Private Drawing Lessons

Drawing instructor Samia Campbell will walk you through the process of creating a portrait with graphite, beginning with a blank page and using a photographic reference to teach you how to create line, texture, light, shadow, shading, and more. 

The $600 price is for a bundle of 6 lessons. Each lesson will last for one hour. Lessons will take place at The Commons, in Meeting Room C, pictured below. The Commons is a coworking space located at 157 East 86th St 5th floor, New York, NY, 10028. 

My lessons are centered around the concepts taught in Betty Edwards’ book, Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain. Most instructors will focus around learning the formulas for specific shapes-for example, learning the typical proportions of a human body, studying anatomy, and attempting these same forms over and over. And while this may be helpful for an artist drawing from memory, it will not better the skill of an artist drawing from real life. In real life, bodies are nonconforming and irregular. Something as minor as a new pose could render the traditionally-taught artist incapable of producing lifelike results. There are infinite variations of posture and bodies; they cannot all be memorized through traditional drawing methods. The best approach is to understand how to see the forms in front of you in an unbiased, accurate way.

I'd recommend purchasing Betty Edwards’ book, Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain ahead of beginning lessons. It's an innovative approach, and worth familiarizing yourself with. While the idea of the left brain being logical and the right brain being creative has been disproven, it is true that the way we think about drawing is enormously important.

Drawing is hard work, especially when you are fighting against your instinct to draw objects from your imagination! Unlearning the ingrained methods of drawing takes a lot of effort. In order to keep my students excited and motivated, I will have short breaks throughout our classes where I delve into a bit of art history.

Itinerary:

Lesson 1:

• Read the Preface of Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain, pages X-XIII, along with the Introduction, pages XVII-XXV.  
• Understand why most people struggle learning how to draw realistically. Distinguish between drawing based your idea of the object and drawing without labeling the object. Practice using exercises from Betty Edwards’ book.

Lesson 2:

• Continue with the next two chapters of Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain. Read Chapter 1, Drawing and the Art of Bicycle Riding, pages 1-9, along with Chapter 2, The Drawing Exercises: One Step at a Time, pages 10-25.
• Create; as shown on page 13 of Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain. Repeat perception of edges exercise and perception of spaces exercise.

Lesson 3:

• Continue with the next two chapters of Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain. Read Chapter 3, Your Brain: The Right and Left of It, pages 27-48, along with Chapter 4, Crossing Over: Experiencing the Shift from Left to Right, pages 49-66.
• Practice perception of relationships and perception of lights and shadows.

Lesson 4:

• Read Chapter 5, Drawing on Memories: Your History as an Artist, pages 67-86, along with Chapter 6, Getting Around Your Symbol System: Meeting Edges and Contours, pages 87-114.
• The perception of the whole, or Gestalt exercises. Learn to draw objects as simplified shapes, rather than how we see them.

Lesson 5:

• Read Chapter 7, Perceiving the Shape of a Space: The Positive Aspects of Negative Space, pages 115-136, along with Chapter 8, Relationships in a New Mode: Putting Sighting in Perspective, pages 137-160.
• Understand neuroscience behind detail-processing vs. wholistic processing, and why the exercises tie in to retraining our brains.

Lesson 6: 

• Read Chapter 9, Facing Forward: Portrait Drawing with Ease, pages 161-192, along with Chapter 10, The Value of Logical Lights and Shadows, pages 193-228.
• How we can continue practicing our drawing skills by the way we look around and perceive things. Explain difference between lazy perception and thoughtful perception.

The final two chapters, 11 and 12, focus on drawing with color as well as drawing from imagination, which are not the focuses of this course. 

Drawing Supplies:

These are not included in the cost of the lessons, however, if you would like to purchase the full kit for me to provide you at the start of your first class, it is an additional $50.

• You will need a piece of clear plastic, about 8" x 10" and about 1/16" thick. A piece of glass is fine, but the edges must be taped. Use a permanent marker to draw two crosshairs on the plastic, a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing at the center of the plane.

• Also, you will need two "viewfinders," made of black cardboard about 8" x 10". From one, cut a rectangular opening of 4+1/4" x 5+1/4" and from the other, cut out a larger opening of 6" x 7+5/8". 

• A nonpermanent black felt-tip marker

• Two clips to fasten your viewfinders to the plastic picture plane

• A "graphite stick," #4B, available at most art supply stores

• Some masking tape

• A pencil sharpener—a small, hand-held sharpener is fine

• An eraser, such a "Pink Pearl" or a white plastic eraser

Scheduling and Cancellations:

I'd be available to teach lessons anytime after 5pm Tuesdays through Fridays, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays until 5pm. I just ask that you pick a set day and time for each week, so that I have consistency in my scheduling.

If you need to reschedule a lesson, please let me know at least 24 hours in advance. I will not be able to refund a cancellation made less than 24 hours ahead of the lesson starting.