Starting Your Journey
“Starting Your Journey” is a dynamic and comprehensive course offered by Schoolism, designed to empower aspiring artists and creatives at all levels of expertise. This course serves as a springboard into the boundless world of art and creativity, guiding participants through essential art fundamentals and the process of nurturing one’s unique creative voice.
Starting your journey is like a high-intensity boot camp for aspiring artists, but it doesn’t have to be as daunting as it sounds. If you’ve struggled with your artistic journey, have difficulty improving your art, or just aren’t sure where to begin, this is the course for you! We will start at the very beginning and break down all of the fundamental skills you will need in order to have a successful career in the arts. Each week of this class will cover a different topic, including discussing lines and shapes, combining color and lighting, enhancing your visual story, and polishing up your image. Each lesson comes together and builds upon itself so that, by the end of the course, you will have a fully completed painting. I hope you’ll join me as we embark on this artistic journey together!
Lesson Plan
Lesson 01 - Packing Your Bags
In our first week we will prepare you for the class and start by taking a closer look at the things that inspire us. Through those bits of inspiration we will discover how everything that you were reacting to is actually a product of well executed fundamental skills.
Lesson 02 - Pen to Paper
In our second week we will discuss line and shape. We will break down the fundamentals of these artistic tools and show how you can use these tools to simplify complex imagery as well as evoke an emotion in your audience.
Lesson 03 - Guiding Lines
In week three we will break down perspective in order to give your two dimensional shapes a three dimensional form. We will discuss the different perspective options and how they alter the audience’s visual understanding of your scene.
Lesson 04 - Catching the Eye
In week four we will start combining together the first three weeks in order to create our own visual compositions. We will discuss how to control the audience’s eye as well as how to create visual associations that help reinforce a story and emotion. This week you will also start your own personal project that you will complete by the end of the class.
Lesson 05 - The Value of Value
In week five we will discuss how value and light are inherently connected. We will break down the fundamentals of both and how you can use these tools to create visual form and strengthen your compositions.
Lesson 06 - The World of Color
In week six we will discuss color theory and how colors can enhance your visual story. I will show you how I select and control my colors to focus the audience’s attention and reinforce my intended narrative.
Lesson 07 - Rock, Paper, Scissor
In week seven we will break down materials. We will do this by discussing how you can combine surface textures, reflectivity and transparency in order to create different materials and in doing so you will make your paintings feel like a tangible location that the audience can reach out and touch.
Lesson 08 - Lights, Camera, Action
In week eight we will combine colors and lighting in order to tell a visual story. I will show you how changing the time of day or lightsource will dramatically impact your image and how you can control it to make the correct decision for your story.
Lesson 09 - Next Steps
In our final week we will pull everything together. I will discuss style and show you how to take an image to completion through polish. We will end by discussing your next steps that you can take to become the artist you want to be.