About Me
Hi, I’m Betzalel!
I’m an artist, and if you’re reading this right now, I’m guessing you are too! Art is all about freedom and self expression, but a few years ago when I started making art more regularly, I realized there was one thing that I loved more than anything… learning. To me, there is no better feeling that finishing a project and realizing that I just made something, and I have no idea how I made it. I remember one time, after I started taking art more seriously, I was sitting with my mom, sketching, and when she saw what I was working on, she said she didn’t know I could make something like that. My only response was that I couldn’t; at least not up until that very moment!
Learning isn’t easy and it isn't always fun. Worse than that, it can feel like you’re wandering endlessly, making no progress, with no idea how to move forward. I’ve been there, and I know that for issues like that, the only way to move past them is by figuring out the answers for yourself. But, I also know that it’s easier to figure things out on your own when you have someone else there to help you. I’ve had many mentors, teachers, and friends whom without I would have never been able to keep going. More than anything that is my goal in teaching art.
How I Teach
There are so many methods and so many ways to get better at art. My general philosophy is that as long as you keep trying new things and learning new information that you will inevitability grow. That being said, in art there is something called The Fundamentals. Yeah I know, it sounds scary (and it kinda is). The fundamentals are really just a set of the most common skills/areas of study that can help your art be more realistic and better designed. These include things like perspective, composition, form, lighting, color, anatomy, and the list goes on… Mastering the fundamentals can take a long time, and my goal isn’t to focus too heavily on them. However, a lot of the roadblocks you may be hitting in your art journey could be related to one of the fundamentals and you may not even know it, so having a basic understanding of each of them can really help to improve.
The second thing I like to focus on is practice. Practicing should not be a chore. The more you draw, the more opportunity you have to grow! So the goal with any homework I give should be that it is fun, approachable, and an efficient use of your time.
The final element that is incredibly important to focus on when teaching art is you. Everyone has a different reason for doing art and different artists that they admire. My goal in teaching art is not to have every person I teach draw exactly like me. The way I see it, every piece of information that you learn when making art, gives you the opportunity to make a decision, and those decisions define the art that you make. Whether you like drawing cartoons, or painting landscapes, I want to help you find your own path to making exactly what you love to make.
