Drawing and Sketching for Designers (and Everyone Else!)

I love seeing students succeed in their designs, photos, productions, artistic work, and careers.

Do you want to learn become a better designer or communicator? Do you want to learn industry-standard editing and effects in Photoshop? Do you want to create logos for your brand or for clients? Do you want to learn new skills that are in demand in the new digital economy?

I'm passionate about communication, writing, art, and design education, and I'm currently a full-time professor of communication and digital media. I've developed curriculum and taught classes on design, photography, and writing for over a decade. My university students have become full-time, award-winning photographers, web designers, creative specialists, reporters, and layout designers. And now, you can learn from me as well!

Get started by enrolling in my courses, learning new skills and knowledge, and asking me questions in the courses and forums.

My Three-Part Qualifications to Teach You (Professional Experience, Education, and Experience Teaching):

By combining my professional in-the-field experience (both full-time and freelance), formal education, and experience teaching these topics, I've been able to produce top-notch courses that maximize learning and enable students to become better graphic designers, logo designers, photo editors, artists, and digital media producers.

Real World, Professional Experience:

I've worked as Webmaster and Advertising Designer at a regional newspaper (The News Chief), Internet Development Director at an award-winning advertising design firm, Technology Librarian at a city library system, and Managing Editor at two international graphic design magazines at Kelby Media Group. I've also written for print and online publications and designed websites and other promotional design work for clients on an on-going basis for the past 20 years.

Education:

Besides relevant marketplace experience, I also have a B.A. in Communication from Southeastern University, an M.A. in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and a Ph.D. in Communication from Regent University. My Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the mythic branding of Apple's Macintosh/Mac in their primary commercial campaigns (1984, Think Different, Switch/Real People, and Get a Mac). Example graduate courses such as Creative Approaches to Digital Media and Visual Storytelling have helped me when developing my own courses.

Experience Teaching:

Teaching these topics in the classroom and online has helped me figure out the best ways to explain concepts and guide students in the designs and productions. Besides being a full-time professor, I've developed curriculum and taught design, photography, and digital media courses for years at the university level for various schools in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Sorrento (Italy).

Courses:

I'm the founder of Good Creative Academy, the premiere online school for learning and creating. If you're looking to learn more about graphic design, photo retouching, visual art, Adobe software, and digital media production, you have arrived at the right place.

Fun tech-related facts about me:

I taught myself QBasic when I was 13, and later used that programming language to write a program that simulated the DOS prompt, to fool my high school graphic design teacher into thinking the computers had been hacked.

I used web banner advertising on my websites in high school and during my freshman year of college, which brought in about $750 a month in income.

Jonathan Simon is a fine artist, illustrator and university professor. He holds a B.F.A in illustration from Memphis College of Art and a M.F.A. in painting from the New York Academy of Art. He has studied with a variety of talented artists in both accredited programs and private apprenticeships, including Tony Ryder, author of The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing, Jacob Collins and Michael Grimaldi of Water Street Atelier / The Grand Central Atelier, and Frank Porcu at the Art Students League of New York.

Jonathan prefers to work from life, as opposed to photographs. "Using live models and setups affords me the opportunity to study, interact, and change course in real time," he says. "I enjoy this careful examination of my subjects, as much for the artistic process itself as for the end result."

A studio artist for more than 26 years, Jonathan is also an experienced art educator who has held full-time faculty positions teaching intermediate- to advanced-level drawing, figure drawing, painting and illustration classes at colleges such as the New Hampshire Institute of Art. He believes in sound, proven methods, materials and approaches and offers both private and group instruction on everything from basic drawing skills to more advanced concepts.