Video lessons

The male figure in paint

Posting the recording of the stream where I show how to make a painted study of the male figure. Reference and Procreate brush attached

The female figure in foreshortening

Posting the recording of the stream on drawing the female figure in foreshortening. Two hours of perspective and of views from below and above. The reference board, a Procreate brush and a photo of the result are in the attached files.

Male portrait with the shoulder girdle

Sooner or later every artist has to move on from floating portraits to drawing whole figures. And then the question comes up: how do you connect the head to the body? How is it all put together? That’s where you need to study how the head, the neck and the shoulder girdle work together. Here’s a lesson on the subject.

The figure. Long study. Marathon “The Human Form”, week 8

Female portrait, front view, for beginners

Right at the start of the journey it’s fairly hard to draw a portrait without sliding into mindless copying. For the work to be more conscious, you need to understand the form and the construction of the head. In this video lesson we break down drawing a female portrait from the front, the anatomy, the graphic approach and the composition. Have a productive watch!

Portrait. Marathon “The Human Form”, week 3

Week three and a full female portrait. We talk about the psychology of creative work, graphic devices, accents and exercises for fast growth.

Eyes, lips, nose, ear. Marathon “The Human Form”, week 2

Week two of the marathon! A stream on the anatomy of the parts of the face, graphic devices and ways of stylizing the form.

Drawing the head of Gattamelata in profile

We keep improving our head drawing, and this time we’re drawing the plaster head of Gattamelata in profile, lit from the front of the face. We’ll talk about volume, form, details, and the unity of the drawing. The lesson runs an hour and a half, so plan for roughly that much time or a bit more. Good luck, everyone! References attached :)

Student work review in session — full recording

The full session recording: Azat goes through the submitted work one by one — a drawing of a plaster head, a figure, a composition and a digital painting — correcting construction and value right on top of the work and explaining every correction. Two hours and fourteen minutes, unedited.

Week 8 feedback. The figure. Long study. Marathon “The Human Form”

Week 7 feedback. Male figure studies

Week 6 feedback. Female figure studies

Week 6 feedback. Female figure studies

The male figure in paint

Posting the recording of the stream where I show how to make a painted study of the male figure. Reference and Procreate brush attached

Stream + refs + still life timelapse + brush

For the lovers of digital painting, I’m uploading the timelapse and the part of the process that I did on stream. You can pick your own reference and try painting your own beautiful still life along with the timelapse! The Procreate brush is attached. Wishing you creative success! :)

Drawing of an archer + refs

In this timelapse with my voice-over I explain how to carry a value drawing of an archer step by step, from the first sketch lines through to the background shapes and the accents. Enjoy. And for anyone who’d like to draw an archer too, I’ve prepared references. Procreate. Time on the piece — about 15-25 hours.

On hatching and the modeling of light and shade

One of the difficulties on a beginning artist’s path is modeling form with hatching, which, combined with a weak grasp of value, produces a big negative effect. The most important thing for creating good volume is telling the zones of illumination apart properly and knowing how to model them well. The main trouble is that many artists confuse light with shadow (they over-darken the light and blow out the shadow), and the result is a mush that has to be avoided. In the video lesson I explain all the nuances and give a step-by-step scheme that will put any value drawing within your reach. Enjoy!

The male figure in paint

Posting the recording of the stream where I show how to make a painted study of the male figure. Reference and Procreate brush attached

Stream + refs + still life timelapse + brush

For the lovers of digital painting, I’m uploading the timelapse and the part of the process that I did on stream. You can pick your own reference and try painting your own beautiful still life along with the timelapse! The Procreate brush is attached. Wishing you creative success! :)

Week 8. Color and emotion, through portraits

Besides the logic of color, a huge part of building a composition is emotion. Emotion is really the main thing in a piece, especially when it comes to painting. In this session we’ll try to give ourselves over to emotion and make several pieces with different emotional content. It’ll be interesting! :)

Marathon week 8. Color perception and emotion. Color and the psychology of perception

Every artist cares how viewers read their work. And the better an artist understands the rules of color perception, the easier it is to get the message across. This week we’ll talk about how color affects the image, how to charge a piece with particular emotions and how to push that as far as it will go.

Sketches of the male figure. "The Human Figure" marathon, week 7

Painterly sketch of a the lady. Stream recording

Drawing the figure is a tricky thing, but an interesting one. In this two-hour stream recording I show and explain how to build a study of the female figure from scratch.

