The short answer is no! This is our most common question, and tbh it just isn’t true. We’ve yet to meet a person who couldn’t draw well enough to communicate better visually. We focus on simplicity and creating icons – this is not about illustration.

We’re serious too. People often start our courses claiming they can’t draw. They might still claim that by the end, but they do know they have enough skills to now call themselves a visual worker. If you are a real beginner to drawing and feel you want to build your confidence, then the Draw More Boot Camp is the online course to start with, and build up straight from there to Next Level Boot Camp.

Absolutely! Aber natürlich! Naturellement! Absolutamente! One of the reasons we built the online Academy is so we could reach more people in our mission to get everyone to #drawmore. As long as you have basic English, you will cope with all course content, which is in simple English. It’s really about the drawing, after all! And we have an online payment gateway that accepts all international credit/debit cards. So if you can understand this, you can do the courses.

Because our courses are not tickbox video-only courses and you are not a robot. It may take you longer to do something than someone else. You might want to spend longer on a particular lesson and skip something not relevant to you. When we put in timings some people were racing through things, and some were getting stressed by them. So we don’t put in timings any more.

No. We know that not everyone likes a video, and not everyone can play them at work. All real content is in the course modules as text, with images of drawing examples. The video content is really an enhancement to show students the detail of drawing particular things. (Some people have found it useful to copy drawing actions from a video exactly.) The tutor’s welcome is a video, but again it’s an enhancement rather than a necessity.

2 answers: 1. yes, we’re working on more, particularly in the longer courses for you to see a practitioner in action. And 2. well, yes and no… we will always be different from some online courses, that only provide video content and no text. This is because experience tells us that settling down to read text gets your brain in the right place to put pen to paper to draw. It also helps you better absorb the why of what you’re doing. We’re aiming for a mixed approach, to help people with varied learning styles all benefit from the Academy.

The good news is you need absolutely nothing specialist or expensive. If you work in an office you will already have access to what you need – probably the same goes for if you have children. But most courses require you just to have an A3 sketchbook or A4 paper, a pen, a small book and maybe a few coloured pens or pencils. If you need any special equipment then we tell you in the course blurb, but otherwise, no. Unless you want to use the course as an excuse to go on a stationery binge, then of course shop away…we understand! But we’ve seen people successfully do the exercises in the mud with a stick. Literally.

Great question! Put simply, any graphic recording is a way to capture conversations visually. Let’s quickly explain the difference in case the terminology is new to you:

Live graphic recording = capturing a live conversation, presentation, or the content of a meeting or event. Sometimes a live graphic recording takes the length of the talk, let’s say 20 minutes. Sometimes it can be created over the course of a whole day event, incorporating lots of different conversations. It is typically created at a large scale (on a big sheet of paper) or digitally and projected onto a screen/into an online meeting.

Sketchnoting = This can be live or from a recording, and is typically done as a more effective and engaging way of taking minutes. It often contains more text than a graphic recording, or more minutiae, and is usually completed in a notebook or sketchbook.

Graphic translation = This is where you take the content of a discussion or document, and translate it into a visualization. For example I sometimes get sent the key outputs from an important discussion (this might include slides, written notes, etc.) to turn into an engaging visual summary. Or I might be given a policy document to translate into a big picture.

This happens sometimes…  If you’re sure all your objectives are ticked (especially videos you may not have watched), then the easiest thing to do is REFRESH your screen. Or go to the menu and click on a module, and that usually works. Failing that, find a couple of checkboxes you’ve already ticked off and untick them. Then tick them again – sometimes that just fires it all back into action and the next module opens.

Of course if you’ve tried all this and it still hasn’t worked, then do contact support@graphicchange.com and we’ll help you out.

Working visually is about getting the drawing practice, so the more you put into this course, the more you get out. We recommend about an hour a day (Mon-Fri) during the course weeks. Of course as the Academy is online, you can do your coursework wherever you have an internet connection and a pen and pad. At whatever time suits you. Your tutor will spot if you get behind with your lessons, and catch up with you to check you’re ok.

You don’t have to. But if you want to share your learning experience with others, then the community is a great place to be. It’s also where the course tutor, Cara, will give supportive individual feedback on progress. If you want to get a certificate at the end, this is also the easiest way for Cara to see your work to appraise it. Our students so far have loved the combination of the flexibility of online learning with the supportive classroom feel they get from sharing with their peers in a small private group. It’s the best of all worlds.

If you’re an introvert, we get it, and we want you to have a great, personalized experience too! So check out our Ask the Tutor fields – that’s how you can submit questions and work for tutor review.

Nooooo. Look we know you’re super busy, so we’ve made the course really flexible. You can log onto the lessons 24/7 any time of day or night that fits into your schedule. Your tutor, Cara, may tell you she’s online in the private group at a particular time, but she checks in at all hours of the day…and night. Oh, and don’t forget, you can be on a computer, laptop, tablet or phone to do the courses. So don’t tie yourself to a desk! In fact you may need more space than that to do the exercises.

We run these courses in cohorts over a set time so that you can have access to Cara’s expertise for that time. But if life gets in the way and you don’t finish in that time, then don’t worry. You’ll still have access to all the lessons so you’ll be able to continue on your own at your own pace.

Glad you asked! There’s method in our madness, as follows:

• We don’t want to take your hard-earned money and have you not complete your course. We set a start and end date to give you the best chance of completion.
• Going through as a small group means you get super-learning by learning from what others do, ask and learn. Extra value!
• Your learning is further enhanced by live support from your tutor, so we do this in blocks of time to ensure you get her full support and attention during that course.