Life Drawing Academy News
The World's Best Drawing Course
If you are serious about getting strong drawing skills, watch this video till the end. You will discover the unique curriculum and the World's best drawing course that will push your abilities to the advanced level.
How to Self-Assess Your Drawing Skills
Do you know what is your level of drawing skills according to the standards of classical art education? Many self-taught artists and art students tend to overestimate the level of skills not because they are proud of their achievements, but because they do not know what the standards are. The following information will help to assess your level of drawing skills on the scale from zero to 10.
51 Portrait Drawing Rules
This video is unique, never before all 51 portrait drawing rules were presented in one lesson. These rules are collected from various sources, including sketchbooks by Leonardo da Vinci, classical canons of head and face proportions, as well as discovered by Vladimir London, a Life Drawing Academy tutor.
16 Types of Perspective
In this video, you will discover 16 types of linear perspective and rules of aerial perspective. This video is just a small part of one task from the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, and there are 100 drawing tasks in this course. Imagine how much more you will learn should you take this personal tutoring.
21 Rules of Perspective
There are two main kinds of perspective - linear and aerial. Linear perspective deals with distortions, while aerial with the appearance of objects depending on depth. In this video, you will discover 21 rules of linear perspective.
100 Portrait Drawing Tips
Watch 100 videos on portrait drawing tips
How to Draw Geometric Objects
In the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, you will get special tasks on drawing geometric objects. Most man-made products are designed by combining various solids, such as cubes, prisms, cylinders and spheres. Knowing how to depict such geometric objects will help you to draw more complex things that you see around you or design to your specification. At the same time, such skills are needed for drawing organic and natural things, animals, as well as human portraits and figures.
How to Intersect Geometric Objects
In the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, those students who are interested in technical and constructive drawing, can learn a very special topic - How to Intersect Geometric Objects. This skill is especially needed for architects, product designers, and illustrators, who create new things from imagination and need to depict realistic and precise intersections of various objects.
Contours in Constructive Drawing
The theory of contours is one of the most important parts of constructive drawing. Contours are virtual guides that help to make flat drawings appear three-dimensional. In the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, the topic on contours is explained and demonstrated in depth.
Sculpting and Model Making at Life Drawing Academy
Drawing from life requires models. That is why in the Correspondence Course, you will get tasks on sculpting and making models that you can draw from life. Such models include geometric objects, human skull, head, shoulder girdle, hand, and facial features, Doric and Ionic capitals, and so on. In addition, you will also discover how to sculpt and cold-cast portraits.
How to Draw Figures from Imagination
In the Correspondence Course, you will get multiple tasks on figure drawing and discover how to depict standing, sitting and reclining figures with the necessary knowledge of human body construction, anatomy and proportions.
Why Life Drawing Classes do it wrong
In this video, you will discover why so many art students struggle with drawing realistic figures and portraits from life and have no improvement of their drawing skills despite attending life drawing sessions for years. Also, you will find out how to benefit from life drawing classes, how to learn figurative drawing and where to get the most needed skills of proficient figure and portrait drawing.
The Best Drawing Course
We received questions from Fred, who is interested in taking online courses to improve his drawing abilities. He's wondering which courses are better suited for this purpose. To find the answer, read the communication between Fred and Alex, Life Drawing Academy support member
Eight Reasons to take personal tutoring at Life Drawing Academy
Question from Ethan: "I was wondering which course should I start out with first the Drawing Academy course or the Life Drawing Academy course. I am a complete and total beginner at drawing. Depending on your answer I will enroll in both courses. I will follow through with your art program because it is my dream to become the best graphic drawing artist I could ever be."
How to sketch at life drawing sessions
We received a question from Mauricio, a Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course student about sketching at life drawing sessions and whether to smudge charcoal or not.
Life Drawing Academy vs top Art Ateliers
We received the following question from Vicky: "How does the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course compare to top ateliers, such as the Florence Academy in Italy?"