Sketches of the female figure. "The Human Figure" marathon, week 6

Portrait sketches. Marathon “The Human Form”. Week 1

A great start to the marathon! On the stream we talk about laying out the page, shapes, rhythms and emotion in drawing. Oh, and porridge :)

Stream on composition

If you want a better grip on composition, I recommend watching this stream. We draw, we joke around, and we build interesting subjects out of abstract shapes :)

Open stream. Reworking the week two composition

Every now and then I run streams like this, where we draw together with other artists and share our tricks :)

Practice for marathon week two

Today we’ll work on the week two assignments, work on abstract compositions, learn to handle warm and cool and color contrasts, learn to do it harmoniously, and we’ll even try to build a realistic composition out of abstract masses.

Digital painting. Composition with a flower

The main thing to keep in mind when you’re painting is the composition of masses. You want 60% of one value, 30% of the second and 10% of the third. Pay attention to the layering, too. Once you’ve got the silhouette, don’t stop there: try to let part of the silhouette get eaten away by textures, blurs, noise and smears. Ideally your composition should have one focal point, with everything else pushed back a little. Here the focal point is the flower, and the vase recedes into the background. Attaching the Procreate brush and the reference, and wishing you great studies!

Sketching feet. The “Human” marathon, week 5

Hands. Marathon “The Human Form”, week 4

We draw hands and talk about the old masters, stylization, the hand as a sign, the silhouettes of fingers, anatomy, and knobbly knuckles and stringy tendons! :D

How to draw the male torso and legs

A drawing lesson where we work on the male shoulder girdle, rib cage, pelvis and legs. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to understand and draw the human figure better.

Timelapse. Drawing the bones of the foot

Hi! The astrologers, in collaboration with the fitness instructors, have declared it the month of legs 😎 And since for us artists the hardest part of the leg is the foot, we’re giving it our attention again. In this timelapse I show how to draw the bones of the foot step by step — it’s important to understand how it’s all put together in order to depict legs convincingly. Draw along with me, and be sure to watch last week’s video lesson on feet!

Study of the female figure from the front

This is a video lesson that will easily improve your drawing and your understanding of the female figure. I go into detail on accents, anatomy, forms, proportions and the order of operations for getting a dynamic, expressive drawing. Enjoy watching and drawing.

Drawing of a male figure from the back

A video lesson that will show you how to draw the male figure from the back, what to watch for, how to keep the proportions, and where to place the accents. I also talk about light-and-shade modeling and, of course, anatomy: where the shoulder blades are, where the gluteus maximus is and where the gluteus medius. A timelapse of the fast process, the reference, and my own result are attached. Happy drawing!

Drawing the male figure from the front

A video lesson that will show you how to draw the male figure, what to watch for, how to hold the proportions and where to place the accents. I also cover modeling with light and shade and, of course, anatomy. Attaching a timelapse of the fast process, the reference and my own result. Happy drawing!

Eyes, lips, nose, ear. Marathon “The Human Form”, week 2

Week two of the marathon! A stream on the anatomy of the parts of the face, graphic devices and ways of stylizing the form.

Color and value in the clothed figure — a marathon session

Hi! This video lesson is the third online session I ran for students on the course tier of the marathon “Sketching the Clothed Figure”. I talk through and show how to paint a clothed figure properly, with the focus on modeling, value and color. You can also paint your own lady, but I’d suggest working through the drawing with me first — you’ll end up with a finished, solid piece! 😉

Drawing drapery on the figure: a session from the "Sketching the Clothed Figure" marathon

Hi! This video lesson is the second online session I ran for participants on the course plan of the "Sketching the Clothed Figure" marathon. In the last lesson I drew drapery on its own; now it’s time to put it on the figure. First we’ll talk about the figure itself — the ribcage, the pelvis, and how they’re built — and then we’ll draw the fabric on it together, taking all its folds and bends into account. If there’s a lot of work and a lot of interest, I’ll run a special feedback stream 🙂✨

Drawing drapery: a session from the “Sketching the clothed figure” marathon

Hi! This video lesson is the first online session I ran for the course-tier participants of the "Sketching the clothed figure" marathon. As promised, I’m publishing the recordings for subscribers at the top tier. In the lesson I break down drawing drapery, the physics of folds, and finding the rhythm in a simple hanging piece of drapery with two points of support — and of course I draw it. Drawing drapery is the basic exercise for getting complex organic form into an artist’s head. It leads on into anatomy, into portrait and figure drawing.

