Primrose Art Lab — MarkowskyArt Beginner Drawing Series Week 2

Primrose Art Lab is a year-long experiment to see whether free YouTube art tutorials actually help you learn to draw.

Each week, I follow a beginner tutorial properly, complete the exercises, and reflect on what worked and what didn’t.

Week 2 in the Beginner Drawing Course from MarkowskyArt’s playlist. 

This week kicked off with a few warm up drawing exercises (that I did not like…no sure why but my brain just did not)

Here are the originals and Markowsky’s side by side:

Then on to the Week 2 lesson, drawing basic shapes. 

The glass of water that made me pause the lesson! 

What I thought was the final drawings exercise:

The ACTUAL last exercise: 

My efforts:

Future villain?

The drawing exercises:

This weeks’ video and blog post is a bit late:( it’s been a hectic few weeks with chronic migraine, but thank you for checking back and watching / reading.

A quick synopsis of my analysis of Week 2

A. Clarity (1–5)

Could I understand what to do *without guessing*?

1– Confusing, assumes prior knowledge

3– Mostly clear, some leaps

5– Extremely clear, well-paced

5

Notes: The pace was a bit faster this week, and def a lot more practice drawings.

B. Skill Transfer (1–5)

Did this actually teach a usable skill?

1 – Just copying
3 – Partial understanding
5 – I can apply this elsewhere

4.5

Notes: While the lesson was not too difficult, I struggled to keep up and definitely had moments where I felt “behind’ (I know its just a bunch of circles and squares)

C. Beginner Accessibility (1–5)

Could a true beginner follow this?

1 – No context or explanations
3 – Some help, some gaps
5 – Fully accessible

5

Notes: 100%

D. Constraint Awareness (1–5)

Did the tutorial explain why choices were made?

1 – “Just do this”
3 – Occasional reasoning
5 – Clear logic behind decisions

5

Notes: Yes, he does give a brief view into perspective, you can see it as he adjusts the “viewing” angle of some of the boxes.

E. Time vs Value (1–5)

Was the learning worth the time spent?

1 – Not worth it
3 – Fine, but long
5 – Efficient and focused

3

Notes: The lesson is once again 1.5 hours long, but it was more interactive so it really flew by this week!

F. Emotional Experience (1–5)

How did this feel to follow?

1 – Frustrating / discouraging
3 – Neutral
5 – Encouraging / energising

5

Notes: I made squiggles, squares, prisms and a bad version of the 3 Dancers by Picasso! 

G. Repeatability (Yes / Maybe / No)

Would I do this again without the video?

YES

Why?

I drew stuff and looking back at them they’re not that bad!

Final Verdict 

Who is this tutorial actually for?

It is still beginner friendly, but I would suggesting pausing the video when doing your practice drawing.

The accompanying video documents the process rather than teaching it. This project is about learning in public and testing resources honestly, not presenting expertise.

I’ll continue with the same playlist next week to see whether repetition improves understanding and confidence.

Please feel free to follow along on this blog or the Youtube channel of the same name 🙂