How to Learn Good Digital Drawing
We received the following message from Amber: "I have always been passionate about art, and I have always wanted to make something out of it. I want to get into digital art and animation. I am also into computer science. I have seen a few videos on your channel, and I like the fact that rigor is emphasized because I genuinely want to be good at it"
How to Learn Drawing and Painting
We received the following message from Dan, who asked how to learn good drawing and painting skills:"I have no art training at all. I'd like to progress to watercolor as well as drawing. Where is the best place to start? Anatomy perhaps? I've no clue about any of this. I'd like to have a solid foundation and then build for the future. What do you advise?"
Children Art School in Novgorod, Russia
Good art skills are not an inborn talent; they are a result of proper art education. There are only few places left where children are taught drawing in accordance with the high standards of classical art education. One of such places is Russia. There, students enter art schools at the age of 9…11. In such art schools, students have lessons on drawing, painting, composition, sculpture, decorative arts and history of arts.
Exterior Drawings by Children Art School Students
Good drawing skills come with proper art education and practice. In some countries, art schools still follow traditions of classical fine art and students are taught proper drawing techniques of drawing from life, including en plein air. Check out some examples of outdoor drawings done by students of such art schools.
How to Draw Birds in Pen and Ink
If you want to learn how to draw birds, in the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, your art tutors will teach you how to do it step by step. Check out some examples of bird drawings done by Vladimir London in pen and ink
Help! I Can't Draw in Pen and Ink
In this video, you will discover: which pen and ink drawing materials you need; which is better - cheap or expensive calligraphy pens; what kind of inks to use; how to sketch portraits in pen and ink; how to make the DIY tools for ink drawing; and where and how you can learn great drawing skills.
How to Draw a Mug with a Handle
In this video tutorial, I will answer questions from Rose, one of the Correspondent Course students and also will show you how to draw a reclining cylinder and a mug with a handle in perspective using constructive drawing principles.
Why you need constructive drawing to draw portraits
Questions from John: "Although it is very nice to see someone practicing faces and heads that are like Greek Statues, would it not be a good idea for learning portraits to do an actual portrait. Isn't it just as important to learn to see the exact distances and lengths on the face of the person in front of you? Could you please advise me if this comment seems ignorant or lacking. I would like to learn."
How to Draw Plants
In the Life Drawing Academy course, students receive unlimited personal tutoring and make 100 drawing tasks. Alex, asked how to draw plants. To see the answer and examples of plant artworks, check out this video
Tree Drawings by Ivan Shishkin
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нoвич Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 - 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter
What is the Best Way to Learn Drawing? Skills vs. Creativity
The ideal approach is when an academic school develops creativity and gives skills simultaneously. That is why, in Russian art school, apart from drawing and painting, students also learn philosophy, economics, history, and all other subjects to get a deeper understanding of the world, to form their personal views, and to develop their creativity.
Becoming an Artist - What students learn in Russian art academies
The skill to draw realistic portraits and figures does not necessarily make someone an artist. To become a fine artist at a high level, students must...
Human Body Proportions in Contrapposto
In this video lesson, you will discover how to draw a female figure standing in contrapposto with the necessary knowledge of a human body proportions.
How to get a strong art education
Learning drawing is not possible by reading 'how to draw' books. This is a long and hard process of practicing, with a teacher polishing students' understanding of drawing principles step by step.
How to Get Good Portrait and Figure Drawing Skills
Discover how to draw good portraits by watching video lessons from the Life Drawing Academy art course
How to Draw Portraits in Profile
How to draw portraits in profile is a skill every proficient fine artist must have. When making portrait drawings, an artist has to use the knowledge of proportions and anatomy, especially when drawing models from life because anatomy is hidden beneath the skin and proportions are not obvious.
How to develop good life drawing skills
In Russia, there is a traditional classical art education system. Unlike in the West, it wasn't derailed in the 20th century. This system steadily and methodically prepares fine artists starting from art schools for children to postgraduate degrees.
