For the longest time, I was searching for courses which are not just passively teaching you, but are providing you a space for creative stimulation. When I tried putting my imagination on paper, I realized how bad my execution skills were, even if my drawing skills were fairly decent. When I joined drawing classes, I think I was only getting better at copying something after a point.

I understood how much of a conscious effort and hard work goes into creating something of my own, That was when I felt like I wanted something which guides you into putting your ideas on paper systematically. My sister used to follow your IG and she recommended that I take up this course if I liked it and hence, she bought it for me. Initially when I started with the course, I honestly felt like I was too good for these simple exercises and I was bored, But I was super wrong about it.

Eventually I got a hang of the course and it was fun. I could see shapes in objects and objects in shapes which helped me visualize different forms. First time when I finished the course I could not see what had changed and I was reverting to my old habits and felt that my way was more comfortable.

For me, my perspectives changed after Day 4 of chapter 2, because I could understand what I was trying to learn. I did not understand the concept of flow at first, but when I repeated it somehow it made better sense and by the end of chapter 2 I could see how things are shaping up.

Chapter 3 was a completely different level for me and it was something that I had no clue about. So it was a little harder when compared to the previous ones. I had attempted to learn about perspectives through YouTube and Pinterest earlier and it was not so clear. But in this chapter, these complex things were made very simple and easy to understand. It changed how I see things and if I wanted to draw something, I knew where to start. I felt like my lines are clearer and there’s no confusion, or I didn’t have to do things by trial and error to see which was better.

Chapter 4 for me was a feel good chapter. It was nice and therapeutic to follow along with the course. I liked how shading by layers changed everything. These methods of shading help to keep things clear and simple. But at the same time I wish there was one or two portrait studies to understand how to put these techniques into practice. When it comes to consistency, I don’t know how far Drawing Camp has helped me compared to 100 days of sketching, because most of the times I have shown up to draw because of the 100 days challenge, while drawing happened at its own pace according to the difficulty of each chapter. That is still something that I’m working on.

When I was finishing each chapter I wish we could follow some sort of milestones or get our work critiqued to see if we are heading in the right direction. Apart from that, I really liked the whole journey of the first level. It is very evident that the Drawing Camp is designed systematically, and the concepts are explained in a simple and illustrious way. I can see how if I practice these fundamentals, it will be easier to create things. I especially loved how the bonus session builds on itself and translates the exercises of that day into practice.

Small things like ‘keep your lines light for god sakes’ in every session and your puns make up this entire course. I genuinely like where I have reached and excited to see what’s in the store for the next level. Thank you for being such a nice instructor :)

I started drawing in 2003 and I have tried to learn drawing through several books. Over time I have improved a little bit, also due to practicing, but it was never enough. All those years, something was missing in my art but I didn’t realize what it was. My drawings always looked stiff and with no life in them, no matter how hard I tried.

Let me tell you, now that I have gone through Level 1 of your Drawing Camp, I know why my drawings looked like that. I was severely lacking fundamental skills. I would have never thought that I could improve quite a bit in such a short time.

Chapter 1 (Foundations) was honestly a little bit boring for me at first because in my eyes those first few exercises were unnecessary. Especially drawing circles, lines, curves and so on. Well, clearly I was wrong ;) Because although they may not be the most exciting exercises, they are definitely important. If you already start with the wrong base, nothing good can come out of it.

Personally, I liked Chapter 2 (Dynamic Drawing) the most since it taught me what I was most interested in and I knew I desperately needed improvement in this area. The most useful advice in this Chapter for me was Day 2, Principles of Flow – the Line of Action. Suddenly, it made sense to me why my drawings looked bad and what I can do to improve the “stiffness”.

Chapter 3 (Perspective and Forms) was the least enjoyable, I never understood perspective until now. Now I finally understand the theory and of course I did all of the exercises, most of them several times, but my boxes still look wonky no matter how many times I repeated them. In my opinion the 2-point perspective was the hardest. I almost gave up at this point, but I guess I just have to practice more to see a real improvement, practice makes progress. :)

Chapter 4 (Light & Shadow) helped me very much. Before this course, I just put the shadows and lights where I thought “yeah, that looks ok like that”. Not the best way when you want your drawings to look good, I know. I often read or heard about how the source of light works, the way it casts the shadow, but it was never so well explained like you did. Also, I have never heard of the different shading techniques, except for crosshatching. In my sketches, which I did after the course, I already saw improvement in shading.

Overall I definitely loved this course and I can’t wait to continue with it. If I look at my art from the past 5 years or so, I saw the most improvement in my drawings after participating in this course. Not to mention, I finally made a habit to draw 3 or 4 days per week consistently. Please keep up the good work. :)

Hey Kesh, first of all: thanks for this great course! I already did a lot of courses but they weren’t able to keep me stay motivated. It’s a great way to follow you in the exercises. You’re always a motivating person - so I finally finished 100 days of sketching last year - after I quit two years ago at day 60 

So, my thoughts on the first level: I already learned a lot of drawing basics in my life. Back then in art class at school and since about four years I’m teaching myself again. Since two years I’ve also been working as an illustrator, but my drawings are very minimalistic and because of my perfectionism very stiff. This course helped me a lot!

First of all it really helped me to let go of perfect lines and more into dynamics instead. But I also recognized, that I really have to work more on this. As soon as I think too much about my drawing or the technique my lines are getting stiff again. So your course was also a great way to reflect my own work and how I work.

I will totally do the chapter of Dynamic lines a few times again! While doing it I recognized, that my motor skills of my hand are well trained - but only in those directions I always use. There are a lot of directions I never use and I was shocked how badly I was able to follow already drawn lines again. I really want to train those skills. Thanks for this self reflection. 

And then in the light and shadow chapter I remembered, that I always loved to shade my drawings when I was drawing for fun. Because of this kind of painting with light and shadows I was really into photography as a teenager. But nowadays my work as an illustrator is doing line arts alone. I asked myself why it is this way. My only answer - for now - is fear. I’m having fear to do a mistake. Fear of being not good enough.

I mean - I really like minimalistic art. But I also love to bring life with shadows and contrast into art. I really want to work on this fear. I want to do a lot more stuff I’m thinking I could fail in and just learn from my mistakes.

Thanks for this a lot! I’m really looking forward to the other classes to do more from imagination and just build worlds that doesn’t exist yet to get a better expression.

All in all you are a great teacher who is able to think like his students. That’s a great gift. So keep on rocking and stay as positive and funny as you are. Lovely greeting from Germany!