wagonized — drawings by France Belleville-Van Stone

My courses focus on drawing with a relaxed, pressure-free, and meditative approach — no stressful, monthly challenges. Everything is at your own pace.

Subjects range from portraits of people (faces, hands, eyes, noses, skulls), animals, and cars, to courses designed around specific techniques, or simply showing up at the page and drawing along.

Artist feedback on Wagonized courses

Lydia

I have a much better understanding of the thought process in following your technique. Thank you for putting this course together.

How I Crosshatch, Part 1

 

Jennie Kessinger

A few more animal sketches drawn along with @wagonized — 20 minutes each. I’m always amazed at how much better they turn out than how I think they will while drawing them.

Draw Along Critters with France

 

Marcel Poots

Well this was a nice surprise. I thought this drawing of #drawalongwithfrance was a tough assignment. But this is the first one that I finished in 20 minutes and it does not look bad 😆 Thanks @wagonized for this great lesson.

Draw Along Animals

 

Musthafa Choorapullan

Cross hatching 2nd part unbelievable… Different techniques… master strokes… practicing daily there is improvement…. Thank you.

How I Crosshatch, Part 2

 

Becky Way

This was an amazing challenge, and I learned so much watching you and trying to copy your strokes. You make it look so easy, but it’s not! I plan to revisit it many times. Thank you, France!

Draw Along with France

 

Louise Collin

I’m really enjoying working with the Bic pens (who would have thought, ha ha). I’m now anxiously waiting for my new Bic pens to come in the mail.

Showing Up at the Page

 

Ann Cutler

France’s method of drawing cars is enthusiastically laid out for us… not only can she draw, she can teach! She breaks it down in simple terms, and dashes in many tips on how to infuse your car drawings with style and personality. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in getting up to speed with drawing some cool classic cars.

How I Draw Cars

 

Let’s build a drawing habit together

Whether you are an absolute beginner or whether you have already put in miles of lines with your pens and pencils, my courses will guide you in making drawing a habit.

You’ll see every stroke clearly no matter what size screen you have — videos are shot at high resolution and frame-rate (4K, 60 frames/second), putting you right in the studio with me, and they include optional subtitles and searchable transcripts.

The optional, on-screen subtitles are a great way to follow along without needing sound.

No expensive supplies

Simple tools are key. You don’t need costly supplies to make art. Grab a ballpoint pen, a #2 pencil and a piece of paper. There, you have all the tools necessary to make art.

My journey as an artist

I don’t have any formal training in art. I studied English in Strasbourg, France, and moved to the United States on a teaching assistantship at Penn State University. My day job is teaching high school French. Growing up, there were pencils and paper around, my sister and I played with clay, we went to museums, we attended local exhibits, my parents had art books and art was on the walls. Art mattered. 

I was fascinated with cars, having grown up next to the Peugeot plant in Sochaux, France — I wanted to draw them, design them, and my favorites of them all were the wagons. Hence wagonized. I have owned several over the years, mostly old Volvos and Volkswagens.

I started my blog in 2006 in an effort to document my daily drawing habit, and in 2008, my drawings were featured in Danny Gregory’s An Illustrated Life.

In 2014, my book Sketch! was published, and I have continued to make time to draw, between teaching and motherhood. I have taught online classes through Sketchbook Skool and Sktchy and have loved connecting with sketchers around the world.