Ups and Downs of Teaching- March 28th Newsletter (Patreon)

Hey Artnerds!

How has your week been?

I'm halfway through a nearly two-week break between classes (my next class is the first Saturday in April), and it's nice not having to plan and prep for classes all week.  It hasn't been a total vacation- I've been working on wrapping up some reviews, recorded another full watercolor illustration, and have been working on some cute easy Easter/Spring DIY bookmark projects.  Still, it's less hectic and stressful than a class week, so I'm enjoying the little break.

All of How to Draw Anything Now Live!

Speaking of classes, all of How to Draw Anything, my three-class course on volumetric drawing and drawing the world around you, are now live on Youtube!  This series of tutorials is meant to help you see the world from a new point of view!  If you love to draw, or would like to draw, but struggle to draw people, places, vehicles, animals, or plants, this series will help you improve your drawing skills and may radically change how you see drawing forever!   

These classes were recorded while I was preparing to teach How to Draw Anything with the St Charles Parish Library, and cover a lot that I couldn't get to in each hour-long session.  If you want more drawing tutorials, I've got loads of them over on the channel, and I'm always open to suggestions! 

All three classes have chapters for easy searching, lots of great exercises to help you improve, and several drawing tutorials!  I hope you'll check them out, leave a comment, and tell a friend!

Class 1 covers the basics of breaking the world down volumetrically and has a lot of demonstrations and exercises to get you drawing! 

https://youtu.be/BArVTuXmS8A

Class 2 really builds on that with more exercises, as well as tutorials on how to draw people, vehicles, flowers, and more! 

https://youtu.be/Ens59Njg9Sw

Class 3 covers light sources, shading, drawing fabric and folds, and drawing faces

https://youtu.be/KDOXfpZmqL8

PLUS!  Check out my shorts for loads of mini drawing tutorials and exercises to keep you in practice! 

Yall received the presentations, printables, and scanned sketches for these classes, so you should be all set to draw along!

The Ups and Downs of Gig Teaching

The How To Draw Anything series is a prime example of how much work goes into prepping for classes.  Each of those was recorded the week before I taught the class to help me prep, and each took a week straight of recording and drawing, and then I needed to work on the presentations and collate the printables.  During the week, I also collect the materials I'll need for the class, particularly demonstration materials, and haul it all down to the location where I'm teaching.  While I enjoy teaching, burnout is frequently only a step away since best case I'm responsible for everything and worst-case scenario is I'm butting heads with my cohost over the materials and how the concept is going to be presented, while still juggling generating materials, promoting, and still teaching the class.  That two-week break definitely came just in the nick of time- I needed a little time for R&R.

Sometimes I forget that teaching online or for Youtube and teaching in person are wildly different beasts.  I prefer, when I can, to provide the materials myself- this way I can ensure that they're working with materials I'm familiar with and can explain how to use.  Often when I rely on other sources to provide the materials, the quality varies wildly- all the way down to Crayola watercolor paper (which is like, thin drawing paper, FYI), and it's basically impossible to teach something that I've demo'd at home with XL cellulose paper or on cottonrag paper on paper that can't even hold one layer, let alone multiple.  

This has been an ongoing issue- when I taught with NCE, they did provide basic materials, but I was frequently filling in the gaps from my own stash, providing additional pencils, erasers, dip pen nibs, brush pens, even watercolors and watercolor paper.  When I taught for Plaza, it was difficult to get the materials I needed for the classes I taught as well.  Anything shared with other teachers was often a tossup as to whether or not it still had juice, was permanently ruined from being left uncapped or uncleaned or was glued shut. The communal watercolor brushes were often dirty, damaged, sometimes ruined- caked with oils and acrylics that I couldn't wash out.  Rather than relying on the unreliable, I got used to just supplying it myself and eating the cost.  

