you are comfortable using.

If you’re sticking to pencil sketching alone, then you require good tools like:

You can also use Copic markers, ballpoint pens to create pen art or charcoal pencils.

You can start with gouache or watercolor paints if you want to paint.

Don’t compromise on the tools you are using because this will heavily influence the quality of your art.

So, have fun experimenting with different tools till you find something that you want to use all the time!

3. Enhance your learning

Get an Art teacher or join an Art course to speed up your learning because they will know what you want to learn to draw and give you drawing exercises to help you reach those goals quickly.

However, if this is not something you want to do because of a lack of time or resources, then take specific courses to help you get there faster.

For instance, whenever I want to learn something specific, I simply buy an online course that teaches me how to go about it.

I wanted to learn how to create illustrations and build a brand so that I could sell merchandise, so I purchased this beautiful course by Vania Bachur who’s already done that.

SEE THIS COURSE HERE

Online courses and books help you get to your goals really fast!

We are so lucky to live in a day and age where the internet provides us with such detailed answers. We can learn how to do practically anything because of these fantastic tutorials.

I will provide more resources later in the post to help you!

You can also follow your favorite artists on Instagram. Most of them have Patreon Accounts or Websites where they teach you how they create their art.

I follow over 300 creators on Instagram and regularly buy tutorials and brushes to help me achieve my goals.

I also have a lot of drawing and illustrating books because my work depends on it.

Drawing is more about learning and implementing. In the beginning, you do need a lot of tutorials to understand how to do a particular task.

Many Artists also hold Inktober challenge

So, go ahead and find the art that calls to you.

This is the best way to learn fast!

4. Practice observing

No matter what you do daily, take in details whenever you find something fascinating.

For instance, you may notice how the light hits a particular object in the evening or how the same thing looks in artificial light.

You can go to cafes and observe how clothes hang on people’s bodies and learn how to draw people and clothes.

The key to learning how to draw is to break down complex objects into shapes.

I explain how I do that here in my hands drawing tutorial.

Now, this is not something you can learn by yourself. You will learn these tricks from books, courses, or an Art Teacher.

This is what I mean by enhancing your learning with material or teachers.

When you understand how to observe complex objects, break them down and draw it proportionately on your canvas, drawing becomes easy.

5. Figure your art style

This step obviously comes at a much later stage of course, but figuring your art style is a wonderful way to draw for more hours.

I enjoy drawing characters.

For years, I learned how to draw characters by mirroring them exactly. I’d draw:

Video game characters
Disney Princesses
Comic book characters

And I’d replicate what I was seeing.

I think I created this when I was in the 11th grade. I had a serious craze for Final Fantasy games and I enjoyed drawing the characters because they were so unique and beautiful.

Back then, Deviantart was a thing. It still is quite popular but not the rage like Instagram.

Eventually, I realized I wanted to make my own comics so I started drawing humans the way I imagined them.

But with time, my style evolved. The bodies became somewhat realistic and less “stick figure-ish.” But I retained the large cartoon heads.

I will show you examples later.

So, don’t obsess with finding your art style.

Just focus on drawing every day first.

Your art style will slowly evolve and come into effect the more you draw.

That’s why it is important to draw what you like! This way, your art will evolve faster and you’ll be able to make much better progress quickly!

6. Be patient

You won’t get better in a day or even a month.

Drawing is a work in progress.

Any artist you admire on Instagram has been drawing patiently for years. They’ve probably had many sleepless nights trying to get something to look the way they want.

They’ve experimented with multiple art styles to get to where they want to be.

Remember, if you do look at books and courses, you can speed up your drawing progress.

However, whatever path you decide to take, you need to be patient.

Learning to draw only gets better with practice and consistency.

This is true for any skill though.

7. Focus on the critical areas first

If there is something you want to do with your art, take some time to figure out what exactly that is.

For example, if you want to draw for a Video Game Company, you need to learn how to draw and conceptualize characters.

This means that you will have to understand how to draw anatomy well and then go on to build a portfolio of your own original characters that you’ve drawn yourself.

If you want to become a fashion designer, then you will need to learn how to draw human beings and clothes.

Figure out what you want to learn before you start drawing.

The paths for each artist require a different skill set.

So, take some time to figure out what exactly you want to do before you start drawing.

No matter what field you pick, there are certain things you must master before specializing in a particular area.

