Art Challenge for the Summer
Self-Imposed Summer School?
Time for a summer art challenge! (Photo Credit: 123RF.com Copyright: Dmitrii Shironosov)
We all love an art challenge. But how about an art challenge specifically for the summer? Now, I know we all dreaded summer school, for those of us who had to go. But what if the class you had to take during the summer was Art?
With summer right around the corner, and most of the world on lockdown with COVID-19, now’s a perfect time to start planning this summer’s self-directed art class.
What’s the one thing you always wanted to learn?
Maybe it’s learn how to draw, period. Maybe it’s improving a specific skill that has eluded you up until now. Or maybe it’s learning something completely different than the art you usually create. Whatever is piquing your artistic curiosity, now’s the time to take the challenge. You’re the teacher…and the student.
Put the student you on hold until class starts. For now, go into teacher mode.
Over the next month or so, start collecting teaching materials, books, scraps for reference, art materials, etc. Make sure you have everything you’ll need so that you won’t waste valuable time making a supply run.
Before you start your art challenge, make sure you have all the supplies you’ll need. (Photo Credit: unknown)
Develop a lesson plan. Study the artists who are doing what you want to learn. What is their method? What process do they go through? Do they have YouTube videos you can check out? Determine what the first step will be. What are the basics? Then move on to the next step, and the next, and so on.
Then create a schedule you can stick to. If you are a student (for real) and you’re off for the summer and not working, perhaps you can do a Monday through Friday schedule for two hours each day. Now, now…two hours might seem like a lot…if you’ve never been to art school. If I’m not mistaken, my art classes were three hours each! But considering that the teacher had to give some instruction and it generally took 10-15 minutes to setup and then another 10-15 minutes to clean up…well, yea, we were busy creating art for at least two hours solid.
But, fine. Maybe an hour is all you can do. Stick to it.
Maybe you don’t have Monday through Friday. Maybe your classes happen on the weekend. Two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday. That’s not unreasonable. Think of it this way, the more time you invest, the better at it you become. So, there’s also a challenge in the time invested. But whatever you decide on, and can reasonably do, do it. And since this is your class, you don’t have to have a final exam!
Aaron Blaise (aka Creature Art Teacher)
Stan Prokopenko (aka Proko)
Creative Live
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Or maybe, instead of coming up with your own lesson plan, you can check out online classes. Artists, Aaron Blaise and Stan Prokopenko (aka Proko) have fantastic online classes for very reasonable prices. Creative Live also has a variety of classes which are reasonably priced.
Take your summer art class challenge seriously, but seriously have fun doing it.
One last suggestion. Take photos of your work along the way. Especially the beginning (and possibly crappy) ones. There’s no truer gauge of progress then the side by side photo documentation.
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