Hello! My name is Nicole and I am so honored to be a part of the artistic journey of so many amazing, young artists! I am a professional portrait artist specializing in realism using graphite and charcoal pencils and have been drawing since I can remember. I teach my students that realism isn’t a grueling “serious” thing- it should be FUN and simple to understand and obtain. We use tips and tricks in these classes to achieve an incredible 3- dimensional look that makes a drawing really pop off the page. My specialty is teaching students to capture character and personality in a portrait; to capture the essence of who they are.  In my “Capturing Character Classes” we do just that. I love to get feedback from my students on who they would like to draw (one of my most recent classes was Harry Potter). I also have on-going facial feature classes every week where I teach the basics of realism with graphite (we work on eyes, ears, mouths and noses). These are fantastic classes to get started on before doing the more advanced Capturing Character classes. 
The best part about teaching is seeing the confidence my students exude after they see what they are capable of doing; it lights me up! My philosophy is that if your child is in my class, they are already an artist; I’m just there to guide them to be the best artist they would like to be. Thank you for stopping by and I can’t wait to be drawing with your children soon!