Glenn Vlippu - Drawing Lessons

Glenn Vilppu is considered one of today's foremost draftsman and instructors in drawing and painting. Few contemporary artists have thoroughly absorbed the lessons of the great masters of the past and, in addition, none have the ability to communicate and inspire students with such knowledge and understanding. Trained in the classical art of the Great Masters of the Renaissance, Glenn understands the fundamental language of drawing, and he has kept the Florentine School alive. Studying with him, today, is no different than it was studying with Michelangelo, Rembrandt, or Leonardo. His students go through the same steps, beginning with the structure of the subject, the bones, then adding the muscles, and finally the flesh. He claims there are no rules, just tools. He continually refines his teaching techniques to make it easier for his students to grasp the essential concepts of drawing. His mission is to empower them with the tools they will need to succeed in their world; his greatest satisfaction is seeing them earning their living as artists, and many do. His sketchbook is his personal diary and his teaching tool. He constantly draws and he demands his students do the same. He draws wherever he is, whatever captures his attention: his children, the grasses growing outside his door, his wife's flower arrangements, the people at the town meeting. Drawing is his visual language. His sketchbook is his camera. "I draw better than I speak," he says. His colleagues declare no one draws as much as Glenn, and no one has been able to put down the drawing with his clarity. He personifies his philosophy that one needs three things to succeed: the knowledge, the skills, and the spirit to carry it out.