The Online Classroom
When it comes to learning anything today we can call ourselves extremely lucky; we have the internet. The abundance of freely available material from successful people and masters - makes you feel like a kid in the candy store. Growing up, I had the local library, and maybe educational programs on TV, VHS and later DVD. But I began to wonder if this seemingly limited range may have proved more beneficial (and healthier) than today's ocean of information that makes my berry picking brain overwhelmed easily.
We, as humans, are not designed to process the endless stream of knowledge, news and information, let alone store anything from it. Not to mention, there is absolutely zero background, qualification or quality check regarding content and content creators. And here lies a huge issue. When I picked up art again after a big hiatus I was so excited about how many tutorials, lessons and classes were readily available at my fingertip! Then the shiny beach resort quickly turned into a murky stinky swamp; all that material, and I was not getting better. Confused, anxious, burnout - yes, all of these, but not an inch skill improvement. Somehow my progress was much better without watching any videos and buying nothing from the travelling medicine men. Took me some time to realise the lessons I picked were poor quality, presented by people who did not possess the traits of a good teacher; they are YouTubers and career influencers with little to no experience in the commercial art industry. Mere salesmen, selling the Dream and producing copycats in the process. Don’t get me wrong, if this is your artistic goal, to be someone else’s echo, read no further.
I wanted to learn and understand fundamentals and principles. The muck I was standing in looked bleak. Where to learn, and from who? Who can I trust to educate myself in art? So I stepped out from the muddy puddle and I went back to square one, digging up books, such as James Gurney’s Color and light, Marcos Mateu-Mestre’s Framed Ink, and Framed Perspective1-2, Loomis books - all the old classics. The thing is with reading, you are forced to slow down and process the info, while watching/listening to a video you are prone to miss info because it is just too fast. Pause and playback helps of course, but if you don’t even notice you missed a beat?
Anyways, I narrowed down my sources to a good handful of artists/channels, who really know their craft, have vast experience in the field, and suit my artistic needs. I am pretty sure there are more trustworthy content creators out there but these are my personal picks that stood the test of the time.
The usual suspects without any particular order:
Marco Bucci
He is the best art teacher out there, in my opinion. Easy to understand and provides a real deep understanding of fundamentals and principles you can build on confidently. He is not teaching formulas, he is teaching you to think, observe and see. He is absolutely not teaching you how to paint like him; he teaches art. Full stop. He has a YouTube channel with valuable free content, however I highly recommend his premium classes from his store - worth every penny!
https://www.youtube.com/user/marcobucci
Trent Kaniuga
Great veteran game artist for Blizzard and Riot, owner of Aquatic Moon Studio and writer of Twilight Monk. No tiptoeing around industry matters, keep things straight, honest and on point. His lessons are easy to understand and greatly help to boost your commercial productivity. Tons of free content on his YouTube channel, and premium, very affordable lessons on his Gumroad.
https://www.youtube.com/trentkaniuga
Feng Zhu
Entertainment industry veteran, and owner of FZDSchool. His YouTube channel is a goldmine if you want real insight into the game and cinema industry.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL
Justin Geis
SketchUp tutor on YouTube. When I started to learn SketchUp I had a lot of trouble finding someone who can explain the functions in human language and in detail while demonstrating. Easy to follow and understand. Bonus: he has a whole section for SketchUp Free!
https://www.youtube.com/@Thesketchupessentials
Grant Abbitt
Blender tutor on Youtube. In the case you are a novice in learning 3D and you already gained a few grey hairs trying to learn from the “donut” Blender tutorial - you are welcome! Grant will truly help you how to start your journey as a 3D artist.
https://www.youtube.com/@grabbitt
Hans Bacher, Mulan Style Guide https://chrisoatley.com/pdf/Mulan_Style_Guide.pdf
Joseph Zbukvic
Atmosphere and mood in Watercolor https://archive.org/details/ZbukvicCompressed/page/n5/mode/2up
Other resources I found useful but not using them regularly, or used in the past;
Marc Brunet - he has good videos, consistent and makes learning fun. I would mainly recommend him for beginners, but advanced artists could find useful info as well. Great artist with great content.
Aaron Blaise - https://creatureartteacher.com/ I found the Disney veteran’s website nice. It is more suitable for animators but you can find other lessons too. The classes are well put together and overall, high quality.
Schoolism - good, not great, it depends on your needs. It is a mixed bag for $30/month. I guess Live classes are the real deal for $1200. (Yeah, I get it, it is still a lot cheaper than a college but let's be real; how many of us can afford to spend that money on gambling, if the classes are any good or useful to us? And before you go there, I was a subscriber for quite a while and gained very little knowledge as not all artists have the ability to pass down their knowledge. That being said, it is worth checking out even for a month, as you may find something that you are looking for. I enjoyed Craig Mullins' class for example.)
Closing thoughts;
I suggest against overwhelming and confusing yourself with too many flavours, and consequently learning bad habits. Have a goal, what direction you wanna go, what field; animation, 3D, concept art, be your own brand - anything really. Do your own research and don’t just jump on the most popular content with astronomical views, as more views and likes does not necessarily mean good quality, or the quality you are looking for. Think of the fast food chains - popular, billion dollar businesses, but it is far from healthy or quality products.
Think for yourself, be critical, and pick your sources carefully. Avoid building a castle on sand, and learn to paint how YOU would paint.
Be Excellent to Each Other!