Review from Suely Porto Curi, Drawing Academy graduate

Future Classic

I am a 46 year old artist from Brazil, who discovered art relatively late in my life, yet I still have the opportunity to study art academically.

I am very fortunate to be a student of the Drawing Academy. Here, I developed my skills and knowledge about art.

My spark for painting was triggered when I was studying the history of arts in the Vrij Academy in The Netherlands. To begin, I enrolled in a painting class for beginners; it opened my mind to the complexity of painting. After three months I found myself not progressing for the lack of academic background in that class, therefore I registered for a classical atelier with life models. I quickly became frustrated as the instructor insisted on solely drawing “what you see” although I wanted to learn a step by step method. I read numerous art books; some of the most insightful I found were Andrew Loonies’s, Charles Bargue, George B. Bridgman’s and Juliet Aristide’s books. Nevertheless, I still struggled to produce artworks that I aspired.

I stumbled upon the Drawing Academy; this course is exactly what I was looking for. Here I was learning “to draw what you know rather than what you see”, which is contrary to what I was previously taught.

Drawing Academy has given me confidence to do well-structured drawings. I learned how use new materials, techniques, how to apply proportions and anatomy. I also found the book by Vladimir London on How to Draw a Portraits in the 3/4 view most helpful.

As I live near the Rijksmeaseum in Amsterdam and take advantage of practicing drawing alongside the museum’s paintings as recommended in the course.

My ultimate goal is to paint any original art in oil on canvas, so I’m in pursuit of finding my own signature style. The course has given me important tools but there is still a long way to go.

I would definitely recommend the Drawing Academy course. Having the comfort of doing lessons in your own home allows to continuously practice at any spare time. In addition, such features as “critique my artwork” and “ask tutors question” (including feedback from other students) and art articles I receive by email have truly been beneficial. This is a life time treasure that has guided me and given me confidence to start painting.

Kindest Regards,
Suely Porto Curi