China

My name is China and I am a professional portrait and figure artist. I specialise in a variety of mediums including pencil, pastel, and oil painting. I have been teaching for 5 years to private students varying in different ages ranges from 7 years old to 80 years. These lessons have been either just for fun as a hobby progression, alongside an education module or in a group situation.

Drawing is amazingly fun and therapeutic and if we don`t have the tools to connect the dots, we can find it frustrating and stressful. I am here to show you how to connect the dots so you can draw confidently on your own.

I am available for group hire as well as private 1-to-1`s and I can adapt my teaching style to suit your needs.

Usually, I like to go through the fundamental basics with students so they have a good grasp of basic tools before we learn about anything else.

These lessons include:

* Shading
* Materials
* Negative space
* Line direction
* Shapes
* Perspective

Once I feel the student has grasped these, we can begin to apply the theory to drawing things such as:

* Portraits
* Architecture
* Still Life
* Botanical
* Animals

Availability: My method of teaching is always catered to the student`s needs and abilities. For example, if a student is a beginner and they want to learn how to draw realistically, I would show them how to understand the principles before we try to draw straight away.

To understand nature, we must understand how to see in order to translate that onto our paper.
If a student is more advanced, we will look at what really inspires them and how we can push their abilities by looking at the finer details, whether that is refining a good drawing to become more realistic, the equipment quality, or the tiny nuances in the line direction that need tweaking. We should always keep pushing ourselves and learning from what we do so I fully encourage people to embrace their mistakes and enjoy the process over the finished result.

Topics I cover are value scale, shapes, portraits, figures, life drawing, still life, feet, hands, hair, fabric and much more.

I also provide an option for a ready made drawing kit with all the equipment you need to start or enhance your drawing practise including a hardcover sketchbook, 4 pencils which are staple in my lessons, and a putty rubber which is good for controlling the removal of pencil.

Willing to travel: 5 miles

Experience: I primarily teach adults however I am open to helping children too if they are passionate about drawing and have good concentration. I believe everyone is entitled to learn to draw and sometimes we just need a helping hand to reach our goals.

For some background information on my training, I have a fine art degree from Wimbledon College of Art, and I have trained with many masters such as Fernando Freitas and Cuong Nygun. I now sell commissions both figurative as well as animal art and I often exhibit in galleries around London.