Reply To: New to drawing, are these courses good if starting from scratch?

I would recommend to watch them but they don´t cover all the spectrum of drawing. It´s more like a perspective on that topic. But if you want to start I would suggest to watch other´s tutorials as well. Every artist has a unique perspective on  the topic.

But first you need to understand the different aspects of drawing in general to sort the overwhelming mass of tutorials.
Here´s my point of view. I categorize art knowledge into sections

1.  Hand to Brain Coordination. Drawing a line where you intent it to be. 
   This is very important for you as a beginner but I still exercise that after years of drawing. If you want to bring your ideas on paper, you should be in total control of the movement of your hand. You need to learn the difference between sketching out of your shoulder for energetic lines used in sketches and drawing details with your hand. There are several exercises out there like drawing ovals, connecting dots and so on. The best way to exercise this matter though is to draw from life(or reference). Because you don´t only practice to draw well, you learn to observe the object you want to draw and get a feeling for its shape.
2.  Motion, Energy and Shapes. Learn to see the world and simplify.
   Sounds a bit spiritual but has nothing to do with it. If you want to draw complex shapes like humans or an architectural building you have to be able to simplify and see the pattern behind. Everything is based on a simple form. Easiest example would be the cube for a building. Shape it out with some rectancles and you get doors and windows which make a house. This is a mostly a topic in animation too. Every pose a figure makes has a movement to it. As an animator you have to be able to see the gesture line of you´re character in order to display him vibrant and alive. If you are capable of simplifying forms and shapes it also comes in handy for complex perspectives.
   So basically what I mean is that you need to learn to see the world and simplify what you see. That´s mostly achieved by exercise (again drawing from life) but it is helpful to look at the approaches of other artists.
3. Knowledge. Anatomy and Perspective
   This one is connected to the section above. You should always keep on learning. Knowledge won´t just help you to understand what you draw from observation… it will help you to draw from imagination as well. Knowledge of perspective will help you to see the shapes structuring an object and to replicate it. Knowledge of anatomy learns you to get the proportions of an human figure straight, to see the axes and gestures lines and to shape the different body parts. When you advance you will learn how muscles and bones work and that will increase the quality of your drawings.
   Learning is a never-ending process. For that matter you have to watch a tons of tutorials, read books and again – draw from life to prove your observations. In the beginner´s learning flow you can find some basics to it. 
4. Rendering techniques. How the world is displayed.
   Last one is about how the light and colors work. Normally you start understanding the principles of light and learn how to use color after it. While the three sections above help you to create a good sketch rendering is the part where you work everything out and add the details. But remember – Drawing is mostly about shape, painting is about light and color. Ofc you can shade pretty well with pencils but if you want to dive deeper into that topic you need to start painting.
   And that´s basically what you get from the concept art beginner´s learning flow here on CG Cookie. Though it covers all principles of drawing a major aspect is designated to rendering. 

Tutorials and Books are pretty helpful but make just a minor part in your process to become a better drawer. If you want to learn drawing, start drawing. Just draw, and draw and draw. That´s the only way to make use of what you´ve learned.