FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy Courses

• What is the Life Drawing Academy™?
• Who are Life Drawing Academy tutors?
• What does the Life Drawing Academy Online Course offer?
• What does the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course offer?
• Are there any assignments for Life Drawing Academy students?
• What personal support will I get in the Online Course?
• What personal tutoring will I get in the Correspondence Course?
• What art materials will I need for the Life Drawing Academy lessons?
• Is this course suitable for complete beginners or advanced artists?
• Do I have to draw what I see in the video lessons?
• How long are the video lessons?
• In what languages video lessons are available?
• Can I download the video lessons to my computer?
• How long will I be able to access the course?
• Where can I see artworks by the Life Drawing Academy students and academy tutors' feedback?
• Can I check the Life Drawing Academy free demo?

Questions about the price, payments, and refunds

• How much does the Life Drawing Academy membership cost?
• Can I purchase a Life Drawing Academy membership as a gift for my kids, spouse, or friends?
• Will there be any additional payments in the future?
• What is the refund policy?

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy membership

• How do I set up my Life Drawing Academy account?
• Is this course compatible with tablets and smartphones?
• Can I cancel my membership?
• Can I re-join the Drawing Academy after cancellation?

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence

• What is the Diploma of Excellence?
• When will I receive the Diploma?
• Are there any exams?

• What if I have any technical questions?
• I have a question that is not answered here.

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy Courses

What is the Life Drawing Academy™?

The Life Drawing Academy is an online education resource for figurative artists who would like to learn how to draw realistic figures and portraits from life.

Life Drawing Academy consists of two courses:

• Life Drawing Online Course
• Life Drawing Correspondence Course

Who are Life Drawing Academy tutors?

Life Drawing Academy is led by Vladimir London, Natalie Richy and Alexander Ryzhkin, professional fine artists and art teachers.

What does the Life Drawing Academy Online Course offer?

In the Life Drawing Academy Online Course, you will get:

• Lifetime membership—you can study at your own pace
• Unlimited access to 52 "How to draw from life" video lessons (more than 20 hours of playing time)
• Course assignments
• Personal support from the Academy tutors, which includes artwork critiques and answers to your art questions
• A place in the Students Gallery
• Members-only Life Drawing Academy newsletter
• Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence upon completion

What does the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course offer?

In the Correspondence Course, you will get a dedicated art tutor for a lifetime, who will teach you drawing skills on a one-to-one basis.

The Correspondence Course includes all the benefits of the Online Course. In addition, it provides unlimited personal tutoring, which is custom-tailored to your level of drawing skills and needs.

In the life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, you will get:

• All that is included in the Life Drawing Academy Course
• Unlimited lifetime personal art tutoring
• Dedicated team of art tutors
• Assessment of your current level of drawing skills
• Detailed description of your drawing skill gaps and areas to be improved
• Custom-crafted plan to improve your drawing skills
• Individual curriculum of up to 100 drawing tasks
• Personal, one-to-one tutoring
• Detailed instructions for every drawing task
• Assessment report and suggestions for improvement for every drawing task
• Upgrades of your personal curriculum depending on your progress the development of your drawing skills

Are there any assignments for Life Drawing Academy students?

The Online Course comes with special assignments you may do to learn practical life drawing skills. Alternatively, you are welcome to work on your own creative projects. Either way, as a course student, you are welcome to send your artworks for critique and ask tutors questions at any time. There are no limits and no deadlines. You can study at your own pace.

What personal support will I get in the Online Course?

You will enjoy unlimited personal support from the course tutors, which is provided for the lifetime of the course. It comes at no extra charge and includes:

• Answers to your art-related questions
• Artwork critiques
• Suggestions of what skills need to be improved and how to improve them

All personal support is provided in writing via email, so you will never lose or forget what was said and advised.

What personal tutoring will I get in the Correspondence Course?

As a Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course student, you will get all the personal support offered in the Life Drawing Academy Online Course. Beyond that, however, you will receive dedicated, one-to-one tutoring, which is unlimited, comes for a lifetime, and is tailored to your individual skills and needs.

This is as good as having your very own art tutors for a lifetime for a one-time payment. No other art college or university will ever offer you the same opportunity.

What art materials will I need for the Life Drawing Academy lessons?

Life Drawing Academy lessons are not about mediums and drawing materials but rather the fundamental principles of figurative drawing, which will be the same regardless what medium you use—graphite pencils, charcoal, colored chalks, or oil paints.

Human body proportions and anatomy and the sequential steps of figurative and constructive drawing principles will be the same whether you draw with pencils on paper or with a finger on sand.

If you have an HB or 3B graphite pencil, an eraser, and some drawing paper, you are fully prepared for the Life Drawing Academy lessons.

Is this course suitable for complete beginners or advanced artists?

Ideally, you need some basic drawing skills to fully benefit from the Life Drawing Academy video lessons. If you don't know how to hold a pencil and draw a line, you should consider taking the Drawing Academy course first.

Also, good figurative skills depend on the knowledge of human anatomy for artists. You can learn this topic fast in the Anatomy Master Class.

If you are a complete beginner and would still like to enroll in the Life Drawing Academy, it would be better to go for the Correspondence Course, where dedicated art tutors will assess your current level of drawing skills and create your very own drawing curriculum tailored to your skills. With the tutors' help, you will bridge the missing drawing skills quickly and efficiently.

