[simon-levenson]

Hello Everyone, 

My name is Simon Levenson, I am the founder of Drawing America. 

I am an oil painter and an instructor of drawing and painting in New York City. 

Drawing has been an essential part of my life since I drew alongside my older brother when we were young children. My initial goal was to be as good as he was. That desire to learn and improve lasts to this day for me. 

Perhaps more important than ambition and a desire for self-improvement, drawing is for me a type of meditation and a relationship that I have with myself. It can both excite and calm me but always it is a way to check-in and see how I am doing at any given moment. It is a daily practice.

I hope you will share some of what makes drawing special for you in this forum. We are thrilled to have you here. 

I teach oil painting at The Art Students Leauge, and drawing at The Morgan Library & Museum and The National Arts Club. 

[Christopher_B]

Hello everyone,

My name is Chris Boitz,

I am logging in from Portland Ore.

I enrolled on here because after a hiatus of drawing for years I resumed regular figure drawing regularly this past Summer and can’t get enough. I am working on my skills to hopefully get yo a point where I like my drawings, then I would like to start painting. I stumbled on Will Weston’s teaching recently and have been wishing that I could go to Art Center and learn from him, but I am already broke paying off student loans from the first time I went to Art School! I was very excited to find out about these series. Already today, on day one watching the videos, I have worked out some issues that were at the top of my improvement agenda. I can’t wait to soak up more. Thank you so much for these! 

[drawingamerica]

Hi Chris, Thank you for sharing your background with us. We’d love to track your improvement as you study. Please keep us posted. 

[Christopher_B]

Will do. Thank you for the interest.

[Thomas_Tzortzi]

I am Thomas Tzortzi a Designer from London, UK.

I have enrolled due to a long term need to draw with more clarity and have seen a number of Will Weston’s instagram posts which break down the process of drawing in a ‘fun’ way. I draw for work but architecture and design is a very different drawing discipline to the organic forms of figures and landscapes.

You can’t see much of my artwork out there’s  but I am hoping this forum becomes a great platform to share drawings and progress. 

[drawingamerica]

Hello Thomas,

Thank you for sharing your information. It’s great to have designers, fine artists and those in the entertainment industry sharing this platform. We also hope it becomes a place for members to share their passion for drawing. 

Welcome aboard… 

Simon 

[KCWeakley]

Hello! I’m KC Weakley, a regular at Monday and Friday night sessions at the National Arts Club here in NYC. Here’s a pic of a drawing I did last night of the incredible model, Michael. This was about 1.5 hours of drawing time. Graphite on Strathmore Heavyweight. 24″ x 18″. Enjoy! 

[drawingamerica]

Hi KC, thank you for posting this image. KC drew last night with Drawing New York (our local chapter of Drawing America).  KC how long have we been drawing together now? 

Simon 

[yu.z.art]

I am Yulia Zaporozhets a 2d artist from Kyiv, Ukraine. I really enjoy that endless process of getting new knowledge and art skills. I’ve attached some of my anatomy drawings.

Thanks and good luck!

[drawingamerica]

Hi Yuliia, These are terrific. Did you copy them from a book? If so which one. I think we could all earn by copying drawings like these. The last one looks like Gottfried Bammes who is one of my favorites. Thank you for posting. Simon

[ryanmalm]

Hello! My name is Ryan Malm. I make my living as a software developer and graphic designer for the US Air Force. At home I draw and paint for my own amusement and self-improvement, consume new training materials when I can.  I’ve been following Will Weston on Instagram for quite some time, and was elated to find out he had new online courses available here, so here I am.  You can see my personal art at http://www.instagram.com/Ryan.b.malm.  I’ve always loved drawing, it’s part of who I am and the creative charge and sense of accomplishment I get from filling sketchbooks fills my bucket.  

[drawingamerica]

Welcome aboard Ryan. What an interesting job you have. This series of drawings look like you really have a feel for the materials and design. 

[Aleksey Nisenboym]

Hi everyone I’m Aleksey,

I’m in NYC. I signed up for Will Weston’s classes because I follow his instagram and find his explanations easy to follow and understand. I’ve always wished I could afford art school so this is amazing. I’m currently working retail (for the last 7 years) and it’s awful. I would like to become a professional illustrator, comics and cartooning are my dream. More of my art can be seen on my instagram (@artofaleksey) I also have a website (alekseyillustration.com) but have yet to receive any paid offers. Once my art improves from watching Will Weston’s courses, I hope to update my portfolio with stronger pieces.

[drawingamerica]

Hello Aleksey, Thank you for sharing your work and a little about your story. In addition to your technique already being good, I really like the sense of humor in your pieces. That is as strong as your drawing skills. Also, love the full-color work. 

[Aleksey Nisenboym]

As strong as my drawing? Are you saying I have a bad sense of humor? (Kidding) Thank you for your kind words! I am still experimenting with colors, thank goodness for photoshop. Glad to be here 🙂 

[AnimatorEdward]

Hello Everyone,

I am Edward Evjen, I am an Animator in the Vancouver area.

I am here to improve my drawing skills  because I want to work in animation preproduction in addition to production. I am particularity in storyboarding.
My work is on my website, animatoredward.com. I am also on instagram, @animatorEdward.

When I can I join lifedrawing sessions every evening. If you live in Vancouver and often go to cafes, there is a high probability I have drawn you. 😉 You look great.

