Glenn has a way of being polite, kind, and straight to the point all at the same time. I've seen so much improvement in my drawing practice after spending time in person with him. I've lost exact count of how many workshops I've attended - I've been to Belgium, Vienna, Italy and New Mexico with Glenn, and loved every second. Eleanor (Glenn's wife) and Glenn are such wonderful and kind souls to be around, and have helped immensely when it comes to my anxiety around drawing. I cant recommend his workshops enough!

Glenn has a way of being polite, kind, and straight to the point all at the same time. I've seen so much improvement in my drawing practice after spending time in person with him. I've lost exact count of how many workshops I've attended - I've been to Belgium, Vienna, Italy and New Mexico with Glenn, and loved every second. Eleanor (Glenn's wife) and Glenn are such wonderful and kind souls to be around, and have helped immensely when it comes to my anxiety around drawing. I cant recommend his workshops enough!

I had the privilege of studying with Glenn in Belgium in 2024. This was a life changing experience for many reasons, and one that I will always treasure in my heart. If you go on a trip with Glenn, you will learn a lot about drawing, but you will also have the opportunity to meet many incredible people who are at different stages of their artistic education. Glenn’s classes attract very special people who are worth getting to know and I would place the caliber of these relationships on a similar level of significance to me as great friendships from college. These trips are in part special because many adults at different stages of their life have set aside time to make a serious effort to improve with a wonderful teacher. The experience of drawing with this small community and getting to know each other is precious. Glenn is very good at working with each student individually and quickly realizing a clear, concrete step the student can take to improve. When Glenn observes your work, he will quickly discern a path and show you the way with a demo. There have been times when I didn’t understand what he meant to teach me, and months and years later I figured it out. One useful thing about working in person with a class is you get to see how he works with other students. If you pay attention to those interactions and observe carefully, you will find that those lessons can be applied equally to your own work. The students in my trip were at varying skill levels. This is very positive because you are exposed to a wide range of critique and instruction. Seeing how Glenn worked with more advanced students was as helpful as seeing Glenn approach fundamental problems. Whenever you see Glenn work with a student, you should always assume that this lesson can benefit you. One things that never ceases to amaze me about studying with Glenn is how his lessons tend to imprint on the mind. I think that Glenn teaches as much with passion and joy as he does with word and demos. Sometimes I am surprised by how vividly I remember an image he drew and how his hand moved on the page. If you are at all hesitant, don’t be. You will have a great time with wonderful people, make wonderful memories, and learn how to draw!

As a regular student at Glenn’s on-site classes I can highly recommend his workshops. It is great to learning from him in person and being able to ask questions right away. Glenn teaches in a way that doesn’t interfere with the students style of drawing. He teaches tools that you can use to draw whatever subject you want to approach. Whether the subject or scene I want to draw is from life or imagination - the skills that I’ve learned at Glenn’s lessons took me to a level that I wouldn’t have reached without his workshops. Take the opportunity to learn from him at the Palm Springs Workshop! You will not regret it and most probably, as I do, be looking forward to learning more from Glenn at his next workshops. I am a student of Glenn since 2013 and I am trying to attend at least one on-site workshop per year to take my skills to the next level. Vilppu Academy is awesome!

In 2013 I attended my first on-site workshop with Glenn in Munich. I consider it one of the best things that happened in my artistic career that I started studying with him back then. I attended as many on-site workshops with Glenn as I could ever since. Getting his feedback in person is very valuable and being able to ask questions right away is just great. Glenn’s motto - “No rules just tools” is a concept that I very much appreciate. He helped me improve my art skills tremendously without interfering with my style of drawing.

I have already reserved my spot for the full workshop. Don’t miss the opportunity to work with Glenn and take your art skill to a new level.

I highly recommend Glenn’s workshop in Lyon!

I’ve done several Vilppu workshops in Europe and in US. Each one has changed my life.

These workshops are intensely about learning to see and draw through interaction with other artists, the local community, the landscape, local art and, of course, Glenn’s guidance.

There is no substitute for “being there”.

It’s no small thing that I developed several long term friendships along the way.

I had the privilege of studying with Glenn in Belgium in 2024. This was a life changing experience for many reasons, and one that I will always treasure in my heart.

