Critique My Artworks

Drawings by Steven Nielsen, Drawing Academy student

Vladimir,

I was attempting practice shading and gamut of pencil strokes. Here’s Sarah’s portrait. I feel that I may have overdone this drawing.

I feel I need to work on my hatching skills either I am impatient or I just hatch in a controlled chaos type of way.

I will be going to local studio on Wednesdays soon for life model drawing and I am a bit nervous about this as I am not the fastest drawer, but we shall see how this works out! …

Dear Steven,

I like your drawings! You are doing a great job drawing from life and copying classical busts. It is very good to study from classical sculptures.

I understand that you don’t have access to traditional galleries and museums with classical art. Nevertheless, making self-portraits and drawing your family members and friends is a great way to draw from life. I would also suggest that you ask the people around you if they would be willing to have their portraits done free of charge, so you will have free models and they will receive something in exchange.

In regard to the portrait of the hero Meleager, it is very good; however, there some points you may want to consider: …

Drawing and questions by Suresh, Drawing Academy student

Hello Vladimir and Natalie,

I have recently subscribed to your excellent course and I have learnt a great deal so far.

Ever since I was young I did some form of drawing/sketching, and it was all self-taught. The last time I did any drawing was about 37 years ago!

Recently, for some reason, my interest in art was re-awakened and your website “lit my motivational fire,” so to speak. As the saying goes, “when the student is ready the teacher will arrive;” and here you are, to whom I have gladly subscribed! …

Artwork by Johann Krammer

Dear Vladimir,

I do not know if airplanes are an appropriate topic here in this community, but airplanes are a very good way for me to develop my painting skills.

It is much easier for me to paint technical surfaces than it is to paint human faces.

For me, it is the preliminary step to painting human faces (I failed at my first try), so I can learn about the how different painting media behave. But I remember a statement in your videos that it is not important what you are drawing.

My question is not about how to draw or how to paint airplanes, it is more a question of how to guide the interest of the viewer to the most interesting points in a picture.
The picture shows a pilot in his airplane. The picture is not finished now…

Drawing by Ray Habyan, Drawing Academy student

I have started working on this portrait from a photograph.

This portrait was laid out exclusively using known proportions instead of plotting from the photo.

I think the drawing will look darker once I add the background, so I am not going to darken anything at this point.

Please Critique.

Questions from Newton Ochieng Olonde, Drawing Academy Art Competition winner Back at home (Kenya) the Art market is very small. The majority of clients say “Art is very expensive”. The few “good” clients like abstract… 

Artwork by Malvina James, Drawing Academy student Feedback from Vladimir London, Drawing Academy Tutor Hi Malvina, Thank you for your drawing. I like it very much. Well done! I hope you enjoyed the botanical drawing.… 

Drawing by Ronnie Rayner Larter

This is my latest attempt at drawing a local scene (Lowestoft Lighthouse) using an H and HB graphite pencil. I feel the hatching method has given the drawing an element of life…

Hi Ray,

As promised, I will give you my feedback on your drawings.

First of all, you have a talent and most importantly, you have a passion. It will lead to results you want to achieve. In regard to drawing techniques, there’s always a room for improvement, no matter how great an artists is.

Here’s what I see in your drawings:

1. You need to learn how to draw what you know rather than copy what you see. This is the most important point from the list. This rule applies to every point below.

2. You are very accurate and want artworks to be perfect. Sometimes less is more. You are an artist and therefore have creative license not to draw with precision every part of a face you see on a photo. You can decide what parts you want a viewer to focus on and render other parts with less attention….