About The Author
Awards, Exhibitions, and Recognition
I am a proud member of the Society of Women Artists and regularly exhibit my work at competitive international shows.
Royal Society of British Artists
The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition
The Biennial Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize
The Other Art Fair
New English Art Club
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
Society of Women Artists
The Pastel Society
Young Artists of Russia
Exhibitions of Moscow Union of Artists
The Artistic Foundation and Educator
My name is Anastasia Romanovna Shimshilashvili, but for most of my life everyone has called me Shima. My artistic journey began in 1998, when I started taking preparatory courses at the Moscow State Academy Art Lyceum at the Russian Academy of Arts.
A year later, I was accepted into the Lyceum’s “First Studio,” its most advanced course of study. There, I acquired most of my knowledge and experience—and I’m infinitely grateful to my teachers for what they taught me!
After graduating from the Lyceum in 2005, I entered the fine art department at the Vasily Surikov Moscow State Academic Fine Art Institute. In my third year, I was admitted to the Mural Studio, from which I graduated with honors.
Thanks to my studies in the Mural Studio at the Surikov Institute, besides easel painting and drawing, I also became proficient in techniques like fresco, mosaic, icon painting, sgraffito, stained glasswork, and prototyping.
Today, my works are shown in various exhibitions throughout the world on an almost monthly basis, and they sell pretty well, too. I can proudly call myself a successful professional artist.
I began teaching when I was still in my last years at the Institute. At first, I taught in-studio. Later, I transitioned to online teaching because I found it to be a more effective approach. An online course compels students to work with a higher level of concentration, since they must draw everything on their own. In that situation, the student notices their own mistakes more quickly, and when we meet for a lesson, they can clearly identify their “weak spots,” which we can then work on. I now teach a unique method of drawing I personally developed (#shimamethod), which enables students to achieve a high degree of skill in drawing in a short time, even those who have never drawn before.
You can see examples of my students’ work at drawingatoz.com
ART Shima on Youtube For those who for any reason cannot afford lessons with a teacher, I created the “ART Shima” YouTube channel, where I share my knowledge for free. (The channel is in Russian, but you can enable subtitles and auto translate to get the English translation
INSTAGR A M
art.shima is my artist’s account, where I talk about my life as a professional artist and share my work and exhibitions. Where I share tonal drawings and anatomical studies with an educational emphasis. There, you will find posts about tonal art and see drawings broken down stage-by-stage.
Testimonials
"Great book. Everything is clear and understandable. Suitable for all skill levels. The author is an awesome artist with extensive experience in art, will tell and show what and how. Buy. You won’t regret!!"
- Nikolay M.
"I really liked the explanations about shading, analysis of errors and of the hatching direction. Simple and accessible, with much needed practical exercises."
- Tigrress
"One of the best drawing tutorials. Painted in detail, clearly shown. Very convenient format, lightweight, which distinguishes it from many weighty drawing books. The book covers the highlights for beginners. Also for practicing the theory - there are homework exercises."
- Ekaterinapoli
"Finally I found a really understandable book for a beginner for self-study!"
- Sergeev V.
"I like Anastasia's YouTube channel, so I was delighted to learn that she has released a book. Anastasia's approach is more academic, in contrast to popular sketches, but not boring. Perhaps this is the first drawing book that I read from beginning to an end (I have not mastered everything yet, but soon). Written in an easily understandable manner and without water. Reading is interesting and informative for a beginner."
- Katya M.
"One of the best drawing tutorials I've ever seen. Everything is very competently and clearly stated, without "water"; everything to the point, a lot of very useful advice that helped me a lot; I’ve not seen them in any literature on drawing. I really liked the language and manner of presentation of the material, as well as the description of rather rare techniques: drawing with sauce and working with tempera!"
- Tatiana R.
