SVS Classes
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Oh do it! The classes are all so amazing and insightful and really make you reflect on your past work and how you make images.
When I first subscribed, I kind of treated it like youtube - where I would just watch the videos and try and soak in all the knowledge - a lot of the classes have crit on student work too, and that is so beneficial.
Moving forward though, I think I'm really going to take each class slower and do the homework that they provide.
I've done a lot of watching on the Creative Composition class, the Color and Light class, the Environment class, and the perspective class, and have dabbled into the others because there are just so many fun things! I think it depends on where you are in your journey and how comfortable you feel with drawing - are you gearing up to learn the basics, or are you more advanced to where you're looking for classes on how to market yourself and how to set up a book dummy.
DEFINATELY take the Creative Composition and Painting Color and Light though - they are such amazing and in depth courses.
If you scroll down on this page linked, it will show you how they suggest taking the classes. -
@kaitlinmakes Thanks so much for the response, great to hear that there are critiques of past students, I found these to be very helpful while taking some schoolism classes.
I'm maybe looking at the ones you mentioned the composition and Color and light and environment classes. I want to check out the business / marketing side too. If you asked me where I am on my journey it depends what day it is lol (some days better than others) I'm not starting from scratch, but I do know how important it is to go back to the fundamentals, so I think i will dip into the intro classes to refresh. I want to be able to paint without thinking as much, to be more comfortable as i am with drawing.
I really enjoy the 3 point podcast and this forum is awesome, so looking forward to getting stuck into the classes and leveling up
Thank you for your insight.
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@phil-cullen I started my subscription a month or two ago, and I have decided to follow the videos in the order they recommended on the curriculum page (levels 1-4). I am hoping to make rapid progress in my illustration over the next year, so I am giving the courses my full effort and attention and not skipping over anything. So far that approach is really working for me, and I am loving the courses and format!
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I agree with @kaitlinmakes's class suggestions and the comment on taking classes slower. I found it really helpful to take one or two a month and really focus on trying to practice the concepts taught, maybe even rewatch the same class multiple times. I signed up a few months ago so I've only taken a couple courses but the creative composition one is excellent and my favorite so far. If you're looking for content to just kind of have on in the background I like to turn on one of the critique segments while I work, I find it puts me in the learning/improvement mindset and the have some nice little tips sprinkled in.
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@phil-cullen I've been on under a month but the creative comp class is gold. I am still working through all the exercises and critique videos for it but I'll probably re watch the main videos as well.
There are a bunch of one or two hour videos on business and smaller topics that are great to watch when I have a short time or want something to learn a bit in the background while working on a paint. Makes me feel less alone while I'm doing my art time. XD -
Thanks everyone for the feedback, really helps
Phil
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Oh so good!!
I’ve always liked drawing and kept taking night classes and reading books. But with this it’s very easy and quick to figure out what you need help with. I initially browsed through the whole list to see what is offered, then wrote down what classes i was interested in and which would help me. I was already debating on what night class to sign up for next and it would have cost more money on 1 night class (6 months) than on a year of SVS. And I would have had to travel and spend 3 hours in one place trying to focus after working a whole day. And because of svs I actually have an idea of where I want to go professionally too.I know this wasn’t what you were asking for really but being able to learn from professionals at my own pace has definitely improved my skills. Here are the classes I took in order but of course choosing what you want to prioritize is upto you:
How to draw everything
How to ink 1
Drawing heroes and sidekicks (answered some questions but helped with general body anatomy stuff might rewatch that)
Drawing fundamentals
Posing Characters
Drawing villians and monsters (fun added to the drawing heroes and sidekicks class)
drawing animals (helped with drawing quadrapeds A LOT)
Visualizing Drawing in Perspective (great tips on perspective drawing, reinforces some of the stuff you learn from how to draw everything)-when i saw a clear improvement in my drawing i moved on to style videos-
How to discover your style
Stylizing human characters
Design and color hair (might rewatch this, i didnt do the exercises like I should have but it really helped just watching too)-after i found a style of my own i liked, i started watching environment classes-
Mastering perspective
Creative Environments
Creative Composition 1
(Both creative environments and creative composition realllyy helped me think bigger about the illustration projects i work on as a whole piece)-got a little better at environment but pretty awful with color so next was color-
The magic of color
Painting color and light (need to do the exercises still but really helped)
Painting textures (not done with this yet but HIGHLY recommend)-after all of these I finally feel like i can make a decent enough portfolio so next were more career driven videos-
How to make money in illustration 1
Illustrating childrens books 1
How to perfect your childrens book portfolio-currently watching Creative composition 2, And have so many I still really wanna watch because I compared my current art to last years art and the difference was night and day-
Sorry for the long message I hope my rant was somewhat helpful at least with giving you the idea that even if I dont get a job making childrens books, my own personal art has grown so much and will continue to do so. I have already received several requests for commissions so I know I’m at least going in a good direction. Feel free to message me if you want to ask me anything.
instagram and twitter: @artofaleksey
alekseyillustration.com -
@swordofodin Thanks so much for the reply, I totally get what you mean about the night classes they can be pricey, I find the pricing on this much more affordable and if I'm honest the quality seems a hell of a lot better than the night classes I took before. Thank you for sharing, It's very helpful, as I'm putting together a timetable of classes to take, so it's great to hear your experience
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Where are you guys taking night classes? Are they provided by local colleges?
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@kaitlinmakes Yeah, I took some online ones for creative writing and also some continuing education classes at School of Visual Arts, which were great, but the pace at which I learn is much faster for me on here.
@Phil-Cullen I'm glad it was helpful goodluck let me know what you come up with if you're willing to! -
@kaitlinmakes I took a course that was an evening a week for a year, great thing was I met some good friends. The teacher was coasting on previous successes with the course I felt tho. So I felt for the money it wasn't worth the 1300 euro. Then I found schoolism which was so affordable and on par with the cost of SVS. All about the instructors! I'm a big fan of Jake parker, Lee White and Will Terry so I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.