Vladimir London Sketchbooks
Making sketches is just one small part of the art education you will receive in the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course. This course will cover all you need to know, from traditional drawing techniques to anatomy for artists and figurative drawing. A dedicated team of art tutors will walk you all the way step-by-step from your current drawing skills to the advanced level.
Sketching Five Portraits a Day
Many beginning artists think that getting good drawing skills requires a lot of time. They also believe that drawing portraits is difficult. Lack of time is one of classic excuses. I will show you how to get good drawing skills with little effort at your end.
How to Sketch a Skull
To draw realistic portraits, an artist must know the anatomy of a human head, its construction and proportions. Good understanding of what lies beneath the skin gives great advantage in portrait drawing. That is why, in this video, I will show you how to make fast sketches of a skull.
How to Learn Anatomy for Artists - Sketchbooks Tour
In this video, I will talk about how to learn anatomy by sketching. Here are some of my sketchbooks where I make anatomical drawings and scribble notes about proportions and construction of a human body, head and face.
Tonal Rendering Rules
In this illustrated article, you will find out how to apply tonal rendering the right way. There are 25 rules you need to know to do it proficiently.
How to render wavy surfaces by cross-hatching
In the Life Drawing Academy Personal Tutoring course, students learn professional tonal rendering skills among many other drawing topics. One of 100 practical tasks in this course is rendering tonal values of wavy surfaces. Rose, a course student, sent a question about directions of hatching strokes.
Drawing from Photos
This video asnswers two questions:- Is Drawing from Photos Art?
- Why is copying photos treacherous?
How to Draw a Torso
What if you have to draw just a torso with no measurements of the head and legs available to build the necessary proportions? In this video, I will demonstrate how to do it.
Book - How to Draw a Portrait
A new book has been published on the topic of how to draw portraits the right way. These step-by-step instructions for beginner artists are written and illustrated by Vladimir London, Life Drawing Academy tutor.
The "How to Draw a Portrait" book is available in both kindle and soft cover formats on Amazon.
How can I learn life drawing from videos
To learn good drawing skills, do not copy artworks you see in the video lessons. Instead, get a sketchbook and write down the sequential steps of how to draw figures and portraits, note the proportions and anatomical features. Then, make your own drawings from life, memory or imagination.
How to Draw Portraits in Perspective
As an art tutor, I often receive portrait artworks for critique. Many drawings have the same common mistakes. One of such mistakes is using an incorrect perspective. To learn how to use the correct kind of perspctive when drawing a portrait, watch this video.
Calligraphy
The word "Calligraphy" originates from Greek kalligraphia, which consists of two roots: kalli- beautiful (from kallos beauty) and -graphia writing; and "beautiful" in the case of calligraphy means artistic, stylized, and elegant.
Fine Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills is ability to make small movements of hands and fingers with high precision of eye-hand coordination. Needless to say, fine motor skills play an important role in making well-crafted drawings. If you can plan and control your finger movements with precision, this will result in better quality of drawings.
How to Learn Sculpting
We received the following message from Evahn, who asked how to learn sculpting:"I am mostly interested in learning how to sculpt the human figure and wonder if taking the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course would be the best way to move forward."
What we can learn about Life Drawing from the Old Masters
One- or two-point perspective is not always suited for drawing portraits and figures from life. The Old Masters knew this very well and were drawing foreshortened figures using orthogonal or parallel perspective. They depicted foreshortening of lengths, while keeping proportions of widths intact.
How to get good skills by drawing just 20 minutes a day
Many art students say: "I don't have time." This is a classic excuse. Every person on this planet has twenty-four hours per day, no more no less. Everyone is equal in this respect. Why do you fill your day with things that prevent you from doing what you love? Here's the truth: it is not a matter of time, but priorities.
How long does it take to learn drawing?
Art students who would like to become fine artists, start their art education in art schools from the age of 9 or 10. By the end of this school, which takes 4 to 5 years, they have very good drawing, painting, decorative arts, composition, and sculpting skills as well a firm knowledge of the history of arts. Art academy entry exams include...
