1:1 Drawing Lessons & Portfolio Mentoring

Books, videos and online courses can teach you a great deal about drawing, but they cannot look at your work and tell you what to do next. Our one-to-one lessons and mentoring sessions do exactly that. Over a video call, we look at what you are making, find the one or two changes that will make the biggest difference, and practice them with you — so you leave each session with clear feedback and a plan, not just more information.

Who this service is for

• Beginners and returning artists who want structure, encouragement and fundamentals explained clearly.
• Hobbyists who feel stuck at a plateau and want to understand why their drawings are not improving.
• Students preparing portfolios for art school, university or college applications.
• Emerging illustrators who want honest portfolio feedback before approaching clients, publishers or studios, or setting up for commissions.

Lessons are taught in English to students aged 16 and over, and we schedule across time zones so you can join from anywhere.

What you get

Every session is a live, 60-minute video call shaped around you. Before your first session, a short questionnaire helps us understand your experience, tools and goals. During the call, we combine three things:

• Feedback on work you share, often with draw-overs that show changes directly on your image.
• Demonstration of a technique, from constructing a head to setting up a color palette.
• Guided practice, where you draw while we watch and coach in real time.

Afterward, you receive a written summary of what we covered and a few targeted exercises. With your permission, sessions can be recorded so you can rewatch the demonstrations later.

Topics and session types

Sessions can focus on almost any area of drawing and illustration. Popular topics include:

• Fundamentals: line confidence, perspective, form, proportion and gesture.
• Characters: anatomy, faces and expressions, costume and silhouette design.
• Color and light: palettes, value structure, mood and rendering.
• Digital painting workflow in Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop or Krita.
• Building a regular practice and keeping a sketchbook.
• Pricing, commissions and preparing work for conventions and online shops.

Sketchbook reviews

Send scans or photos of recent sketchbook pages and we will look for patterns: what you practice, what you avoid, and where small adjustments would speed up progress. Many students find this one of the most useful sessions. If you are starting a sketchbook from scratch, our article on building a daily sketchbook habit is a good companion.

Portfolio reviews

For portfolio sessions, we review your pieces in advance, rank them, flag weaker or redundant work and discuss what is missing for the kind of work you want. Portfolio reviews focus on specific goals — a school application, children’s publishing, game art or character commissions — because a strong portfolio is always aimed at someone.

Single sessions and packages

A single session is ideal for a specific question or a one-off portfolio check. Packages of four or eight sessions are better for real skill growth: we create a learning plan, set homework between sessions and review it at the start of each call, so improvements build steadily. Package sessions are used within a set period and can be rescheduled with notice.

Your work and our materials

Everything you create during or between sessions remains entirely yours, for personal or commercial use. We never post your work, draw-overs or recordings publicly without your explicit permission. Our demonstration drawings, draw-overs and exercise sheets are provided under a personal licence for your own learning; please do not resell or republish them as teaching material. Recordings are stored only as long as needed to deliver them to you, as described in our privacy policy.

What we need from you

• A few examples of your current work, finished or unfinished.
• Your goals — a skill to improve, a portfolio deadline or a project you want to complete.
• Which tools and software you use.
• Your time zone and preferred days or times.
• A stable internet connection and a way to show your work: screen sharing, a webcam pointed at your page or photos sent before the call.

Scheduling

New students can usually book a first session within one to two weeks. Four-session packages are used within eight weeks, and eight-session packages within sixteen weeks. Cancellation and rescheduling terms are summarized in the FAQ and our refund policy. To get started, tell us about your goals through the contact form and we will suggest the best format for you.