The Drawing Studio

loved it! and continue to talk about it and look up next classes years after i attended. i walked in thinking i couldn’t draw and walked out with pieces that i was proud of AND resembled what i was trying to draw. Phil helps break down the negative nancy in your head and pushes you to go forward without fear. it was perfect for me. the flexibility of which class you take per week put it over the top on awesomeness.

If you’re looking for an art class where the instructor shows you how to hold your brush to paint clouds, this is not the class for you. Phil Sylvester does something much more valuable: he helps you to ignore critical thinking when you paint (or draw – he has drawing classes, too). Keeping your left brain from sabotaging your artwork can be a formidable task for some people, myself included.
Phil basically helps you become that 5 year old kid with crayons again, where you have no expectations of what your art is supposed to be. His exercises encourage you just to paint, while he cites mantras from himself and other artists amid occasional music. This process leads you down a path where you find yourself and lose yourself at the same time.
I can honestly say, in the short time I have been painting, that Phil has made me a better artist. Any class which does that is a good thing. So I suggest taking classes that teach techniques and color theory as well as taking the types of classes offered at the Drawing Studio. Every time you expand your horizons as an artist your soul will benefit.

i’m glad i took a class here. i hadn’t taken any art classes since grade school so i was a bit rusty. i felt really insecure about my abilities. phil is great about helping you «get out of your mind» and just relax and channel your inner creativity. he really just helps you go on your instinct and bring out whatever your unique contribution is to art. like the other reviewer said, this is not the place to go if you want a lot of specific, concrete drawing instruction. also, i wish phil would update some of his magazine cutouts he uses for students to practice portraits. i kind of got tired of using the same ones week after week. overall, though, this was a good experience for a person like me who is really unsure and is tentatively dipping a toe into the creative world.

Come here if you want to learn how to see like an artist and if you want learn to love drawing, even if what you draw isn’t perfect. Phil teaches his students how to find their own creative voice.

This place is for people who can actually draw and want to be «FREE» and be more like Picasso as the instructor loves Picasso. It’s a good step to become a better artist but if you are a beginner and just want to draw/​paint like the subject rather than be free and be a Picasso, this is not for you.

Don’t expect instruction, like how to hold a pencil or how to render depth or choose materials, or improve your work. Instructor spends the class hours reading Oprah like motivational quotations while students draw. He supplies paper and benches and that’s it. At the end of the class, he judges people’s work in the most general, least helpful ways. It’s easy to think you’ve wasted your time and money. Phil Sylvester has a lot to offer students, but at this stage, it’s like he’s just phoning it in.

If you are looking to draw «true to life» still life scenes… this is NOT your place.
If you are looking for a crazy way to break through to your creative side… this IS your place.
Be warned… Phil will challenge your «in-​the-​box» habits, so be ready for a little bit of crazy.

I’ve had 3 classes here over about 5 year (2 on drawing, 1 painting) — I came in with absolutely no artistic confidence or ability and the classes were just fantastic at causing me to understand that art is a fun process, it does not demand perfection every day, and each person will see a subject with their own eyes/​experiences (even if they are sitting right next to me) so everyone’s art is truely original.
Draw what you see!

Some of the best art classes that I’ve taken. Phil Sylvester is a rare and gifted teacher who teaches a process: to get that inner critic out of the head and have a blast. I’ve been in classes with a curious mix of beginners and professional artists and amazingly both benefit. A good place to find my own art voice.

Took a class here years ago and looking forward to another one coming up.
I found Phil (the instructor) to be fun and inspiring. It was challenging and fulfilling in more ways that just technically. Art therapy is more like it. Really cool perspectives on art and vision. Awesome venue. Killer mix of fellow students in many different phases and stages of their own process and development. The Drawing Studio offers a truly unique class experience! Enjoyed it all immensely.