r/learnart: Reddit's Largest Community for Learning Art Fundamentals

With over 1.2 million members, r/learnart is the largest dedicated art education community on Reddit and one of the most active learning-focused art forums on the internet. Unlike general art subreddits that prioritize finished work and visual spectacle, r/learnart exists for a single purpose: helping artists at every level improve their fundamental skills through practice, study, and constructive feedback.

The community was founded in 2010 and has grown steadily as Reddit's user base expanded. Its appeal is straightforward—it provides a free, accessible space where beginners can ask basic questions without judgment, intermediate artists can get targeted feedback on specific weaknesses, and experienced artists can share knowledge and mentor others. The emphasis is always on the process of learning rather than the display of finished work.

What Makes r/learnart Different

Most online art communities are organized around showcasing completed artwork. Members post their best pieces, receive likes and comments, and the most visually impressive work rises to the top. This format rewards artists who are already skilled and can inadvertently discourage beginners whose work cannot compete for attention.

r/learnart inverts this dynamic. The community explicitly welcomes work in progress, practice sketches, studies, and exercises. A post showing a page of gesture drawings with a question about capturing movement will receive more engagement than a polished illustration posted without context. The community values the effort to learn over the quality of the output, which creates an environment where beginners feel comfortable sharing early-stage work and asking for help.

This focus on process over product is reinforced by the community's posting guidelines. Members are encouraged to include context about what they are studying, what specific feedback they are seeking, and what resources they have been using. This context transforms posts from simple image shares into learning conversations, allowing commenters to provide targeted, useful advice rather than generic praise or criticism.

Core Learning Areas

The community covers the full spectrum of art fundamentals, with particular strength in the areas that beginners find most challenging.

Drawing fundamentals—line quality, basic shapes, construction methods, and observational drawing—form the foundation of most discussions. New artists frequently post their first attempts at drawing from observation and receive guidance on how to see and measure proportions, how to simplify complex forms into basic shapes, and how to develop confident, purposeful line work.

Anatomy and figure drawing is one of the most active topics. Members share gesture drawings, anatomical studies, and figure compositions, receiving feedback on proportion, gesture, and structural accuracy. The community maintains lists of recommended anatomy resources, from YouTube channels like Proko to textbooks like Andrew Loomis's "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" and Michael Hampton's "Figure Drawing: Design and Invention."

Perspective discussions cover linear perspective systems, atmospheric perspective, and the practical application of spatial reasoning in drawing environments, objects, and figures in space. This is an area where many self-taught artists struggle, and the community provides patient, detailed explanations of concepts that can be difficult to grasp from books alone.

Color theory posts explore color mixing, value relationships, color temperature, and the practical application of color in painting and illustration. Members share color studies, palette experiments, and ask questions about how to achieve specific color effects.

Digital art fundamentals address the technical and artistic challenges of transitioning from traditional to digital media. Discussions cover software selection, tablet recommendations, brush settings, layer management, and the specific techniques needed to make digital work feel natural and expressive.

The Feedback Culture

The quality of feedback on r/learnart is the community's greatest asset. Unlike platforms where comments tend toward brief praise or vague criticism, r/learnart has cultivated a culture of specific, constructive, and actionable feedback.

When members critique a post, they are expected to identify specific issues and suggest concrete approaches for improvement. A comment like "the proportions are off" is less valued than "the head appears too large relative to the shoulders—try measuring the head height and using it as a unit to check the proportions of the torso and limbs." This specificity transforms feedback from discouraging criticism into useful instruction.

The community also practices positive reinforcement effectively. Commenters regularly identify what is working well in a piece before addressing areas for improvement. This balanced approach helps artists understand their strengths as well as their weaknesses, which is essential for maintaining motivation during the often frustrating process of skill development.

Experienced artists and art educators participate actively in the community, providing feedback informed by formal training and professional experience. While the community is not a substitute for structured art education, the accessibility of knowledgeable feedback—available for free, at any time—makes it a valuable supplement to any learning path.

Regular Features and Events

The community organizes several recurring features that provide structure and motivation for consistent practice.

Daily drawing challenges offer themed prompts that encourage members to practice specific skills. These challenges are designed to be accessible to all skill levels, with prompts that can be interpreted simply by beginners or with greater complexity by advanced artists.

Weekly critique threads provide dedicated spaces for members to post work and receive focused feedback. These threads are moderated to maintain the quality of discussion and ensure that posts receive substantive responses rather than being lost in the feed.

Resource megathreads compile and organize the community's collective knowledge about learning materials. These threads are regularly updated and cover recommended books, YouTube channels, online courses, reference photo libraries, and software tutorials. For new artists who feel overwhelmed by the volume of available learning resources, these curated lists provide a clear starting point.

The Value for Different Skill Levels

Complete beginners find r/learnart uniquely welcoming. The community explicitly states that all skill levels are welcome, and the culture reinforces this through patient, encouraging responses to even the most basic questions. A post asking "how do I hold a pencil for drawing?" will receive thoughtful, detailed answers rather than dismissal.

Intermediate artists who have plateaued often find the most value in the community's feedback culture. When you can draw competently but cannot identify why your work does not look professional, specific feedback from more experienced artists can illuminate blind spots that are invisible from the inside.

Advanced artists and educators participate as mentors, sharing knowledge and providing the detailed critiques that make the community valuable. Many experienced members report that teaching and critiquing others deepens their own understanding of fundamentals.

Relationship to the Broader Reddit Art Ecosystem

r/learnart exists within a network of art-related subreddits that serve different purposes. r/art is the largest general art subreddit, focused on sharing finished work across all media. r/DigitalArt serves digital artists specifically. r/ArtCrit provides focused critique in a smaller, more intimate setting. r/ArtHistory covers historical and theoretical discussions.

Understanding where r/learnart fits in this ecosystem helps members use each community effectively. You might study and practice on r/learnart, share finished work on r/art, and discuss the historical context of techniques on r/ArtHistory.

The Bottom Line

r/learnart fills a crucial gap in online art education. It provides the structured feedback, community support, and curated resources that self-taught artists need to develop fundamental skills—completely free and accessible to anyone with an internet connection. While it cannot replace formal art education or dedicated mentorship, it offers something that neither of those can: a massive, always-available community of fellow learners and experienced artists who are genuinely invested in helping each other improve. For anyone serious about developing their art skills, r/learnart is an essential resource.