I have recently started an extensive course of study with Virtual Art Academy and from your post I recommend checking with this online academy program. I have spent years studying art techniques with the multiple free postings on the internet without actually doing any art as I was in a state that prevented hands on activity. I studied instead. When I did finally have opportunity to hold a brush and start a painting, the plethora of tidbits gathered over the years actually blocked me. My mind had 10,000 pieces of art info just jumbled together with no frame or ability to place pieces into the whole. VAA ‘s Spiral of Learning and their nine foundational blocks of learning [even represented as puzzle pieces] is the orderly art curriculum I needed. Spaced repetition is one shining and effective aspect of this particular academy as principles are spiraled into every learning block of study. Many students with art degrees hop into the program to shore up what they learned and add to what they missed in their course of study. The diverse student body enhances our assignment critiques. Barry John Raybould’s virtual art museum visits helps to not only study with the Masters but he chooses specific paintings that link to the teachings of each workshop. This course has changed how I visit a museum exploding into amazing enjoyment of why these works are in a museum. Principles that are taught apply to representational all the way to abstraction with either oil, acrylic, watercolor, or pastels. Immersive is my operating word for VAA. Check out the website soon as he is currently running a special for a limited time. My suggestion is to purchase one month access, dig deeply into it to test it for yourself. https://www.virtualartacademy.org/share/T7k6KF4GmkgrMLCd

The download for this demo is missing…could this be added to the download list?

Drew some pandas in different shapes, so that I could finally tackle my brothers tattoo wish...I´m not sure if the final product has enough character, but it sure was fun. :)

Learning to Sketch from Observation: After demo: 1st pic is the searching line for the hand; 2nd is the bold line after the search. It is hard not to switch to measuring so proportions are not perfect but am I executing the process properly? I have to say it was much more fun to use the tapered line search rather than the contour line I have been relying on. Nice to have more lines in my arsenal.

Your critiques are lessons upon lessons upon lessons! These projects and your comments revealed my reliance on observation and contour married to perfectionism. This is helping to eliminate my internal angst when drawing. Thanks for your eye opening feedback Stan😳 Here is a thank you gift for you Stan- The Dot and the Line; 1965 movie version so you don’t have to read the book😂 https://youtu.be/h0yf7IkWceI I am a blue line…you are gently training me to be a versatile line by choice! A big shout out to Marshall too!

These are so fun and informative to watch, even though I'm too ill right now to do the assignment I still feel like a learn a lot of just watching you work. Can't wait to try it out myself as soon as possible!

Redraws along with the video.

Two down-one to go. I enjoyed this tapered line. More practice needed but loving the line is a great start for me.

Fantastic bonus lesson Stan…just clarified my ‘searching thoughts’ about the various introductions of the different line exercises. I just stopped spinning and started dancing!