The Blog | Drawing Tutorials Online Blog

How To Draw A Ten Minute Gesture Of The Figure

by Matthew | Feb 11, 2020 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 2 comments

I just recently added a new figure drawing to the members area of Drawing Tutorials Online. This course is title Figure Drawing Class Exercises.

There are so many more diverse ways of teaching in the classroom versus online. The options for creativity in the classroom is endless. You can incorporate the student in activities you just cannot do online.

The purpose of this course is not to complete the perfect drawing, quite the contrary. The purpose of this course is to share with you many of the short style twenty minute exercises completed in class.

The drawing in the video below is the type of drawing I have my students do often in the classroom. A simple top to bottom line/gesture drawing of the model using minimal shape.

The goal of this exercise to gain confidence by constantly drawing the figure from head to toe in ten minutes. Starting again, starting another one, and then another one. Kind of like doing drills.

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video. Make sure you get to a life drawing class and draw some quick ones. Don’t be perfect, just have fun.

Jinny’s Sketchbook – Incredible Diversity

by Matthew | Feb 1, 2020 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog

Jinny kind of flies under the radar in class, she is super quiet. However, her art work is certainly not quiet at all. Jinny is super talented, she experiments with many diverse styles of art. In my opinion, this is what every first year student should do.

Jinny is the type of student that will, out of the blue, shock you with an incredible life drawing in class. It’s so cool flipping through her sketchbook, you are not sure what to expect next. It’s amazing to see how many styles she is flirting with.

Jinny is certainly using first year of college to find her style. I’m not sure if she will land on one particular style, and that is okay. She can pull that off.

There are so many drawings in Jinny’s sketchbook that I can just sit with and enjoy. I hope you will do the same.

Check out Jinny’s Instagram. Thanks again Jinny for sharing your art.

Haveson’s Sketchbook

by Matthew | Jan 3, 2020 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog

Haveson was enrolled in my class for just one semester. Unfortunately Haveson was pretty sick for most of the semester. Although I am very happy to have had them in class.

Haveson’s work is very much centered around character design. My philosophy on becoming a professional artist, draw mainly what you love. It’s hard enough to become a professional artist, you might as well draw what you love.

With that being said, I also encourage students to experiment a lot during their first year at college. It’s so super important to draw many driverse things in your sketchbook early on.

Check out Haveson’s Instagram. Thanks again Haveson for sharing your art.

Merlin’s Sketchbook – Details

by Matthew | Dec 14, 2019 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog | 6 comments

Merlin is currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School Of Visual Arts.

What I love about Merlin’s sketchbook is the variety. She challenges herself to draw many diverse things. From birds, to interiors, to the figure to fan art, variety is her thing.

When you are on a journey to learn how to draw, a great thing to do, especially at the beginning of your journey is to draw diverse things. This will open your up to see what you like to draw.

Merlin has such strong line, she is very confident with her artwork, she powers in the lines beautifully.

The other great aspect of looking into Merlin’s sketchbook, you can tell right away that she is having fun with what she is drawing. She is diving right into drawing difficult poses and things like complicated birds. Do your best to follow Merlin’s lead, having fun while challenging yourself to improve.

Check out Merlin’s Instagram. Thanks again Merlin for sharing your art. I look forward to your next sketchbook.

Kaylee’s Sketchbook

by Matthew | Nov 30, 2019 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog

Kaylee is currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School Of Visual Arts. She is an A+ student, to say the least.It was pretty cool to hear that she has been watching DTO’s sketchbook videos since grade school.

I forget how long I have been filming them. I guess since the first generation iPhone came out.

If you stick with Kaylee’s sketchbook video you can really see her progress. Towards the end of her first sketchbook, she is drawing in a looser way. Most of her drawings have a lot of movement.

When you see the beginning of her second sketchbook that is where we really see her progress.

Kaylee did flip through her sketchbook a little fast. But if you look hard enough you can find some awesome little gems.

Definitely check out Kaylee’s Instagram. Her artwork is pretty amazing there. There is lot’s of digital color work with movement. Thanks again Kaylee for sharing your art.

Coaching Options

by Matthew | Nov 26, 2019 | Teaching, The Blog

Sean signed up to the One Month Coaching roughly three weeks ago. He was gracious enough to allow me to share part of his coaching critique with you.

Sean’s goal for the month is to improve his digital portrait paintings. He has improved immensely over the last three weeks. Would you ever consider hiring a coach? It is another expense no doubt.

I have hired coaches in the past, let’s just say I had a good experience. I hired a business coach, we met weekly. It was great to have someone on my side helping me achieve my goals.

There were things that he could see from the outside looking in that I would have never seen if I kept plodding along.

What I liked was being held accountable. It was certainly a challenge to fit the work in for the weekly deadline, but it was worth it.

I have also hired software coaches as well as a fitness coach. I felt empowered with their help. The problem is when the coaching is over. Sometimes we find ourselves going sideways instead of forwards.

That is why I have added an additional option to my coaching services.

Yes, I have the one month option which is great, not too short, not too long. I also offer the two-month coaching. Admittedly this is certainly for type-A personalities who are on a mission.

I have now added a bi-weekly subscription-based option for $87 a month.

What that includes is a forty-five-minute personalized critique followed up with a forty-five-minute phone call, every other week.

This new bi-weekly coaching option works great as a follow up to one or two month options.

Considering the time and effort put into the critique and call the price is well worth it. This monthly option will keep you heading towards your goals like never before.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in let me know. I would be happy to answer your questions.

To have a professional artist who has been teaching for twenty-two years at the School Of Visual Arts study and analyze your work to see how you can improve for $87. per month is totally worth it.

Not to mention having either years worth of experience working as a freelance illustrator for some of the biggest publishing companies in the world, including National Geographic Explorer, Bantam DoubleDay Dell, as well as Scholastic just to name a few.

You can find out more about the coaching here.