If you go on a trip with Glenn, you will learn a lot about drawing, but you will also have the opportunity to meet many incredible people who are at different stages of their artistic education. Glenn’s classes attract very special people who are worth getting to know and I would place the caliber of these relationships on a similar level of significance to me as great friendships from college. These trips are in part special because many adults at different stages of their life have set aside time to make a serious effort to improve with a wonderful teacher. The experience of drawing with this small community and getting to know each other is precious.

Glenn is very good at working with each student individually and quickly realizing a clear, concrete step the student can take to improve. When Glenn observes your work, he will quickly discern a path and show you the way with a demo. There have been times when I didn’t understand what he meant to teach me, and months and years later I figured it out. One useful thing about working in person with a class is you get to see how he works with other students. If you pay attention to those interactions and observe carefully, you will find that those lessons can be applied equally to your own work.

The students in my trip were at varying skill levels. This is very positive because you are exposed to a wide range of critique and instruction. Seeing how Glenn worked with more advanced students was as helpful as seeing Glenn approach fundamental problems. Whenever you see Glenn work with a student, you should always assume that this lesson can benefit you.

One things that never ceases to amaze me about studying with Glenn is how his lessons tend to imprint on the mind. I think that Glenn teaches as much with passion and joy as he does with word and demos. Sometimes I am surprised by how vividly I remember an image he drew and how his hand moved on the page.

If you are at all hesitant, don’t be. You will have a great time with wonderful people, make wonderful memories, and learn how to draw!

I've been to the previous sketching workshop on Sardinia last year, and I'll leave this review here as a food for thought for people who consider joining this one.

The Sardinia trip was amazing, and I'm looking forward to this one. To Glenn, drawing comes as naturally as breathing. His art looks beautiful, effortless, and fun. For someone like me who was scared of failing at drawing, this attitude shift alone was worth the price of attendance. After that I carry a sketchbook everywhere I go and I draw all the time. This class quite literally changed my life.

Glenn is also great at teaching. His instruction was a great help, and he adjusts his feedback based on the artist's level, so everyone is welcome. If you want to learn to sketch, or if you want to learn to draw like the great masters of the past, or just spend a week drawing beautiful scenery with like-minded people, I can't recommend this course enough.

I really love this course and think it’s wonderful. I’m only halfway through the course right now but I can’t wait to leave a review because of how exciting and good it is.

This course is in a way similar to Figure Drawing 3 because it lets me do experiments through the minds of other artists, with different kinds of tools. I love this aspect of the course because I find that having different tools laying in front of me gives drawings more potential and spontaneity and more fun.

And I realised that I’m actually discovering my own preferences and ideas by learning from these other artists, because Glenn is not teaching me to copy blindly but different thinkings that go behind each technique which make me think ‘what do I wanna do/ how does it feel like’. So naturally when I apply the techniques of each artist to my own drawing, I incorporate and adapt it with my own tendencies and each drawing is kind of a part of self discovery.

All Glenn’s courses give the freedom of self discovery by learning from others but I find this one in particular gives me the most freedom, partially because I started shifting to animal genres. And this is another good thing about the course, that it is not limited to drawing only humans. I can use what I have learnt to draw all kinds of animals I love.

So I’d highly recommend this course to anyone, regardless what genre you are interested in. And it’s super fun. Imagine your cat sitting next to you watching you drawing them and telling you ‘draw me like one of Tiepolo’s cats’. And you can :)

After Covid, my days of teaching art to kids came to a screeching halt. As I am very susceptible to respiratory infections, self-isolation was necessary. As the saying goes, "When one door closes, a new one opens." I decided it was Art time for me. One of my regrets is failing to get a master's in architecture. Not a big deal because art is my passion. Who best to study art with... Glenn and Eleanor Vilppu! I bought the Vilppu subscription and off I went, immersing in his demos and lecture...24/7. Oh, I have sleep issues too.
I did have a lot of mileage, but it was more copying and very raw. I studied Glenn's process of gesture, defining the form, anatomy before drawing eyes and ears on the damn figure! The man taught me that drawing is thinking. Analyze the model... and then analyze some more until one overpower the brain and let the eyes take over. Glenn's mantra is "There are no rules, just tools." He has all these Glennisms that if you're not paying attention, you may miss an important point. The New Masters Live streaming is one of my favorites, among many, many categories available to me. I have also been taking the Vilppu Academy classes since 2021, shortly after Eleanor persuaded Glenn to participate i my Exhibit "Structure and Soul". From my point of view, I am getting a Master's education from a true and legendary art Master. Thank you, Glenn and Eleanor for the wealth of knowledge you are sharing.

