Review: Paintable’s Digital Painting Academy Course
Review: Paintable's Digital Painting Academy Course
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Digital Painting Academy is a comprehensive digital fine art course from Paintable.cc. It contains a library of step-by-step videos on art technique, processes, and tools for beginner and intermediate artists.
The paintable community offers artists of any level peer and instructor critique, Q&A sessions, and general support likewise.
I've spent some time behind Paintable's $35-per-month paywall to explore what they have to offer. In this review I'll describe my experience and offer some insights that may help yous decide whether the Digital Painting Academy tin assist you grow every bit an creative person.
At present as an intermediate student interested in learning new techniques and developing better cartoon habits, DPA holds a tremendous vault of knowledge to explore. Nether my other chapeau as an experienced instructor of other creative skills, I see relevant resources curated for setting up anyone for success.
While there are areas where I felt they could improve, Digital Painting Academy is an first-class online course for a self-motivated creative creative person. Let'due south dive in and see what it has to offering!
Cheque Out Paintable
Why Invest in Premium Content?
If you get to YouTube and type in "digital art tutorial" you get tons of results.
Locating the content that suits your needs is often tiresome. It's just overwhelming.
A professionally-adult class like Digital Painting Academy gives you lot non but techniques to practice, but insights on how and when to utilize them. The organized curriculum lays out foundational skills and and so builds on them in a mode that'south digestible and fun.
Lastly information technology's worthwhile to invest in things important to you. You're more likely to plug time and energy into things you've spent a little cash on yourself.
Between this psychology and the structured environment of the grade, DPA could be the difference between your "someday" projection and your "today" project.
Let's dig in.
First Blush: General Impressions
An artist named David Belliveau founded Paintable in 2015. Much of the instructional material on the site comes straight from his mouth.
He's likewise an active participant in the Paintable community, replying to feedback and comments and providing critiques in Q&A sessions.
His style is approachable and professional and it's clear he's got some production savvy.
I liked the Paintable website as before long as it loaded. The design is clean and attractive. You lot see the of import information right away.
Furthermore you will not end upwardly mired in endless slick advertising aimed at convincing you to purchase without telling you what y'all're paying for.
Even meliorate: There's an impressive amount of free tutorials, tips, mini-classes, and inspiration posts available that are all totally gratis to browse.
These sample offerings provide a practiced impression about DPA'south pedagogy fashion and the content you'll detect inside. There are also a lot of valuable techniques that tin can assist y'all improve your fine art merely from these free resources.
I too quite enjoyed the "inspiration" posts. Browsing these exciting paintings led me to new artists and helped prime my mind for experimenting with different styles and subjects.
When I'chiliad coaching a vocalist or working with a writing group, I talk a lot nearly the importance of "butt-in-seat" fourth dimension. Skills aren't instant.
Y'all accept to testify up for your work and put in the time.
What I really similar is the valuable introduction video that takes y'all through where to find everything on the website. I get lost easily, and the quick orientation helped me plug in to content fast.
Self-Paced Learning For Artists
The Digital Painting Academy is Paintable's flagship class for learning digital painting.
Information technology starts at the very beginning with a look at what kind of software and tools you'll be using.
The course comprises dozens of videos that tackle theory, in-depth descriptions of techniques, workflow tips, and tutorials for creating complete paintings start-to-terminate.
Exercises include downloadable resources that you can employ to complete exercises like textures, brushes, and practice images.
You can as well get straight to the technique being examined in each lesson.
Homework helps yous target your exercise and then you can get the well-nigh out of what you lot're learning. This is one thing that sets DPA apart from just organizing lessons for yourself.
Short videos that focus on one thing at a time enable you to structure your learning in a very modular way. There are a 1000000 things I would accept taken a class on if I had the opportunity. Only having someone else organize the best roadmap really clears up the learning process.
I sometimes flipped on videos while cooking dinner and watched the deconstruction of colour choices or painting workflows. Doing this helped fix me for the exercises and kept me from feeling like I didn't accept time to do the course.
Both are big wins for my fourth dimension-crunched adult life. I need to fit things in, and I need to feel similar I'm getting the most out of my hours when I do.
DPA as well does a great job of coming together y'all where you are. The course is extensive, but it'south cleaved down into "learning paths" so you can focus on a particular area and start at your experience level.
When you lot log in yous arrive at a dashboard that helps y'all stay organized. Y'all can reach each learning path from the sidebar.
But 1 setback I'd like to mention is the lack of subtitles or airtight captioning. In that location is a lot of visual content, but people with hearing or auditory difficulties can miss out on the narration.
Now let'due south have a look at each of the learning paths in the Digital Painting Academy to come across what they offer, what y'all larn, and how they're structured for newer artists.
Module ane: The Foundations
This learning path is designed for the absolute beginner.
Information technology starts out with an overview of the kinds of equipment and software you might use, along with how the instructor has their setup.
