I think it was because I have been wanting to learn to draw for such a long time. I didn't think I was talented enough to be an artist. I signed up for a drawing class many years ago but it was cancelled because I was the only one who signed up. As it was the second term I thought that if no one from 1st term resigned the teacher mustn't have been very good so I let go of the idea at the time. It probably wasn't true about the teacher but I obviously wasn't ready at the time to pursue it.
The first online class was with Jane Davenport and it was wonderful to learn to draw faces and all the supplies to use. She is an entertaining teacher as well. I think the best part of online classes is the ability to create without the fear of the teacher looking over your shoulder. You can draw 100 sketches if you need to because no one can see you. After that first class I found there was a whole world of online classes I could try. Most of the classes I have done have been because I liked the look of the artist's work and wanted to learn from them. The ones I have gotten the most from are Life Book and 21 Secrets because they both have lessons from many different artists. It is a great way to get to know their teaching style.
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| A couple of projects from the Artsy Ornaments 2012 class at Christy Tomlinson's website. |
I have to say not all artists make good online teachers. One class I did had the camera set up too far away to really see what was happening. Another class was only PDFs and no video. That was very disappointing because I could have just bought a book with the same information in it. The bad part of getting carried away with online classes is trying to get all the work done and videos watched. I feel like I am wasting money if I don't do it all. Of course that is not true. As long as you learn something new I think you get value from the class.
Recently I did the ICAD challenge and it changed the way I think about online classes. I had to use my own abilities and ideas to come up with mini artworks and I loved it. I have been completing so many assignments for classes that I haven't been doing very many of my own art journal pages. Art journalling was the reason I started this online craze in the first place.
Right now I am completing classes that I signed up for last year. When I have finished those I am going back to just the two year long classes (Life Book and 21 Secrets) and then next year will do very few classes, if any at all. I want to start doing my own thing more often. I have loads of books and magazines with all sorts of things I want to try but haven't got around to. I am going to allow myself to play and create. It will mean I get to share more of my techniques as they are not part of a class so you can play along with me too. I look forward to our continued journey together.
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