[drawingamerica]

Hello Edward, thank you for sharing your work with us. It looks like there are a few things you are doing, life drawing, studies (of hands etc.), animation style scenes and then real-life scene. The real-life scenes seem to fall into two different types, near (as in cafes) and far (as in the bridge). I wonder if you can tell us which you are most confident in and which you want to work on more? Also, Will is coming back to Drawing America in January to discuss how to get your portfolio in order for jobs, school, etc… We are hoping to stream it but aren’t sure yet. 

[AnimatorEdward]

Hello DrawingAmerica, 
I am more confident in close scenes because I have studied Forced Perspective by Marcos Mateu-Mestre. This is also the area I would like to study more as it is more relevant to storyboarding. 

[drawingamerica]

Wow! Thank you for sharing about Marcos Mateu-Mestre. I had never heard of him, likely because I am from the fine art side of things. His books are really highly rated and others can see them here https://amzn.to/2OwWoGo Thank you again Edward!

[AnimatorEdward]

My pleasure! I am happy to signal boost Marcos.

[mignatov]

Hello! My name is Misha Ignatov, I’m a concept artist currently living in Japan. Like many people here, I was captivated by Mr Weston’s blackboard posts on Instagram, especially by his systematic breakdown of approaching design (be it environments, characters, or composition in general), and couldn’t resist seeing the man himself explain his approach on video! Being self-educated when it comes to art, an access to this kind of resource is invaluable.

Oh, and my work can be seen on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mignatov/)   or ArtStation (https://www.artstation.com/misha).

Nice to meet you all.

[drawingamerica]

Hello Misha, Welcome to Drawing America. It is great to meet you. Your work is strong. It seems like you are looking at a lot of different styles and trying them all out. Can you tell us about your influences? Thank you, Simon 

[mignatov]

Hello, Simon. Thank you for the reply and the kind words. In terms of influence, wow there are too many to list, really. John Singer Sargent, Richard Schmid, Sorolla, Repin and Fechin and a bunch of other Russians, Frazetta, Craig Mullins, Iain McCaig, Mike Mignola, Toppi, Bridgman…all over the board really, and the list goes on and on! In fact, that may be to blame for the schizophrenic style swings. But really, there are so many artists that are so inspirational, that when I see their work, I just want to stop everything and draw/paint exactly like them. I’m sure others on the forum know the feeling

[AlexandraLawre]

Hello!

My name is Alexandra Lavrentiev and I am from Israel. 

I started taking drawing seriously about 2 years ago, after 2.5 years of being a physics student in the university (hated it) and going through the army.

We don’t have here good art schools so online courses are a blessing 🙂

You can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandra1.lawre/?hl=en

Nice to meet you all!

[simon-levenson]

Wow, Alexandra, Your works are pretty awesome. I hope others will go check them out on Instagram. Welcome to the group!

[AlexandraLawre]

Thank you so much! 

[berna]

Hi there! My name is Bernadette, I’m Filipino (living in America) and I’m here with the main goal of improving my abilities. It’s been an up-and-down relationship with my art, since I tend to have periods of dry spells when I feel like I’m not learning or improving, and this frustrates me. Before this, I’ve never had a formal art class, everything I’ve learned was from YouTube or watched how other artists drew. I hope that by joining this online course, it will help mitigate those periods of creative fluster by having actual instruction and by gaining solid critiques from knowledgeable people. Here is the Instagram with all my art : https://www.instagram.com/idylltea/.

Thank you so much for reading!

[Justine]

I am Justine Limpus Parish from Los Angeles, CA. I am the daughter of a fashion illustrator mother and furniture designer father who both worked in NYC. I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil.

I was a fashion art director, illustrator and designer but now teach and continue to enjoy drawing from live costume model drawing sessions.

I currently teach at ArtCenter College of Design – Wearables design and illustration in the Product Design Dept, and Costume Design in the Entertainment Design Depts.

These images are some of my class demos

You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram

[bianca-dunn]

Hi! My name is Bianca Dunn and I’m a freelance artist/illustrator currently living in New York City. I’m originally from Sacramento, CA.

Drawing has always been a joy to me. It feels great to enter the both meditative and super focused flow state. Love being able to just zone out when I’m drawing. On top of that, I’m all about comics, animation, anime, fashion illustration, water color, pen and ink, and more.

Figure drawing has always been very relaxing and centering for me so I decided to find a drawing group when I moved to NYC. I’ve been to Drawing New York sessions through the National Arts Club here ‘n there over the past year and I’ve really enjoyed the community and learning environment from the group.

I used to work in microbiology research but I realized my passion for drawing/illustration was too strong to ignore! Now I’m focusing on doing freelance illustration full time. 🙂 yay

To see more of my work:

my website: http://www.biancadunn.com

Instagram: @bianca_illustration

[drawingamerica]

Hello Bianca, These are great along with your new series on Instagram. So glad to have you as part of the group!

[roxanne]

Hi!

I’m Roxanne based in the Philippines.

I joined here to attend Jennifer Gennari’s class. I just love pets and I started painting pets when the quarantine started.:) Would also love to connect with more artists around the globe. Can find my works at @petartbyroxy http://www.instagram.com/petartbyroxy

[Blue]

Hi I’m Blue, and I draw stuff. Focusing to improve everyday. Taking will’s anatomy classes. Glad to be here.

+1 More Photos

[drawingamerica]

Hi Blue, Do you feel your work improved by taking Will’s class?