Speaker: Jean Leebody, Canada
Jean Leebody: Hi, I'm Jean and I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Can we see some of the artwork you've done with Draw Awesome?
Jean Leebody: This is one of the graphite drawings that I did for one of the figures and I'm really pleased with it. I know it's not perfect but this was my first attempt and it turned out, I think, quite good. As I said, my family was quite impressed with the work that I completed and this was one of the other ones. And again I was impressed with how I was able to get this on paper with not a lot of 'redo's' or you, know I just followed along and it seemed to come so easy.
Before starting Draw Awesome, what did you want to get out of the Course?
Jean Leebody: I've been painting since I was 13. I'm in my 80s now. I've had a few community courses in painting, particularly watercolour. I've had very little experience in sketching or drawing or working with... like graphite pencils, charcoal or pastel crayons or those kinds of medium. I struggled with drawing, I think... I like things to look realistic and I really want detail to be good.
So, how do you think Draw Awesome has helped you?
Jean Leebody: Draw Awesome has certainly helped me. It's opened up a whole range of techniques and media that I hadn't tried before or had struggled with. I must clarify here that I have had to stop the course. I fell and I fractured my hip and I was in hospital for a month and I've spent the last two months in rehabilitation and recovery. I'm just starting to get back to working the course or I'm hoping to, but I did complete the graphite and the charcoal. I had just completed the charcoal and I must say I was impressed with this program. It was immediately clear to me that it was almost like Phil was right there in the room with me by taking it step by step. It was like having one-on-one instruction. It was easy to follow and I was really impressed with my with my work. As I said, I was never one to draw and when I first looked at the program and saw the figures in particular, because I've just started getting into doing figures and I was like, "Oh my God, I can't do this!" But let's just see what happens. And even my friends and family when they saw my initial drawings were like, "Wow! Mom, Grandma... ...you did that!" And I have a granddaughter who paints with me and she has taken an art course, - actually gone to a college. Now, what she took was animation, but she took a full range of media and techniques and she was also very impressed with my work. My family knows how I struggle with drawing figures because I want to do sketches, paintings - - whatever, of my family, to leave behind. Photographs are wonderful, but they do degrade. And sometimes the photograph can't capture the personality of the person. As I said, I had to suspend the program right at the end of the charcoal. I intend to get back to it. I don't know when, but I intend to go back at it and I'm really looking forward to trying the different media. It certainly has opened up a whole range of subjects. I look at some of my photographs that I have that I want to paint or put on paper and I can see a whole... new - - brand new projects that I can get excited about. I think Draw Awesome has helped me really to get more enjoyment from this hobby and I'm looking forward to getting back at it.
Finally, would you recommend Draw Awesome to others?
Jean Leebody: What do I like most about Draw Awesome? I can just repeat. It's the instruction and the format and the fact that it's like having one-on-one instruction right there right there with you. And it is so well explained and demonstrated, that it it makes it easy to follow. I like the fact that you can work at your own pace. I can't sit for very long periods of time. Before my fall - an hour and then I'd have to take a break. But since my fall, it's more like half an hour... fifteen minutes. So when I get my strength back I'm hoping to get back up to that hour. But being able to stop and then come back and pick up where I left off from was a bonus or a real thing that made the course easy for me - - and the fact that instruction was so good. Yeah and would I recommend it to others? Oh, for sure! In fact yesterday, I was down at our local mall with my daughter and I was buying a new cover for my cell cell phone. And we were standing at the kiosk while the young fellow was fixing it and I looked over at his work station and he had a sketched a couple of sketches tacked to the wall and one was a pair of eyes and the other was a face and they looked... the eyes, like from the Draw Awesome Course. So when he completed the transaction I asked him who's the artist and he said I am and I said well they're very good and I asked are you taking a course from Artkula? And he hadn't heard of you. His girlfriend was teaching him how how to draw. So I suggested, I said this is the name and this is what I've been doing and you maybe look it up because I think you would enjoy it. He seemed very enthusiastic about learning how to draw on that. He was deep into it now whether that was because of the girlfriend or whether he really had an interest, that's something I don't know. But anyway I suggested it to him and I would certainly recommend it to anybody who's looking for a Course. I think the name Draw Awesome. You can't... you can't have a better title for it because really, I think the work that I'm doing, in my estimation, with my limited talent, is awesome! And my family thinks so too...