Tonal Rendering Critique - Personal Tutoring at Life Drawing Academy
In the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course, art students from various countries send us their drawings for critique together with questions they have. We provide constructive feedback and advice on how to improve their drawing skills. Here's an example of such communication between Mike, a Correspondence Course student from Greece and Vladimir London, Life Drawing Academy tutor.
How to Divide Depth in Perspective
In this video, you will discover how to divide depth in one- and two-point perspective. This method was described by Piero della Francesca in his book "De prospectiva pingendi". Leonardo da Vinci took this method further, bending the rules of drawing in perspective to achieve better looking artworks.
How to Spot Mistakes in Perspective Drawing
Drawing in perspective is one of the most important topics when it comes to depicting any three-dimensional object on a flat surface. Whatever you draw - a simple geometric figure or a portrait - it has to be in correct perspective. In this lesson, you will discover some very helpful tips for spotting mistakes in perspective drawing.
How to measure angles with a pencil
How to measure angles from life is one of the most fundamental skills to have. It is especially useful when you draw objects in perspective. This knowledge helps to draw not only vanishing lines, but any tilted lines you see in life.
How to Measure Relative Proportions with a Pencil
Measuring relative proportions is one of the most fundamental skills every fine artist must have. Without this skill, it is impossible to make proportionate and realistic artworks. In this article, you will discover how to measure proportions using a pencil.
15 Elements of Composition
In this video, you will discover 15 Elements of Composition that you can use to compose beautiful works of art to tell a story, induce emotions, and pass the message to viewers...
How to Render Tonal Values
In this video, you will find out how to sculpt a sphere and draw it from life with the necessary knowledge of tonal values terminology...
Golden Proportions in Art
In this video, you will find out what golden proportion or golden ratio is and how to use it in art...
Encaustic by Vladimir London
Discover the ancient techniques of encaustic painting revived by Vladimir London, the encaustic artist and art tutor
Drawing Vermeer
In this video, Vladimir London, Life Drawing Academy tutor, makes fast sketches of 28 Vermeer's masterpieces at the Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Never before have so many of this Old Master's artworks been arranged together. To see Vermeer's paintings and Vladimir's sketches, check out this video.
How to scale drawings
In this video, you will find out to scale drawings using a proportional caliper. A good proportional caliper is one of the sculptor's most useful tools. However, it can be handy not only for making sculptures, but also for scaling up or down drawings. If you don't have such a tool, it is easy to make one yourself...
Is life drawing required for designers?
If a student receives a limited spectrum of art education, this will limit his or her ability to create good works of art. These days, we see narrow specialization in many design schools. Watch this video to discover how you can benefirt from the Life Drawing Academy courtses...
Drawing skills for industrial designers
At Life Drawing Academy, we regularly receive questions and comments from students from all over the world. Gabriel asks: "I am currently studying industrial design, where drawing from imagination and rapid sketching of ideas are essential skills. I'm curious to know if the program you offer could indirectly assist me in improving these skills."
Why life drawing classes do it wrong
In this video, you will find out why drawing in chalks and charcoal slows down your learning curve, why making fast sketches is not the best way of learning life drawing, and why it is important to use constructive drawing principles when drawing from life...
How to compose drawings with correct layout and scale
When it comes to composing a drawing, there are three common mistakes to avoid: incorrect paper layout, incorrect scale, and incorrect balance. In this video, you will find out four steps that will help you to draw a well-balanced composition.
VIDEO - How to Measure with a Pencil from life
There are five main ways to measure: measuring vertical alignments, measuring horizontal alignments, measuring angles, measuring cross points, and measuring relative proportions. To find out how to use a pencil to measure from life,
How to Develop Good Rendering Skills
In this video, you will discover how to develop good rendering skills; how to hold a pencil the right way, and how to do proficient hatching and cross-hatching.
VIDEO - How to develop good pencil hatching skills
In this video, you will discover how to develop good pencil hatching skills using simple drawing exercises. These exercises will help to achieve fast speed of hatching, ability to hatch strokes at any angle and length, and effortless hatching on autopilot that depends on muscle memory.
