Private Art Lessons

In this private art class, your learner will see their artistic talents soar under the guidance of a fun and encouraging art teacher, who provides personalized instruction based on the learner's needs and goals. Materials and subject matter depends on the desired focus of the student. I teach realistic and creative drawing skills, Photoshop and other digital art apps, graphic design, comics and cartooning / anime, painting, and sculpting with clay. For messy materials, I recommend a 40 minute class (or longer, by request.) Message me to set up a longer lesson or group. During instruction, I will create along with your learner so they can pick up little artist's tricks from me on-screen. For hands-on work, I use a second camera. For digital art, I will alternate screensharing my screen, or the student's if they need help; please log in to Outschool/zoom on the same device as your digital art app. If you can, I also recommend logging into the classroom a second device so learners can watch my share screen more easily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GROUPS, SCHEDULING, & MAKE-UPS: Message me to request additional times, lessons starting on the hour, back-to-back lessons, or to organize a group. Parents, do you have more than one child who wants to learn about art? Siblings can be added to the lesson for an additional charge. It is OK for registered learners to share a screen. If you need to reschedule, please let me know at least 48 hours in advance. Rescheduled / make-up lessons for illness and emergency are at the instructor's discretion. No shows or last-minute cancellations will still be charged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOPICS: Realistic Drawing: We will explore the basics: line, shape, value/shading, texture, and proportions. We may practice drawing objects from life and from photos, learn techniques from "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" such as Contour Drawing, using Positive and Negative Space, or human proportions. As the student progresses, we will choose what the student is interested in drawing, including landscapes and nature, portraits and animals, or even realistic-looking fantasty creatures like dragons and unicorns. Creative Drawing: Students will learn to use the basic tools and techniques listed above to create drawings based on the students interest and style. Manga, anime, and cartooning artists still start with a foundation in realistic drawing skills and techniques and then expand upon them, exaggerate, and use stylized images like a language, telling a story through images. We may explore how to use artistic tools and techniques to refine the student's style and refine their visual story-telling strategies. I may also help students develop, edit, or workshop their stories, based on need. Digital Arts & Graphic Design: Students will learn about various digital art and graphic design software / apps by request as we discuss principles of graphic design or practice digital drawing, sketching, and collaging techniques. Apps may include Adobe Photoshop or Procreate (or the free versions Photopea, GIMP, Adobe Illustrator, the free versions Inkscape and Graphite, or others like Medibang, Krita, Autodesk Sketchbook, ibis Paint, Kleki, Canva, etc. For students interested in Photoshop / Photopea and similar programs, we will first explore the basics: lighting adjustment, selection techniques, cut and paste, and layers. Students may choose to focus on improving photos they have created, creating new imaginative works through photocollage and digital art, or digital drawing and painting using layers to refine a sketch. For students interested in graphic design, we may study logo design, product design, web design, fashion or textile design, T-shirt design, or print-on-demand products (Redbubble.com, Spoonflower.com, etc.) I can also teach beginner animation using Flip-a-Clip, Photopea, and Canva. Painting: Students will learn techniques for painting with watercolor, watercolor pencils, watercolor resist, gouache, ink, chalk pastels, and oil pastels (no oil paints please!) Students will learn various strategies for creating textures, blending, and detailed work-- everything from how to hold a brush, what kind of paper to use, and when to wait and let the paint dry. Topics and themes may be realistic or creative as the drawing skills above. Sculpting: We will explore the basics of using clay, molding spheres, coils, and slabs. We will work on additive and subtractive style building. Students may work with animation clay, sculpy, FIMO, air dry clay, or Model Magic. We may explore making various useful objects and the cultures that made them or look at popular stop-motion animation films.