With high expectations I got a lot more than I bargained for. Not just from the Composition class itself but from generous quantity and most important quality feedback. The weekly lecture / demo structure and the weekly questions session give you a lot more knowledge and access that just your course module. Everything from anatomy, animals, drapery, landscape... you name it is up for grabs.

No art speak. No esoteric wishy washy theories. No cherry picking "methods". A straight forward, understandable and practical approach that you can build on for a lifetime. An approach of thinking that opens up possibilities.

It does require time and work. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and sharpen your pencils.

Whether you a beginner or seasoned professional with is worth it! Hands down the best I've had.

I’ve been proudly a fan, student, and friend of Glenn Vilppu for many years. Like countless other students, he transformed my skills and, most importantly, taught me how to see.

This subscription option is perfect for students or artists who may not be able to attend his weekly critique-based courses, yet still want access to his teachings. It is exceptionally affordable considering the depth of knowledge offered through Glenn’s lectures, especially his Old Master studies and demonstrations.

Remember that Glenn is a living master —a bridge between generations of artists—and a true treasure in the world of art education.

Just took this course, and it really brings together all of the elements of the other courses I've taken to form the basis of an addictive drawing practice.

Gesture, composition, anatomy, drapery, all of these are tools that you can practice anywhere with a sketchbook. This class finally got me to use many of the materials I've acquired but not had the gumption to try, like fountain pen and ink wash, and watercolors. Also, as the son of a carpenter, it gave me a new appreciation for the carpenter's pencil.

Though it follows the Sketching book pretty closely, the class is fairly open-ended in terms of what sorts of drawing you might want to do, as Glenn goes over techniques for drawing people and landscapes alike, and his coverage of composition and design applies to all types of drawings and all mediums.

The course really touches on the things that drawings can do that you can't do with a photograph. He emphasizes how to change what you need to get the feeling you want to evoke, using tools he's taught all along. And he shows how you can use your photographs as a starting point to create something unique and memorable.

This is a great class for seeing what you can do and make with what you've learned from Glenn in the past, and how easy it is to draw every day regardless of location.

Animal Drawing Part 1 is structured to have two weeks for each lecture which means you can submit two assignments (one per week) for each lecture. The benefit is after having gotten Glenn's feedback for the first assignment, you get the opportunity to make changes and deepen your approach to drawing animals for the second assignment. Glenn's feedback is very insightful: he will point out what worked in the drawing, as well as clearly identify what can be worked on next for you to improve. His guidance really helps to fast-track improvements.
Overall, the course is well structured: it starts with observing and drawing animal skeletons to understand the general structure of animals (the main focus of this course is on four-legged mammals). Then, the following lecture allows you to apply this structure by drawing mice/rats which have an overall simpler form. After that, you progress to cats and dogs which can be observed at home if you have pets. The next lecture focuses on farm animals, e.g. cows/sheep/goats/pigs. Lastly, all the previous skills can be applied to wild animals. It's really helpful for the course if you have access to actual animals (and skeletons for the first week) that you can observe, as drawing from life really helps with capturing the gesture and form.
The approach taught in this course is solid and can be applied to many different animals: by understanding the skeleton of the animal, it becomes easier to understand and analyze the complex forms of different animals and to capture them in your drawings. In addition to the lessons, there are weekly demos by Glenn in which he discusses various aspects of art, plus weekly chats where you can ask questions. The weekly demos and chats are well worth listening to as Glenn is very knowledgeable and has a lot of experience in the field. Overall, I learned a lot from this course and recommend it if you're interested in animal drawing.

Studying with Vilppu Academy has enriched my learning process. Glenn Vilppu, with his vast knowledge and success in art and animation, generously shares his process. From mastery of materials, observations, analysis and execution, he takes the student through his process. The recorded lectures, so many of them, are at my access whenever I want to study or review. I just recently viewed his lecture on Titian, to understand how to use light to define the form (screen capture below). I study at my own pace, no anxiety nor do I get overwhelmed by the subject matter. I particularly like the recorded "draw along" figure drawing sessions and to listen to Glenn's critiques.
Glenn and Eleanor are so welcoming and makes me feel like I am studying in the Master's studio.