Shirley from Australia

Speaker: Thanks, Australia

Thanks: Hello, I'm Shirley and I'm from Australia.

Thanks: This is one of my pictures from the Colour Pencil module. I'm a very keen birdwatcher and I always wanted to draw birds, but I'd always not drawn them very well. My bird watcher friends say, my goodness, they're absolutely wonderful, and they say I should make a calendar.

Thanks: Before joining Draw Awesome, I had just been trying to draw. After a lifetime of believing I couldn't, Phil taught me that I could draw when I was with him with Art Tutor for a few years. And so when he started up Draw Awesome, I thought, great! Now I can work with him and and improve. And my goodness have I improved! I've been struggling with confidence. There was a lot of things I wouldn't even attempt. Drawing a figure would be well beyond me. Animals were a struggle. I was having trouble with hatching - and still have trouble with that - and I just improved so much.

Thanks: Since joining Draw Awesome, everybody's commented on how much my art's improved and maybe because I'm prouder of it and I'm more willing to share it with people.

Thanks: When we got the first lesson of onions and garlic and I thought oh my goodness! Phil, if this is the first lesson in the course, what's it going to be like by the end? And I sort of gulped and thought, well here goes - but Phil was so good at guiding me through every step that I was so proud of proud of that. Very, very first drawing that I did and I got so excited about getting the the next lessons and sharing them with my friends who just kept saying I was so talented. And I kept saying "No I'm not, it's just the wonderful tutor that I've got who just is guiding me through and you should have a go too"! A couple of my friends have looked into it and one or two have actually joined Draw Awesome as a result, but I - I just can never wait for my - - my next lesson and I get a bit behind sometimes because life gets in the way and then I'm aching to get back to it.

Thanks: What I like most about Draw Awesome is that Phil takes us by the hand and - shows us every step. He's never patronising. He's always kind and he just goes step by step and understands the difficulties we might be having. And he even makes a few little mistakes himself and says, "You know, you see that's what happens when you don't observe carefully or you haven't measured the angle". And he just makes us feel that it's certainly within our grasp and always have success at the end of the lesson.

Thanks: So I really think anybody who's feeling a bit anxious about their artwork or wants to improve should definitely join Draw Awesome and you see just how much you will improve.