DrawingAcademy

The Four Continents, an allegory

July 23, 2018September 26, 2018

Article by Jimena Escoto

Since the beginning artists have tried to represent those things which are abstract by transforming them into persons, thus allegories. We see rivers, mountains, feelings, and many other things acquire human forms with personalities. One of my favorite allegories is the “Four continents”, i.e. Europe, Asia, Africa, and America (Oceania haven’t been totally discovered, and those islands who were known weren’t considered as a different continent yet). During the seventeenth century, with the discovery of the American continent, artists were inspired to depict this “new” continent with its companions. The question is, how do you represent them? They’re not exactly abstract, as they do have a shape and location, but painters wouldn’t design just another map, would they?

Drawing by Angel

July 23, 2018April 24, 2019

My great opportunity

My name is Angel, I am 24 and I live in Cuba. I do not remember when I started to draw, I think I do it since I have consciousness. Since I was a child I was drawing because it seemed magical to me that with just paper and pencil you could create anything just by imagining it.

My dream was to be like Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo.

Vasari and his legacy

July 19, 2018September 26, 2018

Article by Jimena Escoto

The society and the educational system of today prepare us to be specialists. Either you are a doctor, or a mathematician, or an artist. Hardly, though not impossible, you’ll find someone with more than one college degree, especially in different areas of knowledge. However, in the 16th century, this was not the case; as a matter of fact, if you were dedicated only to one specialty, you were kind of average and not interesting at all. During the Renaissance, we find architects who also painted and sculpted masterpieces, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. They were complete artists. We can say that Giorgio Vasari belongs to that exclusive group, he was a painter, architect, art historian and a writer.

Drawing by Andrès González Shuttleworth

July 18, 2018April 24, 2019

Hello,

I started painting two years ago. But I found that I didn’t have enough drawing skills to achieve a good rendering of the subjects. I do all my paintings and drawings from life.

Artwork by Jivko Stoyanov

July 18, 2018April 24, 2019

Biologist Painting Biology and Biologists

I am a biologist and work on back pain and spine. I started to paint six years ago and do about 3 hours of painting a week – mostly portraits, because I find the faces very fascinating.

July 18, 2018April 24, 2019

Completing my journey

Drawing by Jerry Spivak I loved to draw as a child, but as an adult I put that pastime aside until several years ago when the desire reappeared and refused to be ignored.

While drawing on my own, I soon realized that I needed instruction to achieve competence to my satisfaction. So with trepidation about “going back to school”, I enrolled in an introductory evening drawing course at our local art college and loved it. Unfortunately, I was the least competent student in the class. So I pushed on and tried the next level course with –naturally- the same result. After a third try, this time working with pastel rather charcoal, unsurprisingly, the results were similar, and no fault of very patient and talented instructors. By now, my frustration had turned to dismay and disappointment because I was inept at a pastime I deeply wanted to pursue on a long term basis. I gave myself one last chance by seeking help at a private art school, with even more trepidation, because I thought they were not in the habit of taking on rank beginners.

July 17, 2018April 24, 2019
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The dreamland

I would like to become a children book illustrator and need good drawing skills.

Even from when I was a kid, I loved art and considered it my passion. Once I moved to New York and went into middle school, my confidence as an artist began to decrease as I started to see all these other artists in my school. I definitely did try my hardest and ending up landing myself in first place at the school art show. Ever since then I started to really believe in my skills again.

Now that I am in high school, my drawing skills have increased very much. Along the way I have created several art pieces from class and at home, I made some for my friends and teachers.

July 16, 2018October 28, 2025

Classical portrait drawing by Zora

Artwork by Drawing Academy student

This portrait was quite challenging, especially falling shadows on the face, curls and the background. However, previous lessons from the Drawing Academy lesson plan gave me such confidence that I was not in doubt at any moment in the process about being capable of completing this step. With the support and gentle guidance of Drawing academy video lessons as well as discipline, perseverance and attention to detail from my part it seems as if everything is possible. Discipline in completing this task taught me, too, how not to give into comfort also in other fields of life.

July 16, 2018October 28, 2025
1 Comment

Artwork by John H. Knight

John H. Knight,
Cleveland OH, US.

July 16, 2018April 24, 2019
1 Comment

Art Art has always been a part of my life since a young age, always liked to draw, and enjoyed the creations artist’s made in comic books. I would try to draw the figures I…