Melissa Schatzmann is a self-taught pencil realist artist. Her passion for Realistic Pencil Drawing started at a young age with being influenced by Canada’s well-known artist, Robert Bateman and Belgium’s wildlife artist, Carl Brenders. While she mainly uses graphite as her medium of choice, she also enjoys working with coloured pencils, pastels, charcoal pencils and oils. Her subjects range from wildlife, nature, people and pet portraits. She is also an avid photographer who enjoys taking photos of nature and wildlife animals.

Melissa has taught realistic pencil drawing classes through Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario for the past 20 years. In 2003, she designed Canada’s first online pencil drawing classes that were being offered in Community Colleges. These classes are offered through fourteen Ontario Community Colleges in 3 semesters in both pencil & coloured pencils.  Melissa also teaches children’s drawing classes in her home.