Note that you lot are not required to accept an exact model of tablet or active Adobe CC subscription. Mr. Belliveau suggests some affordable hardware options and free software besides.
He designed the course for users with any kind of digital art setup.
And this is mostly truthful, with a few caveats.
My digital art studio is an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and the little darling that is Procreate.
These videos use a graphics tablet fastened to a computer rather than an all-in-one tablet like mine.
This setup is not a bad i at its root. The videos devote a lot of attending to developing workflows, using shortcuts, and just making your life easier while yous describe.
I can geek out over the process with the best of them, and I'm a large supporter of removing roadblocks to learning and creativity. DPA invests in that. But the artists who volition get the virtually out of this will have access to a keyboard.
I started my digital art life with a Wacom tablet and CD of Photoshop three.0 manner back when.
Watching these videos, I had a lot of moments where I saw a not bad trick or handy shortcut and said "I wish I'd known that fifteen years agone"!
Unfortunately my touch on-screen setup loses much of that.
I've spent a lot of time looking up functions on Google and poking around the less-obvious menus in Procreate to replicate grade techniques. Good learning only not encapsulated by the DPA ecosystem.
It would be nice to see more than videos from the iPad angle, especially given how popular they are.
Future capacity cover basic sketching techniques, developing linework, rendering lite, and blending colors. Quick tips for staying organized, customizing workflow, and unique aspects of the digital platform such as brushes and layers appear throughout the class.
You could easily spend a month working in this module. The course doesn't presume you have a ton of previous experience creating this type of fine art either. It's a proficient introduction that takes you well across your commencement few shaky sketches.
I also appreciate the breadth of the bailiwick matter a lot. In that location'south a good balance between theory and practicality.
The course flows seamlessly betwixt art information that you could use on paper and techniques to make the most out of tools exclusive to the digital realm.
A beginning artist could kickoff with lilliputian experience in digital painting(or any media) and develop a quality foundation for their work.
That says a lot for an on-demand organisation where you lot're ultimately learning equally you go forth.
Module 2: Light & Color
When starting this grade I assumed that I would spend the most time in the Portrait & Character department(covered later).
I do most of my art in conjunction with writing and I enjoy drawing people.
That said, Calorie-free & Color became my favorite module virtually instantly.
I returned to these videos even without the disquisitional eye and notes in hand. This area has always been a weak spot for me.
We touched upon color theory and lighting on the Foundations path. At that place are some nice overviews to orient y'all, along applied tips you can get-go using correct away.
I came into the Light & Color path already feeling some cautious confidence that I might just get a better handle on developing light, color, and atmosphere in my own work.
Could it be? I will, of course, need to put in some practice.
I can say that I feel similar I have a lot more concrete things to do than I did before.
Videos past instructors other than David Belliveau begin actualization hither also. DPA taps a variety of artists for their knowledge and seeing unlike styles and processes is valuable.
Belliveau'south videos all experience very professional. The sound is good, the narration is directly, and his instruction is articulate and confident. Some other videos felt more like tutorials you might find floating around on YouTube and then they assumed a higher level of skills.
The content is all very expert though.
I could always follow forth and recognize the value in the lesson. Knowing a subject and education it well are two different things, and there was a flake of variability in the latter.
None of that prevented these lessons from existence worth watching. A set I came back to multiple times was a woods scene that the artist lights in multiple ways. Different versions demonstrated multiple types of lighting to explore and how lighting impacted the mood and story.
I love this kind of comparing. I enjoy knowing what to do and what non to do. The lighting section does a nifty job of this.
I wish the colour theory section had more than "don't do" suggestions equally well. Sometimes I can't always tell if I'm doing something wrong.
Module 3: Portrait & Character
Like light and color, we skimmed techniques for portraits in the Foundations path.
That module covers finding and using reference photos and making your initial linework.
This module dives straight into developing details well. It starts with hair, goes through individual facial structures, and moves onto jewelry and clothing. Each subject area is taught in depth.
Artists who savor studies: this is the department for you.
You'll explore anatomy, perspective, and techniques for putting together features that give your portraits realism and personality.
There's likewise a large section on approaching the mysteries of cloth and clothing, including developing outfits from your imagination.
This is another section I could have gotten lost in for a long time.
Figure drawing is curiously absent hither which is very unfortunate. At that place's an incredible focus on drawing faces and busts, merely whole-body beefcake doesn't enter into it beyond a link to an outside reference.
Perhaps at that place's a futurity Paintable course in the works that will cover figure drawing, you never know!
Module 4: Fantasy & Environment
The final primary learning path for this painting course is Fantasy & Environment.
On the surface, the subject area is a little more niche: fantasy art.
However it provides a smashing framework through which to merge a lot of the private techniques that yous'll need to practice with digital painting.
Showtime we become through an illustration outset-to-end.
The creative person explains the entire painting. She begins with a sketch and considers the composition, placement of figures, color selection, and lighting.
Seeing another artist's experimentation fascinated me.