VIDEO - How to Use Pencils - Candle Grip
In this video, you will discover how to use the candle grip - the way to hold a pencil when drawing on a vertically positioned board. This grip allows to make long lines, both straight and curved, with ese and precision. This is an essential drawing skill every fine artist must have.
How to Hold a Pencil
When drawing long lines on a vertically positioned drawing board, it is better to use the "candle" grip. This grip allows making straight and curved lines by moving not just fingers, but the whole hand or arm. This video demonstrates how to hold a pencil with the candle rip the right way.
VIDEO - How to Sharpen a Pencil the Right Way
In this video, you will discover how to sharpen a pencil the right way. It is an essential skill every artist must have. Unfortunately, many art colleges do not bother to teach this skill. A well-sharpened pencil should have the cone length about three centimeters.
How to Stretch Drawing Paper
In this video, I will show you how to stretch drawing paper. This question was asked by Rose, one of the Life Drawing Academy Correspondence Course members. She wanted to know how to stretch paper the right way and we made a special video demonstration to provide our students the best guidance and advice.
VIDEO - How to learn drawing figures and portraits from life
Life Drawing Academy™ is the ultimate course for artists who would like to achieve advanced levels of figure and portrait drawing skills. It is presented online by professional fine artists and art teachers and includes video lessons and personal support by the Academy tutors.
What is the Best Way to Learn Life Drawing?
Life drawing - recreating the human figure - is one of the most challenging of art forms. Many people labor under the myth that great artists are born; that unless you've been blessed you will never paint or draw like a maestro. This is far from the truth...
Artist's Block - How to Get Motivated
Hard-work is much more important than a talent. That is why they say that 5% of talent and 95% of work make a great artist. Above all, I wish you to be driven by your hard work; talent will come...
Huion Kamvas Pro 19 - Manga Drawing by Vladimir London
In this video, you will see how to make a manga artwork using the Kamvas Pro 19 pen-display. This display has 4K ultra-HD, the Pentech 4 pen technology, comes with two pens, supports finger touch, and a second-generation low sparkle anti-glare etched glass. It has a wide color gamut and colors are calibrated at the factory.
How to Draw a Portrait on Huion Kamvas Pro 24 (4K) Display
In this video, you will see the complete process of drawing this manga artwork on Huion Kamvas Pro 24 (4K) Display. If you are a digital artist, illustrator or designer, this display is a great tool to have.
Huion KeyDial Mini - Portrait Drawing
In this video, you will see how Huion Keydial Mini can help in digital drawing.
Contemporary Life Drawing Artists
If you had to choose the greatest life drawing artist ever, it wouldn't be an easy task. So what about the contemporary crop of life drawing artists? Who, living today, are the best artists at drawing the human figure from real life?
Three Life Drawing Artists of the 20th Century
In the second half of the 20th century, time-honored values of traditional fine art have been steadily replaced by modern art. Although the interest in figurative art remained, life drawing would become more expressionist and less anatomical as artists found ways to reinvent how they depict a human body...
Why Life Drawing is Important for a Figurative Fine Artist
Life Drawing, also known as Figure Drawing, is the practice of drawing in order to study the human figure in detail. Some academic environments offer this approach through the drawing from sculptures or casts of the figure. After that practice, the students have to represent a live model, which will either be dressed, semi-clothed or nude...
What artists of the past say about life drawing
Leonardo was a master of human anatomy, performing a great number of exhaustive sketches of muscles, tendons and other anatomical features. He planned to include his drawings in a treaty about anatomy, but the project remained incomplete, thus the unpublished drawings remained with his private papers...
How artists studied life drawing
Life drawing is a representation of the human subject in any of its various forms and positions using any style or type of drawing. Life drawing also includes the studies on individual details such as drapes, anatomical parts, facial expressions, etc. In addition to the living model, through history the artists made use of wooden dummies...