Anatomy – You have to study human anatomy to draw human beings. It doesn’t matter whether you want to draw realistic humans or cartoonized versions of characters. This is important to learn.
Color theory – Unless you’re only pencil sketching portraits, you need to study color theory in order to understand how to color your art.
Perspectives – Perspectives generally mean adding depth to your drawings. Objects get smaller as they move away from our eyes.
Lights and shadows – Shading is essential in every drawing field – because this will add brightness, contrast, and depth to your art.

8. Analyse your progress

Once you finish your drawing, look at it.

Study it.

See what mistakes you’ve made.

For instance, if the proportions are wrong, you will need to practice drawing more heads, anatomy, and study perspectives.

If your shading is off, you will need to shade more and study light and depth better.

Analyze your progress every 3-6 months to see how far you’ve come.

Do not (at any cost) compare your work to other people’s art.

Never do this!

You have no idea how much those people have worked and you don’t know their backgrounds.

You only know your story.

So focus on only that.

Looking at how far you’ve come will motivate you to draw more and maybe even experiment with more types of art.

All of these tips will help you pick up drawing fast and become adept in this field.

Okay, now I’ve explained how long it takes to learn to draw and how you can speed up your drawing progress.

Now, let’s move on to how long it will take for a person to master different drawing styles.

How long does it take to learn how to draw Anime?

Okay, a lot of people get confused between Anime and Manga.

It’s understandable.

So, let me break down what it is first.

Manga is Japanese comics. And Anime is just the animated version of those comics. You can read the whole difference here.

It will easily take you 3-5 years to learn how to draw anime without references.

If you’re merely copying an image from your television show or a book, you can do that easily within a couple of months.

For instance, I never learned to draw anime from scratch. I liked drawing characters from shows, so I’d just take a screenshot on my laptop and try to emulate that.

I was more interested in mastering different mediums, so most of my anime drawings were done with a ballpoint pen using the cross-hatching method.

This is how long it took me to learn how to draw anime

I didn’t learn how to conceptualize the characters or create them from scratch.

So, if you are learning how to draw anime characters of your own, then you will definitely need 3-5 years to do so.

Remember, to draw anime correctly; you need to learn the following:

Human Anatomy
How to draw faces and expressions (crucial for studying manga)
Color theory
Perspectives
Figure drawing (to help you draw movements)
Backgrounds (you will need perspective drawing for this as well)

Learning to draw manga and anime can be challenging if you haven’t studied any of these and are starting from scratch.

Lucky for you, there are courses and books you can pick up to help you speed up your progress.

For instance, if you want a comprehensive and cheap course on drawing manga from scratch, I highly recommend this course.

How to draw manga characters from scratch

CHECK IT OUT HERE

This beginnehttps://domestika.sjv.io/QyPbN3r course will help you draw Manga and Anime characters from scratch.

The teachers will teach you how different perspectives and details so that you can draw any manga character. It is specifically aimed at beginners, so it’s perfect for anyone with zero knowledge of drawing.

Apart from this course, here are a few more online classes that you can check out:

There are also some great books you can check out to speed up your progress in learning how to draw anime.

Please note that it can take a few years to become an expert Anime Artist.

But the journey is beautiful because if you love Anime and Manga, you will enjoy the drawing process thoroughly.

How long does it take to learn to draw anatomy?

Learning how to study anatomy does take some time

This is a rather tricky question to answer.

It really depends on how much time you dedicate to studying anatomy every day.

But if you practice every day and focus on drawing poses and human figures every day, I feel learning how to draw anatomy will take you about two years.

Mind you; you will have to practice several poses and have a good understanding of the human body in order to draw people.

Please note that if you’re merely tracing figures or just copying images and drawing them ditto, you’re not really improving your study of human anatomy.

You have to practice drawing the human body and understand how it works in order to be able to draw a character in any form.

I found this great video on how Josh from Ego studied Anatomy all by himself, and he even explains how he went about it:

Here are a couple of things you need to get good at to study drawing human anatomy:

1. Drawing gestures

You need to study movement and understand the gesture you need to draw before you draw a person anatomically correctly.

Gestures are meaningful because they convey the mood and emotions of the character at a given point.

So, your foundation in human anatomy should be strong, but you will also need to study different gestures.

2. Understand the human body

You will have to have a basic understanding of the human skeleton, the muscular and vascular systems, and an understanding of our joints and how they bend.

This will help you draw human beings pretty accurately.

If you understand human anatomy, you can bend the rules.

3. Practicing different body parts

Besides the overall body, you will also have to practice drawing hands, arms, and legs.

This is where your drawing skills will really be tested.

One of the best books I can advise you to get is this one. This book includes multiple exercises, so if you go through it and practice every day, you will become a pro in some time!

