New to SVSLearn, and wondering how much time I should be focusing on each class?
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@kayleenartlover you’re free to move at whatever pace you’re comfortable with
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Hi @kayleenartlover,
I’ll give you the legal answer, “It Depends”.
If you’re brand spanking new to art, you will need to spend more time taking the courses and doing all of the assignments.
Even if you’re somewhat experienced, you may have developed bad habits that you’re probably not even aware of.
Here’s my top 10 tips for taking SVS Classes (aka, non legal answer):
- Write down the curriculum (basics) and put a check box next to the course and create a box for the homework assignments. Don’t move on until you have completed both the course and assignments. (See below screenshot)
- Be honest with yourself. If you’re not ready to move on, or don’t quite understand the material, take the course again.
- Don’t just watch the courses passively without doing the work. The trap is “thinking” you understand the material by just watching, but let me tell you - the power is in “doing the work”.
- No matter your age, take the courses seriously as if you’re paying tuition at the university. Although SVS is considerably cheaper than formal universities, the teachings and class material are solid gold.
- Find your community here in the forums and ask for help. It’s tough when you’re watching the video and can’t ask Will Terry a question. Thus, the next best thing is to ask the community. This really helped me. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get a response directly from Will, Lee, Jake, David or the other instructors.
- Post your homework on the forums so you can begin time stamping your development. It’s incredible to see your baseline skills develop overtime. The funny thing, is that others will notice your skill development more than you do.
- Get a physical calendar and reserve time each day or each week for learning and remove distractions. Recommended reading: “Deep Work” by Cal Newport.
- Reward yourself for completing courses and assignments (nice walk in the park, time with family, favorite coffee, etc.).
- Make learning and doing art a habit. Reminder, just getting started is often the hardest part, so tell yourself just 5min, and that will likely increase. Recommended reading: “Atomic Habits” - James Clear.
- When learning, take a break every 30min for 5min. Walk around, think about what you’ve learned. I recommend learning in 90min blocks. After each block, either stop for the day or give yourself at least several hours before your next 90min learning block.
Bonus Tips:
- Get a sketch book and take copious notes and draw along while taking the course. You’ll learn so much more if you take notes!
- Use your favorite pencil or pen while taking notes and drawing. Something you really enjoy holding in your hand. My favorite is the blue Pentel Mechanical Pencil P207 0.7mm. I love the color and feel.
- Enjoy the journey of learning rather than focusing on the outcome of your end goals. “The sages regard as wise they who never had anxiety for the fruits of their actions.” - The Bhagavad Gita.
Hope this helps and look forward to seeing you in the forums.
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@jeremy-ross This is great! Thank you for sharing, I'm so glad I saw this! I'm going to make a list in my studio notes book too and get back into finishing the foundation classes. So inspiring.
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Hi @katie-carling, so glad you found the post helpful.
I feel there’s power in writing down the curriculum and having it in front of you rather than relying on memory to check the home page for “what’s next”.
There’s some new courses I need to take, so this exercise helped me spot my gaps in learning.
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@jeremy-ross Jeremy gives excellent advice. I will be using it. I also work differently at times. I live a somewhat isolated life. Nothing weird, just out in the country with a lot of farm chores and other demands on my time. During covid it's become almost monastic. I'm a writer learning to illustrate and my farm life is my main story generator. So I'll have characters starting to gel and story structures starting to unfold and listening to lessons while I work on my own stories, sketches, etc. helps to turbo-charge the process. So I'll be drawing a herd of goats for myself and think it looks too flat. Then I'll put a Will Terry video on to find the lighting effect I need. Ditto for the other lessons. Sometimes just listening while working or even doing housework during podcasts sparks new story or illustration ideas.
So do the lessons but feel free to play with your own ideas and work. Life is short. You don't want your last day to be spent just struggling with perspective. Cheers!
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@jeremy-ross that is some great advice! Thank you for sharing!
Austin Shurtliff
austin@svslearn.com -
@kayleenartlover this is a great question and everyone's advice so far has been spot on! I would agree that it is difficult to figure out how long each exercise or assignment should take since everyone is at different skill levels. Often, it is really helpful to do an exercise or assignment several times. Most of the courses specify when you should do an assignment/exercises (and I'm working to update any that don't). I would always recommend that you complete each of these assignments before you watch the next videos. I hope this helps!
Austin Shurtliff
austin@svslearn.com -
Certainly @austinshurtliff!
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@austinshurtliff yes I have taken several classes multiple times!
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First off, I just want to welcome you to SVS Kayleenartlover. I am new here as well, and this is great advice from Jeremy. I am going to do this as well.
Thank you all
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@kayleenartlover Thanks for sharing!!!!
