I was always "the kid who could draw". As a young child, you could give me some toilet paper rolls, egg cartons and some craft glue and I'd be set for days. During primary school, I was the kid who rocked up to school with a colourful poster filled with drawings and fancy block lettering... for my maths homework.

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In High School, I would find any excuse to spend my day in the art/design rooms, even if I was supposed to be in another class... I would sit at the back of the art room and draw. I even started selling graphite portrait commissions and advertised my business by putting pamphlets in letterboxes and hanging up flyers at my local supermarkets and community noticeboards. My art teacher had suggested that I could potentially make art my career, but I always assumed that it wasn't a secure profession. 

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After school, I stopped creating for a few years before I realised that I wasn't happy unless I am creating artwork, so I slowly got back into art and I can't imagine my life without it!

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When I started taking drawing and painting more seriously, I discovered a lot of people using materials that aren’t archival or lightfast. This was a problem because their artwork has the potential to fade/flake/discolour/crack over time, due to the art supplies they were using.

 

On the other hand, there were artists using professional supplies, but they spent 50 to 100 hours on a single piece of art… which would drive me insane!

Or there were oil painters who seemed to be speaking another language they must have acquired from their fancy art school…

 

I couldn’t find many artists using archival art supplies, creating realistic artwork and also explained what they were doing, in a way that was easy to understand. I soon developed a passion for helping other artists with the same problem.

 

This is the reason I now create drawing and painting tutorials that are easy to follow, so you can create realistic and professional artwork, even if you’re just starting out!