There is a lot to remember when you are learning human anatomy, but you can get there with regular practice!

Every artist studies human anatomy if they aim to draw characters.

And please note that studying anatomy is not a waste of time. No matter what field you are in, you will really benefit from picking up this certain skill.

How long does it take to learn to draw cartoons?

If you’re talking about the cartoon versions of humans, animals, and things, the answer is not very long.

You will have to have a basic understanding of human anatomy and facial expressions in order to bend the rules and draw cartoons.

But I’m sure you can pick it up within 1-2 years with enough practice.

There are so many books you can pick up to draw cartoons. And these are seriously helpful to help anyone (kid or adult) understand how to draw cartoons.

However, I will reiterate that it is essential to find your art style and this can take months or years.

Drawing cartoons requires you to be extremely original in terms of style.

People worldwide will identify your art if your characters are unique enough!

I will be straight with you – learning how to develop my art style definitely took me 3-4 years. But I wasn’t drawing continuously. I drew on the side while I created websites and did graphic designing for a living.

You can see how I slowly developed my style here:

How long does it take to learn to draw in cartoon style?

I went through many courses to get from what you see on the left to what you see on the right.

And by drawing every day, I slowly figured out my art style, and I quite enjoy drawing in a nice cartoon style.

This entire blog is built on drawing things in a cartoon style. *wink wink*

Like with all fields, drawing cartoons takes a lot of practice but it’s so much fun!

I’ve finished multiple sketchbooks just drawing funny instances of my life in a cartoon style. It’s great for journaling, scrapbooking, making webcomics, and so on.

The practical applications of cartoons are way too many to count.

Many people relate to cartoon-style drawings because it’s light, fun, and incredibly relatable.

So, once you learn how to draw in a cartoon style, you can make money by taking up commissioned portraits and more!

You can also create merchandise and sell them online via Etsy or your own Website.

The possibilities are endless.

How long does it take to learn to draw comics?

This answer depends on what type of comics you are looking to draw.

If you are learning how to draw simple webcomics like how I draw, then the answer is months to a year – given you have an essential background in drawing.

For learning how to draw simple webcomics, you just need to start practicing drawing your funny moments.

If you really want your art to stand out, you will have to have a basic understanding of human anatomy. But you can skip this if you want just to draw funny comics to grow on Instagram or Webtoon.

I started without a fundamental understanding of Anatomy, but as I grew, I realized I wanted my comics to look better, so I started paying more attention to anatomy.

You can see a big difference in learning anatomy made in just four years of drawing.

Evolution of my comic style by studying anatomy.

I wouldn’t say I’m hundred percent there, but I feel the improvement definitely shows.

So, learning how to draw webcomics is dependent on what level and type of style you are trying to achieve.

I highly recommend these books to learn how to draw cartoons:

If you are looking for a book to teach your kid how to draw cartoons, I suggest this book – it’s helped tons of kids!

There is also a wonderful course by Jimmy Craig (Artist of Pet Foolery) who teaches how to draw webcomics and create really cool comic strips that will help build thousands of followers on Instagram.

CHECK OUT THE COURSE HERE

However, if you are talking about intricate action comics like Marvel or DC, the answer is obviously much longer!

It may take you 3-5 years or more, especially if you are starting from scratch.

I highly recommend taking this online course if this is the type of comics you are looking to create:

CHECK OUT THE COURSE HERE

Anatomy is very important if you are looking to become a serious comic artist and work for a company either to develop characters, make comic books, or develop video games and movies.

And comic book characters have highly developed and pronounced anatomy. You will have to study muscles and joints thoroughly in order to draw these kinds of stylized characters.

This course will teach you how to understand anatomy and build comics.

You will learn the different proportions of the human figure to be used in building your character, whether it’s a person of normal proportions or a superhero.

And you will discover his method for building a head, from the internal proportions to the main features.

This is undoubtedly some serious learning you will have to do in order to master this field, but if this is your dream, the time spent learning this craft is totally worth it.

How long does it take to learn to draw realistically?

Believe it or not, drawing realistically doesn’t actually require you to learn color theory or human anatomy.

Because you are capturing photo-realism, you’re basically replicating a photo or an image in the form of pencil shading.

Unless you’re painting (you will have to learn color theory), you can actually learn how to draw realistically very quickly.

For instance, here’s a realistic pencil drawing that I did of Assassin’s Creed when I was in 10th grade.

I am very proud of this piece because it was at this point that I fell in love with pencil shading.

