Award-winning artist Mikhail Solovev shows you how to create a compositional sketch in the Russian academic style. These sketches are a key part of the Russian academic process, and begin by focusing on the silhouette to get a good idea of the compositional elements of light and shadow in your piece. If you’re interested in learning more about how to draw in a Russian academic style check out Mikhail’s course - https://proko.com/solovev

"Many people are too lazy to draw a compositional sketch first." Spend 15 minutes doing one first.

Drawing from more advanced students' work is more helpful than drawing from the Masters. The work is more understandable and allows you to incrementally improve. Drawing with pen and ink really shows you what you know. Mistakes are learning tools!