Creative Sketching by Jens Claessens

An 8-week course focused on building the core skills to draw from imagination. You’ll work through a series of digital sketchbook exercises that cover value, edge control, and color, all aimed at helping you develop a personal style without sacrificing solid technique. Expect live demos, lectures, and weekly homework assignments with feedback.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• How to use reference effectively without copying
• Techniques for taking a quick sketch to a detailed rendering
• Controlling values and edges to describe 3D form
• Using color to bring imaginative drawings to life
• Structuring a sketchbook for daily practice and growth

✅ Requirements

• Skills: All skill levels welcome
• Tools: Any digital or traditional medium (paintovers will be done digitally)
• Hardware: A drawing tablet or digital device for digital work

📝 Description

This isn’t another “copy this photo” class. Jens Claessens focuses on the mental shift required to draw from imagination. You’ll learn how to build a visual library—the mental database of forms, textures, and lighting scenarios that lets you invent believable characters and scenes on the fly.

The course is structured around weekly sketchbook assignments. Each week targets a specific bottleneck: Week 1 tackles light and value to sculpt forms in 2D. Week 2 dives into edge control—understanding hard vs. soft edges and how they describe material and depth. By Week 3, you’re analyzing your own habits and learning how to deliberately expand your visual library.

Later weeks push you into pure imagination work, then layer in character design and color. The final week circles back to reference, but with a new perspective: using reference as a tool for inspiration, not a crutch.

Jens teaches live, 4-hour sessions that mix lecture, demo, and direct feedback. If you can’t attend live, recordings are available within 24 hours. There are two tiers: a feedback tier for those who want weekly critiques, and a spectate tier for lifetime access to the recordings.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Artists who feel stuck copying reference and want to draw from imagination
• Beginners looking for a structured, fundamentals-first approach to digital sketching
• Experienced illustrators who want to refine their edge control and value understanding
• Anyone interested in character design and developing a personal style

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Jens Claessens is a professional concept artist and illustrator known for his expressive, design-driven approach to character art. He has worked in the entertainment industry and teaches regularly at Underpaint Academy. His teaching style emphasizes practical, repeatable workflows over abstract theory, making complex topics like edge control and visual library building accessible to artists at any level.

🏁 Final Result

• A series of digital sketchbook pages showing your progression from value studies to finished color character designs
• A personal visual library you can draw from for future projects
• A clear understanding of how to use edges, values, and color to invent forms from imagination