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.
The first playlist I am following is MarkowskyArt’s playlist. This is Week 4.
This week’s warm up exercises (his versions):
Back to cylinders, practicing shading, shadows and curved shading (yes, really)
The Sphere:
The homework:
Tracing of his hand:
Objective of the homework:
Practice the shapes, shading and adding shadows to both the “still life” and your own hand.
My versions:
I need to get a darker pencil for the scans! Hope you can see my lovely drawings 😀
my SPHERE, a thing of beauty. Jokes aside, I like the way this one came out. Does the shading and shadows need work? Yes, but look it looks like an actual ball! Moving on.
My hand. Oh heck. I doubt I’ll ever redo this.
Right, I definitely need more practice. As mentioned, I will add a tab called: Practice Pages to my blog to track my progress.
A quick synopsis of my analysis of Week 4
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
Notes : 3
The instructions are still clear, but as it is Week4, there is the assumption that you have a basic understanding of shading and shadow.
B. Skill Transfer (1–5)
Did this actually teach a usable skill?
1 – Just copying
3 – Partial understanding
5 – I can apply this elsewhere
Notes: 5
This is definitely usable as all objects, depending on where the light source is, will have a shadow / cast a shade.
C. Beginner Accessibility (1–5)
Could a true beginner follow this?
1 – No context or explanations
3 – Some help, some gaps
5 – Fully accessible
Notes: 3
Unless you already have basic knowledge of shading, then week 4 is not the place to start.
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
Notes: 5
Explained shadows, casting and how shading adds dimensions.
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
Notes: 3
I struggled with this lesson, did not even watch to the end (stopped once the feedback started)
F. Emotional Experience (1–5)
How did this feel to follow?
1 – Frustrating / discouraging
3 – Neutral
5 – Encouraging / energising
Notes: 3
My lack of energy / motivation was a factor, so much so I did not do that ‘homework’ portion.
G. Repeatability (Yes / Maybe / No)
Would I do this again without the video?
To be honest, probably not. I will do the practice exercises using my notes and examples / screenshots of the video.
Why?
Week 4 is more practice, less notes
Final Verdict
Who is this tutorial actually for?
We’re still beginners, its only week4 so I will be carrying on with this playlist.
I followed it in full, took notes, and completed the exercises, a few of them I had to stop the lesson as I was a lot slower than him.
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 🙂
Watch Week 4 on YouTube :
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 🙂
Primrose Art Lab 
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