Final stream recording. Marathon “Sketching the Clothed Figure”

Hi! Congratulations to everyone on finishing another figure drawing marathon. On Friday I ran the final stream, we went through your brilliant work and had a good talk — posting the recording here for anyone who couldn’t join live or wants to rewatch 🙂 The marathon may be over, but let’s not be sad: there’s plenty more to do together ahead! On the intensive we’ll draw a lot together, work on color, anatomy and proportions, and I’ll share all kinds of little secrets and show techniques in digital painting. For busy people an intensive is a great format for getting into one narrow but very interesting topic, and for anyone who hasn’t studied with us yet it’s a good excuse to try. See you soon, friends! Stay in touch ✨

Week 7. Extra practice. Drawing different states of nature

In this lesson we’ll practice studies of different natural states and times of day. Sunset, daylight, fog, rain and the rest. Finish matters less than catching the state. We’ll also work on graphic and compositional devices in landscape. It’s going to be fun!

Marathon week 7: "States of nature and atmospheric effects"

This week we’ll study color through the states of nature. We’ll come to understand how the color of day differs from the color of evening. The state of rain from the state of fog. We’ll learn how light works on a clear, fine day, and what kind of atmosphere fog creates. Come to the stream, it’ll be interesting and instructive!

How to draw clouds

In landscape painting the emphasis often falls not on the ground but on the sky. And the main characters in the sky are the clouds. When they work with clouds, beginner artists quite often forget that clouds have volume, lighting and an inner form of their own. And when it comes to difficulty of proportion, the only thing clouds lose out to is a crumpled piece of paper (which is also a super cool exercise for proportions). Anyway, enjoy the watch!

Digital landscape. Nature at night

Painting landscapes isn’t that hard. You just have to paint them regularly, experiment, and bring the logic of color into it. Let me tell you what helps me: I try to push the color in the composition a little. Our job isn’t to copy the photo, our job is to make an interesting painting! Where we see a warm green, a cool pinkish shade will look interesting next to it. If there’s violet somewhere, it’ll be great to see ocher beside it. And so on, around the color wheel and the theory of complementary colors. I go into more detail in the lesson. Enjoy the watch!

On hatching and the modeling of light and shade

One of the difficulties on a beginning artist’s path is modeling form with hatching, which, combined with a weak grasp of value, produces a big negative effect. The most important thing for creating good volume is telling the zones of illumination apart properly and knowing how to model them well. The main trouble is that many artists confuse light with shadow (they over-darken the light and blow out the shadow), and the result is a mush that has to be avoided. In the video lesson I explain all the nuances and give a step-by-step scheme that will put any value drawing within your reach. Enjoy!

Lecture on the types and styles of academic drawing

When I was just starting out, I had no idea what styles of drawing existed, what each kind of drawing is for, or how artists arrive at such stunning work in the first place. In this lecture we’ll talk about drawing, using works from the teaching collection of the Surikov Institute as our examples. Worth watching for anyone who would like to understand fine art in general, and drawing in particular, a little better.

Lecture on the kinds of drawing. Linear construction drawing

Not long ago I visited an exhibition of Puko’s drawings at the Stieglitz Academy. There were older works from the 1960s and more recent ones from the end of the 20th century. Maestro Puko was one of the founders of the Mukhina school of drawing: minimal value, the emphasis on line, and expressive flow in the model. Everything we love so much. So it’ll be interesting! Enjoy the watch!

Stream recording. Marathon “Value and Rendering”. Week 2: Simple objects. Sphere, cylinder

Hi! Bursting into a new marathon week 🔥 Here’s the recording of yesterday’s stream — watch it, rewatch it, draw, and send your finished work into the comments! I’ll run the feedback stream on Saturday at 20:00, and as always I’ll leave the link here ✨

Drawing a female character from Fallout

In this workshop we go through drawing a clothed female character in detail, from scratch, from a small sketch all the way to the final color. I picked my beloved Fallout and a girl in a vault dweller suit with bits of raider armor. First you want to draw quick sketches, pick the best one and take it to a finished state. Enjoy the workshop!

Concept art: the Ghoul from Fallout

The second Fallout workshop. This time we draw the figure of the Ghoul — the rapper! It’ll be fun, enjoy!

Fallout concept art. The head of a super mutant

Let’s draw together! This time we’re drawing the head of a super mutant from my favorite universe, Fallout. References and brushes attached