Experimentation doesn't show when nosotros view the final fine art because we tin can't come across the process. At that place's a lot in this section about developing and troubleshooting your images, whether or not you're working with a fantasy subject.
I discovered methods of shifting elements, light, and colour that I've never used before.
Also in that location's a whole department on illustrating dragons too. I beloved dragons.
Bonuses
After the chief learning paths there are two bonus sections: Textures & Materials and Resource.
Textures & Materials contains a agglomeration of exercises for more miscellaneous subjects like painting fur, organic textures, and stone.
There's also a long list of videos nigh how to create and manipulate textures and brushes in Photoshop(very useful tips!).
Fifty-fifty though in that location are hundreds of brushes and textures available for download online, being able to adjust the ones y'all accept or create new ones from scratch is essential.
Sometimes getting exactly what yous desire takes creating it yourself. Information technology's overnice to accept quick access to a manual for these powerful tools.
And the "Resources" area hosts a repository of coupons, freebies, and helpful links. There are brush sets, worksheets, productivity tools, and some valuable discount codes for a ton of premium art goodies.
When you work in a existent classroom you have the advantage of having physical art supplies right at your fingertips. These digital resources have a bit of the aforementioned feeling.
It'due south a dainty chip of added value with your monthly subscription. And I'd say these bonus goodies are far more than you'd get in other digital art courses.
Digital Painting University: Who Is It For?
Paintable has a lot to offering artists with a range of interests and for anyone with a variety of skill levels.
The website states that this course is intended for beginner to intermediate students.
And this is exactly where I would pivot the experience level based on my fourth dimension spent here. A professional already working in the industry probably won't find any big revelations following these videos.
That existence said, and the site does state this information that artists further along in their careers can still find valuable support in the customs.
Paintable users seem quite active, and with how much benefit I've establish in community connections in music and writing, I'm inclined to agree. Especially if you want a fresh set of eyes to critique your work.
For those of us who don't have advanced art careers, DPA is a goldmine.
It'south very clear that David ready out to create a grade that would help whatever beginner artist lay a good foundation and take their starting time steps. The instructions and techniques are all there.
However, being beginner-friendly is about more than but presenting the basics and sending new students on their way.
The whole mental attitude of the site and the grade feels friendly and encouraging. These touches deed like a handrail every bit you climb up the inevitable learning curve of developing a new skillset.
DPA offers the nearly benefit to artists taking on digital painting for the beginning time, whether they're brand-new or experienced in other media(but trying to move digital).
Sitting downwardly with the course really helped me experience oriented in the particular headspace of painting digitally.
That'south probably the biggest difference I feel in my own creative process as a consequence of spending time with the course. I take more than angles of approach when starting a digital fine art piece.
Sure, the skills I've used with graphite, paint, and charcoal my whole life still serve me well.
Only each medium is unique. Digital is no exception and it's a huge function of the entertainment art industry whether that'south related to concept fine art, illustration work, digital blitheness, or annihilation similar.
Intermediate students looking for means to refine their workflow and develop professional practices will also discover a lot of value in this course.
Parting Thoughts
Digital Painting Academy is a well-rounded grade for all things related to, well, digital painting. It'due south safe to say the name is quite accurate considering this class does feel like an academy on everything digital painting.
This is basically a pre-planned curriculum of step-by-step content and digital art resource gathered together in i place.
I love the on-demand learning model. I'g busy like everyone else and my time is short for learning.
I have come across a few subjects I wished the course explored in more item, like figure and movement, perspective, and maybe some iPad drawing tutorials besides.
But I don't think these points detract from the value of the course. There is nonetheless content beingness added, and Paintable actively seeks to help artists from all backgrounds no matter what you're using to depict.
I'm very excited to meet how the courses continue to abound over time.
Learning new things is a claiming. We've all experienced that unique frustration when our expectations of what nosotros tin draw/pigment doesn't seem to line up with the finished upshot.
It'south simply such a drag when the pictures in my head look nil like what I put down on the canvas.
This is where stepping forrad and investing in a premium course can help you start clearing those hurdles. It's worth giving yourself the right tools to succeed at something you truly value and enjoy.
Digital Painting Academy is one such tool.
Whether yous're an enthusiastic beginner just starting with digital painting, or working to push your work to a professional level, this course has a lot to offer you.
Paintable also has a xxx-day complimentary trial which I would encourage you to cheque out if any of this speaks to you. You've got nothing to lose and a lot to proceeds.
Check Out Paintable
Writer: Marie Raven
Marie Raven is an American expat living in southwestern Norway. A author, artist, and musician, she freelances full time with a focus on developing content for independent and creative businesses. She spends well-nigh of her free time exploring uncanny landscapes in life and imagination through intersections of folklore, horror, and speculative fiction. She also knits, gardens, and drinks a tremendous corporeality of coffee. Find more information at ravenfreelance.com.
Source: https://conceptartempire.com/paintable-digital-painting-academy-review/
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