I've never taken an art class in my life. Not in high school, not in college; not ever. Furthermore, I really don't draw. Doodles, sure. But never a real drawing. This being said, there are a number of things that I might note about taking this class for newbies like myself. First of all, the class was relaxing and not nervous, tense, or otherwise weird. The anxiety I was expecting to feel from being surrounded by people drawing, and by drawing a live model no less, was simply non-existent. The whole class was composed of newcomers like myself; there was plenty of chit chat and small talk to feel at ease, and Nicole, our teacher, made the air feel friendly and welcoming without even a moment of oddness or discomfort.

Second, the whole space screams art. There is a front room and a back room to the studio: when you first walk in, there is a small retail space, followed by an array of tables for larger classes, and, finally, at the very back of the studio is the space our class was held—a smaller room with a row of tables surrounding a stage of sorts where our model posed. All of the walls were covered in art; some for sale, some for fun, and so on. The atmosphere felt, somehow, to be artistic, warm, and inviting.

Third, there was no pressure to buy anything or to spend any additional dough. This is a plus when you're on a budget like me. All of the materials you could possibly need were in ready supply and freely offered. Nicole even took some time to spray some of our charcoal drawings with fixative during a break so that they might stay un-smeared and pristine.

And, finally, for a fourth point, in terms of instruction, Nicole was phenomenal. As I said, I don't draw, but by the time I walked out of there I felt like I could be, possibly, with some effort on my part of course, an artist someday. Everybody's drawings improved as the class progressed. Nicole helped us to figure out proportion and how to get our drawings looking like a person and not just the stick figures we all started with. She said so many things that I had never considered that I'm still trying to process them all, but not so much so as to feel daunted or intimidated by the advice.

To sum up, I might quite brazenly say that, if you're thinking about improving your abilities in drawing, even if you feel you possess, like me, no such abilities, this is *the* best class you could start with. Without hesitation, I would (and will) recommend this class and the One Strange Bird studio to anyone and everyone I know.