I have already mentioned Ctrl+Paint as being a great catalyst for me in terms of fast tracking my drawing skills when I started and it would be remiss of me to not mention another resource that helped me greatly.
That was the book Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson.
What was fantastic about this book was how it described in simple to understand terms the process of drawing what you see, not what you think you know. Each chapter built on the last and each chapter concluded with about 7 exercises for you to complete, working progressively from simple ideas to more in depth concepts as you worked through the book. This layout worked well for me in that I was able to read a chapter a week and complete an exercise a day for the week corresponding to that chapters focus.
Topics covered included The Drawing Process, The Artists Handwriting, Proportions, The Illusion of Light, The Illusion of Depth, The Illusion of Texture, Pattern and Design and rounding out with Drawing and Imagination.
Fantastic book and one I would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to improve their drawing skills and methods in a engaging way.
