Alina Tulli, Looking Up

I wanted to become an artist when I was about 16 years old after I was given a book called “How to understand art”. I was so impressed with the few copies of Da Vinci’s drawings in that book. Early on, I studied architecture, where we would have one day each week dedicated to drawing/painting from life. From that experience, I learned to work on general proportions and not get into the details early on. In 2019, I moved to Victoria, British Columbia, and I started taking drawing classes at Noah Layne’s Academy of Realist Art. In 2023, I took the leap and fulfilled my long-time dream of studying realist art at Grand Central Atelier in NYC. Studying at GCA gave me a lot more confidence in my figure drawing skills and, in addition, I got the opportunity to practice sculpture and painting.
Some of the things I like about drawing and painting is trying to capture the beauty of the world. I love finding interesting light and shadow patterns, interesting shapes, be it on a person’s face, or in a landscape. I want to try to convey my subject’s essence in my art. Even though it is challenging, when drawing or painting, time disappears for me.