If you are an intermediate art student and would like to improve your portrait-drawing skills, Life Drawing Academy is an ideal place to elevate your figurative skills to the next level.

If you are an advanced artist, you will find this academy immensely useful, as its tutors reveal drawing know-how that is taught in the best art academies in the world. Some educational materials were created by the academy tutors—these materials are totally new and unique to this academy and not available anywhere else. This is your only chance to learn from professional art teachers who are great artists as well.

Do I have to draw what I see in the video lessons?

We want you to become a skillful and original fine artist; that is why we advocate learning life drawing, not copying skills. You do not have to draw what you see in video lessons—that is called copying.

Instead, we want you to watch the video lessons one by one, take notes on how to develop a figurative artwork from a clean sheet of paper to a finished drawing, note the proportions and anatomical features explained in the video, and memorize drawing tips and know-how. Then, we advise you to draw a similar pose from life using the new information you've learned from the video lesson.

This way, you will develop life drawing skills. You will be able to draw figures and portraits with the necessary knowledge of proportions, anatomy, and drawing steps rather than merely copying someone else's artworks or photos.

In the Life Drawing Academy, you will get the know-how and knowledge you can use to draw from life any model's pose, from any angle, in any medium.

How long are the video lessons?

There are 52 video lessons, and some have several parts. There are more than 70 video parts, with a total playing time of more than 20 hours.

In what languages video lessons are available?

The video lessons are available only in English. Every video comes with English subtitles that you can read and translate if English is not your first language.

Can I download the video lessons to my computer?

The Life Drawing Academy video lessons are only available for streaming online. You can watch them on any internet-connected device that supports standard HTML5 video playback (similar to YouTube).

You cannot download the videos to your computer. This policy protects our products' copyright. Any violation of this policy will be prosecuted in accordance with international laws.

How long will I be able to access the course?

You will have lifetime access to all video lessons and educational materials. Lifetime refers to the life span of the Life Drawing Academy website. All video lessons are available to watch online 24/7. There is no expiration or deadline.

Where can I see artworks by the Life Drawing Academy students and academy tutors' feedback?

Please check the Students Gallery to view students' artworks and the critique provided by the Life Drawing Academy tutors.

You may also check what our students say here »

Can I check the Life Drawing Academy free demo?

To get a good understanding of what the Life Drawing Academy course is, you can subscribe for a free demo.

As a free subscriber, you will receive access to several selected video lessons from the online course.

In addition, as our free newsletter subscriber, you will get valuable bonuses, news, and updates from the Life Drawing Academy, featured artwork critiques, and advice on how to improve life drawing skills, as well as valuable offers you don't want to miss. You can unsubscribe in one click at any time.

Questions about the price, payments, and refunds

How much does the Life Drawing Academy membership cost?

You can enroll in the Life Drawing Academy Online Course at a heavily discounted price of only $297. For this one-time fee, you will have a lifetime membership and unlimited support from the academy tutors.

The one-to-one personal tutoring included in the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course is also available for a lifetime at a fraction of its real value. You can get a dedicated personal art tutor for a one-time fee of only $997.

Can I purchase a Life Drawing Academy membership as a gift for my kids, spouse, or friends?

Absolutely! We are certain your loved ones will be grateful to you for such a wonderful gift.

Will there be any additional payments in the future?

The discounted price you pay today is the only fee for your lifetime membership and unlimited support from the academy tutors.

What is the refund policy?

Our service and online video lessons are an intangible product and as such cannot be returned by a user. Therefore, according to the Sales and Service Policy you agree to when purchasing, there are no refunds once you've received the access to the art course.

You are welcome to contact us and describe your circumstances if you think your case is exceptional.

Should you mistakenly purchase two or more memberships instead of one, your overpayment will be refunded.

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy membership

How do I set up my Life Drawing Academy account?

After payment, you will be automatically redirected to the account setup page. If you have any troubles with account setup, please contact us, and we will do it for you.

Is this course compatible with tablets and smartphones?

Yes, you can watch the video lessons on any Internet-connected device, including iPads and smartphones. Please make sure your device supports the HTML5 video format (similar to YouTube).

Can I cancel my membership?

Yes. You can cancel your Life Drawing Academy membership at any time.

Keep in mind, we cannot issue refunds for cancelled courses.

Can I re-join the Drawing Academy after cancellation?

Yes, you can. Please note, should you decide to re-join the academy later on, we cannot guarantee the current membership price, as it may go up in a future.

Questions about the Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence

What is the Diploma of Excellence?

Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence is issued to commemorate your achievement of completing the course and putting your new knowledge into practice.

When will I receive the Diploma?

You can apply for the Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence at any time after three months since enrollment; there is no deadline.

Are there any exams?

Although there are no exams, a Life Drawing Academy Diploma of Excellence is not awarded automatically.

To receive a Diploma, you need to provide your feedback about the course with at least two artworks—one from before you took the course or right when you started, and another from after you completed it. This feedback will be used to improve our service and the course.

Your story and artworks may be published on the Life Drawing Academy website.

What if I have any technical questions?

We provide all necessary Customer Support.

I have a question that is not answered here.

Please contact us. We will be happy to help.