★ Graduated from the Stavropol Art College and the Stroganov Academy, specialization — furniture design

★ Studied digital painting with Andrey Surnov and drawing with Azat Nurgaleev at Skills Up School

★ Taught specialized drawing at the Stroganov Academy, conducted interior sketching courses

★ Worked as a designer, created illustrations of interiors to order using the hand-drawn presentation technique

**What inspires you?**

I love to study the history of art, I get inspired by the painstaking graphics of old masters and the bold painting of the Impressionists.

**Why are applied drawing skills important for any artist?**

I believe it is important for an artist to gain experience in drawing, develop a graphic technique, be able to design and simplify shapes. All this will become a strong advantage and will certainly help the artist in realizing his creative potential.

**What do you focus on when teaching students to draw?**

First, I focus on theory, trying to break down the information into simple modules and convey the algorithms of expressive drawing.

Further, it's all about practice, and here a lot depends on the student: when I see that the student is not doing something well or is not satisfied with the result, we analyze and clarify the direction that needs to be improved.

After consolidating the studied technique, we master the next method — and so on, until I see that the student has understood the basic artistic techniques and knows how to make a drawing expressive.