12-31-2014, 02:28 AM
I signed up for a subscription to the Watts Atelier for a month back in November. I found it to be a great kick start to my figure drawing and portrait skills. I dont make a lot of money so the 100 USD was sadly a sizable investment for me but I think it was well worth it in the end. Jeff Watts talks A LOT during his videos so even though its prerecorded I found any questions I had were more than addressed as he went through his process. At this point in my development I can judge my own work fairly well and know what things I need to work on for the most part. So not having a 1 on 1 crit available wasnt a huge deal.
The insights I gained from watching how he starts a drawing and works through it was something I dont think I'd ever get from watching free tuts online. And as someone whos mainly working in traditional it was doubly useful to see and listen to him as he drew a hundred or more hours worth of demos. You also get a couple dozen pdf workbooks for download which Im able to refer back to after my subscription is up. I think the biggest thing I got from it is the curriculum structure. My studies before lacked a larger structure. I could create my own curriculum but I dont think it would be as effective. Their curriculum has been worked out over 20 years of teaching people to get to a very high level.
On top of taking a month of Watts I also started going to a life drawing group in my area. He recommends doing this ( I was planning on going to it anyways) in conjunction with the video lessons. Through going to the life drawing group I've been able to see other people who I can compete with and learn from face to face.
Taking it continuously from month to month isnt an option for me but I would definitely do it if I could. They have a monthly community challenge in their forums which are judged by the instructors. The winner of each challenge gets an original drawing from one of the instructors mailed to them. They're also starting a guild program to get the forum community more involved by encouraging members to mentor each other. Like with anything you get back what you put into it.
I've also been thinking of trying out http://www.newmastersacademy.org/home/
It seems like it would be worth the price, which isnt that high compared to other online programs. If anyones taken it, Id love to hear what they thought.
The insights I gained from watching how he starts a drawing and works through it was something I dont think I'd ever get from watching free tuts online. And as someone whos mainly working in traditional it was doubly useful to see and listen to him as he drew a hundred or more hours worth of demos. You also get a couple dozen pdf workbooks for download which Im able to refer back to after my subscription is up. I think the biggest thing I got from it is the curriculum structure. My studies before lacked a larger structure. I could create my own curriculum but I dont think it would be as effective. Their curriculum has been worked out over 20 years of teaching people to get to a very high level.
On top of taking a month of Watts I also started going to a life drawing group in my area. He recommends doing this ( I was planning on going to it anyways) in conjunction with the video lessons. Through going to the life drawing group I've been able to see other people who I can compete with and learn from face to face.
Taking it continuously from month to month isnt an option for me but I would definitely do it if I could. They have a monthly community challenge in their forums which are judged by the instructors. The winner of each challenge gets an original drawing from one of the instructors mailed to them. They're also starting a guild program to get the forum community more involved by encouraging members to mentor each other. Like with anything you get back what you put into it.
I've also been thinking of trying out http://www.newmastersacademy.org/home/
It seems like it would be worth the price, which isnt that high compared to other online programs. If anyones taken it, Id love to hear what they thought.