Charcoal on Cardboard

They say that the key to creative writing is reading a lot and writing a lot. The equivalent in art is watching a lot of Instagram.

Up until now, I’ve never been an Instagram fan. Following the perfect lifestyles of perfect strangers has no appeal. However, for someone new to visual arts, Instagram is invaluable.

It introduced me to a range of artists and artistic styles. The short videos of people creating art is fascinating. I never used to be an afficionado of the arts. In fact, time locked in a museum is my definition of hell. But now that I’m trying to draw and paint, I appreciate art much more.

Even so, there is a saturation point when watching Instagram. A point when videos stop being inspiring and become discouraging. The issue is that master craftsmen make everything look simple. In the hyper-fast, fake ‘realism’ of Insta-videos, masterpieces take seconds to create.

It’s not true in my novice-in-everything real-life.

Which is why I appreciate online art classes. After my Drawing Portraits for Beginners course, I enrolled in a Let’s Face It class at the Kara Bullock Art School. This is a fifty-week course, where each week a talented artist goes through the making of a portrait from start to finish. Each artist has a different style (realistic, abstract, interpretive) and uses different mediums (charcoal, acrylic, markers or mixed.)

Better than Instagram, these videos go through the artist’s planning and thought process. Even better, they show real artists making mistakes. They even use erasers to rub them out! That was a significant learning for me. Mistakes are a given and it’s ok to do it over.

Of course, I still watch Instagram. I even follow a few artists, which in turn exposes me to more artists. There’s so much to see and so much to try.

But as they say (in another, totally irrelevant context)

” Do or do not.There is no try.”

Here is a sample of recent work. It’s a portrait done with charcoal on cardboard – an unusual combination which delivers wonderful tone and texture. I take no points on creativity. Afterall, I just followed the teacher. Nonetheless, I am satisfied with the result.

Have you ever taken an online art course? Would you recommend?