Online painting classes – anyone? – OnTableTop – Home of Beasts of War

Online painting classes – anyone?

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Tagged: Miniature painting

This topic contains 20 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by sundancer 1 year, 9 months ago.

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March 20, 2020 at 10:55 am #1498476

blinky465
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My wife attends painting classes on a Thursday; the quality of her drawing and painting in the last six months has improved vastly. She says it’s because she is in a group of like-minded people – they all have a degree of ability, many have followed online courses etc. but the key thing is they are getting *tuition*.

I’ve watched countless videos about painting minis but mine are still a bit… well, meh.

Now, of course, sharing pictures and getting peer-reviewed feedback is great. But in order to *improve* we each need to be talking to someone who is “better” than us. Someone who can see what needs to be addressed and can say “in my experience, I would improve it by doing x”.

That’s what my wife gets from her art classes; not an overall critique of her work, but specific, targetted advice on how to improve. From people who know what they are talking about!

It’s a bit like when you hear a badly played instrument. It’s pretty clear to most people listening that something isn’t quite right. But it takes someone who actually knows what they’re talking about to say “this is what you need to do to put it right”. It doesn’t need to be an indepth explanation of how music theory works, just a “if you avoid this note, it’ll sound sweeter”. I’m not looking for someone to swamp me with information on colour theory or to make me feel a chump for not knowing much – in short, I need a teacher, not a know-it-all.

Because of the current clampdown, my wife’s tutor has just started doing online virtual lessons. She sets a weekly task – everyone paints something different, but there’s a coherence (so maybe “landscapes” or “still life”) and throughout the week students can email pictures to their tutor, asking for advice on how to improve their work as they go.

Then on a Saturday, they all grab a coffee and chat over a video conference call.

It sounds amazing. It sounds like just the thing I’d like to do with my miniature painting. The question is – are there any online *tutors* out there? Not online courses, but actual interactive tutors who might be interested in running a class of a 6-10 students? Is it something others might be interested in?

What kind of price would you be prepared/able to afford? A fiver a week? A tenner?

March 20, 2020 at 11:21 am #1498483

warzan
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@bowjohn @elromanozo @tmsmnns

Would any of you guys be able to facilitate something like this? We will look into providing the technical bit.

March 20, 2020 at 1:13 pm #1498506

lupa15
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I think another part of those types of classes is forced progression from start to finish. I think sometimes as hobby painters if we get frustrated creatively we tend to abandon projects. When I took my art classes back in college I had to find a way of completing the project which allowed me to overcome my creative blocks and learn to accept the completed piece as presented. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how others in my class completed the assignment and taking notes on how I could take what they did and improve going forward.

I think outside of the online courses it might be worth focusing on repetitive practice. This is because as much as videos can show you new techniques and classes can give you feedback, you will never improve if you don’t practice.

March 20, 2020 at 1:24 pm #1498508

blinky465
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Absolutely agree. I don’t practice enough. As it is, I’m painting a diorama now – I’ve no idea how to even begin, other than slap some paint on and at some point in the future, stop doing it and hope it looks ok! There’s no real plan there. I suspect that if I’d been practicing, I’d have a bit more confidence to start without fear of “messing up”. But practicing without knowing what you’re doing isn’t much use either. If I was going to learn to play the violin, I’d at least get some lessons in before I subjected my neighbours to endless practice – otherwise nobody gets anything from it!

But I agree – and that’s what spurred me into looking to join a class – that progression would be a big motivator for me. And being in a group. On my own, it doesn’t matter if I don’t paint this week. But as part of a larger group, all progressing together, I’d feel I owed it to someone else, if not myself, to keep up and keep painting.

March 20, 2020 at 1:24 pm #1498509

elromanozo
Participant

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I would if I had better cameras ! 🙂

March 20, 2020 at 2:01 pm #1498545

blinky465
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@elromanozo – *you* wouldn’t need the high-end cameras; I didn’t imagine an online, live, video thing. From what I understand (I’m only getting bits of info from my wife about how her classes will be run, but they sound interesting) it’d be more like “here’s this week’s topic” (for us it might be faces, armour, weapons or whatever). “Here’s how you can make this effect look good” then “off you go, practice and send in your results”.

The students take photos of their own work and email the tutor – the real-time video stuff is less about showing what you’ve been working on; each student does this individually with the tutor throughout the week, to get feedback and instruction. Students share their work for each other to see online, but this doesn’t form part of the tuition (let’s be honest, when people who don’t really know what they’re doing either try to give criticism, without being able to correct it, it can be dispiriting).

So students would need a decent-enough camera to take photos of their minis, but I’d expect the tutor to be receiving and responding to emails more than anything – although the whole thing could be moved onto a (private) online forum? (email is just an example of non-realtime means of feedback, a forum somewhere on this site might be just the thing…)

March 20, 2020 at 2:13 pm #1498555

blinky465
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In fact, a “private” forum on this site would be a really good learning resource for others (private as in, only members of the class and the instructor could post and comment, while anyone could view, to avoid it getting bogged down with spectators shouting “awesome dude” or “thin your paints” from the sidelines). I’m off to search for “miniature painting online tuition” for a few hours….

March 20, 2020 at 3:18 pm #1498567

avernos
Keymaster

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I could probably do it Blinky, let me poke things with sticks

March 20, 2020 at 3:33 pm #1498574

templar007
52371xp

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I like this idea!

I’d be interested in a spot in the class if the details get worked out.

I think that @elromanozo would be fantastic for this class.

I jumped over to Google to see if the French Amazon stores are still operating because I’d be willing to pay for and send to @elromanozo one of the better HD Web Cams, (if that’s what your talking about). I saw some articles about workers, (in France), pushing back against Amazon’s choice to still be open. So I’m not sure if I order from there that it would even be shipped out anytime soon.

I’m pretty sure that I can’t ship anything directly, (from my home here in Kansas), to there as many stores in that part of the world have already told me that out of country shipping is not happening at this time.

March 20, 2020 at 4:03 pm #1498590

templar007
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@avernos would be great as well. (You snuck your post in as I was typing!). ?

March 20, 2020 at 4:05 pm #1498591

warzan
Keymaster

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I have no issue creating forums on here for tuition groups that would be private. And if it helps we can also host private groups for tuition on the discord as well.

March 20, 2020 at 5:21 pm #1498625

zorg
18801xp

1

@warzan what about putting a direct link to the 3 colours up videos on the main page as a halfway house for punters to choose from.

March 20, 2020 at 6:54 pm #1498642

templar007
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2

Soooooo……….I’ve been a member here a very long time……..and I’ve heard this term thrown around a lot, “PUNTER”.

I looked it up and got this definition. Can @zorg explain which applies here?

“One who oars or poles a punt (pontoon). One who punts a football. (Australia, Britain, New Zealand, slang) One who gambles. … (Britain, slang) A customer of a commercial establishment, frequently of a pub or (alternatively) of a prostitute.”

Just curious! ?

(all in good fun)

March 20, 2020 at 7:08 pm #1498645

blinky465
17028xp

2

Take your pick 😉

March 20, 2020 at 7:25 pm #1498665

zorg
18801xp

1

Lol in Scotland many shop an pub an public workers call their customers punters @templar007 to clarify thing’s
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