I was nowhere near an Advanced or Expert level, but this pushed me into drawing more consistently.

You can start with pencil sketching and slowly move to paints.

Either way, drawing realistically doesn’t require much thinking. It’s more about replicating precisely what you see.

It mainly involves learning different kinds of sketching techniques and you will have to possess a good understanding of lights and shadows in order to draw realistically.

Frequently Asked Questions

I know this article was pretty extensive but I’m going to try and answer as many questions I frequently get asked to help you more.

How many hours a day should you practice drawing?

If you’ve never drawn before and would really like to take up drawing more seriously, start with 10-20 minutes a day.

I don’t suggest anything longer because, at this point, you just want to build a daily drawing habit.

Building a habit is more important than developing your skill.

After 1-2 months, you can increase the daily practice to 1-2 hours.

And slowly move up from there to 3-4 hours if drawing really is calling out to you.

This way, you won’t burn yourself out, and drawing will become ingrained in your daily routine.

Is it hard to learn to draw?

Every skill takes time to learn.

If you’ve never held a pencil before or have very limited drawing practice, then yes, it might take you some time to get familiar with drawing.

When I was learning to play the piano, the initial learning curve was quite hard.

I still get stuck when I’m trying to play specific notes for the first time, but I know that the more I practice, the better I’ll get.

Drawing is the same.

It just comes naturally to you after you’ve been at it for a while.

The key is to build a drawing habit to always work on something every day.

Artists who are really skilled will have finished at least 30-50 sketchbooks before reaching where they are right now.

So, take it easy and approach it one day at a time.

Is it okay to take a break from drawing?

Yes, it is very important to take breaks once in a while. Otherwise, you are going to burn yourself to the ground.

Remember to focus on the process instead of the results.

And even on days when you don’t feel like drawing, do something minute.

Just read a book about drawing or watch a fun course.

Doodle a little something in your notebook.

Switch things up once in a while by working on a passion project.

Will drawing every day make me better?

Yes!

However, it is crucial to start drawing your own pictures and not trace them or copy them from other artists at some point.

In the beginning, it’s okay to replicate pictures – this is how we pick up drawing.

But once you start figuring out your own style, you should draw your own pictures.

It’s perfectly acceptable to use multiple references for poses or color inspirations. But try to vary it so that it’s not an exact copy of just 1 picture.

How long should a drawing take?

If you are doing a rough sketch, that can easily take 2-15 minutes.

However, if you are drawing a realistic pencil portrait or creating a complete illustration with a background, it could easily take anywhere between 4-20 hours.

It really depends on what you’re drawing and what medium you are using to create it.

How long does it take to learn digital art?

Once you know traditional art, switching to digital art doesn’t take much time because you already have a good understanding of the basics.

I explain how I create digital art in this post.

I currently use an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to draw my digital art.

It’s super convenient because I can draw anywhere and I can travel with my work.

I still do all my rough sketches with a pencil first before converting them to digital art.

Can you learn to draw at any age?

Yes!

Drawing is a beautiful hobby and skill that can be picked up at any age!

I know many great artists in their 70s or older who are brilliant.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can pick up this skill at any age!

Conclusion + Resources to become better at drawing:

If you’ve reached the end of the post, then congratulations – you really want to draw and I encourage you to pursue your dreams of drawing.

I hope this post has given you a decent understanding of how long it will take you to learn to draw.

Now, I know that taking an art course or studying art professionally isn’t feasible for everyone, especially if you already have a full-time job or are a student juggling many classes.

But many people study drawing on the side as a side hustle until they can make a full-time income with their art.

That’s precisely what I did.

I will share a couple of resources that helped me become a better artist.

Books that helped me learn more about drawing:

These are my top favorite 9 drawing books I recommend for beginner artists, but here are some more to add to your collection:

Books that taught me how to make money with my art:

Courses that helped me create better art digitally and gave me wonderful business ideas:

I credit my illustrating skills only to books and online courses entirely because I didn’t really have anyone to teach me, and my learning is completely self-taught.

I know there is a lot to improve and I do practice daily, even if it’s a small doodle or sketch.

Additionally, I love online courses because you can draw and create while the teacher does the same in their courses.

And you get to compare your work to the teacher’s so you can correct yourself if you’re making mistakes.

If you enjoyed this post, you’d also like:

Drawing requires a lot of patience.

And it’s definitely a skill worth learning, especially if you want to make money with your art someday.

I cannot even begin to describe how rewarding it is to get paid to do something you love.

Please leave a comment below if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to help!