What is the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course?
The Correspondence Course is a personal one-to-one tutoring experience where you will learn traditional drawing skills under the guidance of dedicated art teachers. Studying by correspondence means that you will get all necessary instructions, explanations, tutoring, critique and guidance in writing.
What topics will this course cover?
The course topics will cover all drawing skills you would like to learn. This will bridge your skills and knowledge gaps. In addition to your chosen topics, you may also need to learn such subjects as:
- Proficient ways of handling a pencil and making perfect lines
- Traditional techniques of tonal rendering
- Constructive drawing principles including linear and aerial perspective, foreshortening, contours, proportions, alignments, and so on
- Rules of composition and Golden proportions
- How to draw geometric and organic objects
- How to draw landscapes and cityscapers
- How to draw draperies and clothed figures
- Construction, anatomy and proportions of a human head
- How to draw realistic portraits
- Construction, anatomy and proportions of a human figure
- How to draw realistic figures
- How to draw animals
What if I want to learn something special?
We will include additional topics into your curriculum based on your art goals, so you can achieve them.
Is it possible for me to learn life drawing by correspondence?
Studying by correspondence will give you a great advantage over some face-to-face teaching. First of all, your schedule will be much more flexible so you can study at your own pace. But above all, you will receive all feedback and tutoring in writing. This means it will be available for you at any time so you can re-read instructions and explanations, re-check our critique, refresh rules and advice given, and refer to educational materials provided for previous tasks.
How my skills and progress will be evaluated?
Before creating a custom-tailored curriculum for you, your drawing skills will be assessed and your art tutors will provide you with a full comprehensive critique of your current level of abilities and advise what needs to be improved. Your skills also will be assessed as you go task by task. You will know precisely what you have to work on at every step of the curriculum.
Do I need special art materials?
If you have a few graphite pencils, an eraser and drawing paper, you are ready for the course. Additional materials may include a drawing board and a crafts knife. That's all you need to fully benefit from this course.
What drawing tasks will I get?
This depends on your personal curriculum which will be tailored to your current level of skill. Your drawing tasks will cover all the topics mentioned above as well as the topics you would like to learn in addition to our proposed list.
What instructions will I get?
For every task, you will get fully explained and illustrated instructions that you can follow step by step. Every task will be described point by point so it will be very clear to you what to do and how.
Are there any deadlines?
This is a self-paced course. There are no deadlines and no time pressure.
How does the Correspondence Course compare to an art college?
The traditional constructive drawing methods and techniques are the core of the Correspondence Course. Such techniques are not taught in depth at contemporary art colleges.
In a college, you will not get a custom-tailored curriculum developed just for you. In the Correspondence Course, all your educational topics and tasks will be based on such a curriculum so you can learn what you need to improve your personal drawing skills.
As the Life Drawing Academy student, you will have lifetime access to 52 video lessons. It is as good as sitting next to the tutors and watching them drawing in front of your eyes. No teacher at a contemporary art college will ever show you by his own example how to create different masterpieces, giving a step-by-step explanation.
To study at an art college, you would have to relocate, your schedule would be strict, and you would have deadlines to meet. At Life Drawing Academy, you can study in the comfort of your home, you will have your own flexible schedule, and no deadlines.
At a college, your tutoring would be limited. At Life Drawing Academy, you will have a lifetime membership for a one-time fee.
At a college, you would get limited support. At Life Drawing Academy such support is unlimited, available for a lifetime, includes your artworks critiqued, and comes at no extra cost.
A contemporary art college would take up to 4 years of your time and may cost up to $100,000 including relocation, accommodation, tuition, and other fees. This comes with no guarantee that you will actually learn the necessary trade skills.
What will I learn on this course?
You will learn how to draw whatever you see or imagine using constructive drawing and proficient rendering techniques. Depending on your current level of skills and knowledge, a custom-tailored curriculum will be developed for you. This curriculum will include many different topics with up to 100 drawing tasks that will help you to achieve a greater level of drawing skills.
Is this course suitable for beginners?
If you are a complete beginner, this course will be tremendously helpful for you. We will include basic yet very helpful topics for you to begin with and will help you to grow your drawing skills to the advanced level.
If you are an advanced artist, your curriculum will start with a different set of tasks that will include topics you are interested in. For example, this could include how to depict emotions in portrait, how to portray personality of a sitter, how to do genre artworks and so on.
Who are the tutors?
You will have a dedicated team of art tutors – Natalie Richy and Vladimir London who taught many art students and helped them to become professional artists.
Your main tutor will be Vladimir London. Vladimir is an art tutor and creator of several online art courses including Drawing Academy, Anatomy Master Class and Old Masters Academy.
How skills of your art students improved?
Natalie and Vladimir have taught many art students around the world how to draw and paint. You can check their students' progress in the online gallery of Life Drawing Academy and other art courses. You are also welcome to check students' reviews and feedback on the progress they have achieved because of the Life Drawing Academy course tutors.
How will I communicate with tutors?
All communication will be via email. Verbal instructions and critique could be forgotten the next day, but written guidance will be available for as long as you choose to keep it.
Can I talk over a phone or Skype with tutors?
For the reason explained above, we will not waste your time with video calls. You will need to keep the written instructions for future reference. Believe us, there will be a lot of information to take in and there is no way you could remember it the first time, if you hear it over a phone.
Will I become a professional artist by completing this course?
This depends on your goals. If you would like to dedicate your professional life to making fine art, this course will be very helpful in achieving your dream. The information and skills you will learn in the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course are not taught at contemporary art colleges. The know-how you will receive in this course will give you the edge to become a better artist.
Can you guarantee my results?
For legal reasons, we cannot guarantee any results because they do not depend on us: they depend on you.
We can only say that if you follow the curriculum task by task, there is no way to fail. You will get certain skills and know-how from every single task. If you follow our instructions, your new skills will reflect in the quality of art you produce.
Can I get a refund?
Our time is limited and therefore we can only accept a limited number of students. If you are not sure whether you want to became a better artist, please do not take someone else's place.
To help you take responsibility for your decisions, we tell you upfront – there will be no refunds; we will not support your procrastination should you sabotage yourself. Once you enroll, you will have to continue to the end to make your dream come true.
When will my tutoring be completed?
You will finish the Correspondence Course when you have completed all 100 of the drawing tasks to the quality required.
How long will it take for me to complete the course?
This depends on you. If you take one week for every task, it would take you about two years to do this course.
What will happen after the course?
When you complete the Correspondence Course, you will receive a Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence in your name and will have full academy membership for life.
You can send us your artworks for critique at any time. This support is unlimited and comes at no extra cost.
Will this course work for me?
The question should actually be the other way around – will you work to achieve your art goals?
There is simply no way to fail because your drawing skills cannot stay the same as long as you practice the art techniques we will teach you. If you do the tasks one by one, and follow our guidance and suggestions for improvement, this course will work for you and your drawing skills will advance to a higher level.