Years of reviewing art supplies have helped offset some of this- I do have plenty of brushes, student-grade watercolors, tubes of professional paint, and I'd rather it get used than go to waste.  But there are also a lot of more easily consumed consumables- paper, erasers, brushes, brush pens, leads- and rough usage from inexperienced students can cause some of these to go even faster.  Providing the materials myself means a lot of purchasing, organizing, cleaning, and storage and I'm too embarrassed to pass the cost on to the libraries I work with.  Art supplies are expensive, and there's been many a time I requested a specific material only to be told the budget has been spent elsewhere. It also means a lot of hauling- I often feel like a turtle with her shell, hauling her whole home with her to each and every class, packing it up, and driving it home after.  

But teaching in-person has its perks too- I work for a flat rate, so I'm guaranteed my $75 an hour, and I really love connecting with people and helping them.  Having the opportunity to answer questions or see someone's face light up with understanding is amazing, and a wonderful incentive to continue making art myself.  And prepping for classes- creating new demos and exercises- often pushes me to do drawing exercises I would not otherwise make time for, which helps me push my art as well.  So when it's good, it's really good.  Unfortunately, much like online, I can only help people who are open to help- people who ask questions, do the exercises I recommend, and show me what they're working on.  I can't read from a closed book, and if I can't win their trust then there isn't a whole lot I can do other than try to motivate and inspire them.

Earlier in March, my spring allergies were really kicking my butt, and I wasn't sleeping well since I was getting up every couple of hours to feed Basil.  The timing was terrible- I felt like I'd gotten run over by a truck, needed to create paperchildren for the early March Art Squad, and also prep for a back-to-back From Stick to Figure and Manga Madness classes at the Gonzales branch of the Ascension Parish Library.  While teaching, I couldn't stop sneezing, and I had to really struggle to summon the sort of energy needed to teach and inspire kids.  I felt like death warmed over, but I really wanted to give it my best and didn't feel right canceling classes due to allergies. It was all worth it though when one of the kiddos there said that that day was better than her birthday because instead of getting ice cream, she got to draw.  

Often I feel burnt out and helpless- I sometimes feel like I'm flailing in the dark because many of my classes are only an hour-long, and it's really challenging to cover enough in a drawing class to make it worth coming out if you only have an hour.  Often I don't have enough time to know if what I showed them has had any positive impact, or just further confused them. But her energy and excitement reminded me that I might feel like I'm struggling, but to many of the kids, I've turned on a lightbulb for them- maybe I haven't solved all their drawing problems, but I've given them a new tool to try out.

Gig teaching has its challenges and frequently doesn't offer stability or the protection that long-term contracted teaching often offers.  It does allow for a lot of individual choices- I generally pitch the material I want to teach, and I get to choose how to present it- but doesn't usually result in much useful feedback if you're looking to improve a class.  I love the actual teaching aspect- I love working with people who want to learn, and sharing what I know with others- it's just a lot to juggle at times. Other artists sometimes ask me about gig teaching, and while it can be a good option for artists who enjoy teaching and are able to express their experience and skills in a way that can be educational to others, it's not for everyone, and it's a lot of work and prep.  But the same can be said for Youtube- it's not for everyone, and sometimes the algorithm just hates you, but sometimes things just click and it almost feels like magic.

Currently working on:

Chapter 9 of 7" Kara

Working on making corrections to my thumbnails so I can print them out as blueline roughs.  

Easy Easter Bookmarks

I've recorded footage for three cute and easy designs- just need to do the voice overs and export!  

New Spring/Easter Playlist - A bunch of Easter and Spring inspired arts and crafts to get you making art! 

Early Access:

Aowen/O.Win Watercolor Palette Unbox & Swatch- Student Grade Showdown: https://www.patreon.com/posts/aowen-o-win-64319456 

Early Access- Arteza Expert Watercolor Postcards- Full Review & Fieldtest: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-64181480

New to the Public:

Tuesday, March 22nd: Artify/Superior Watercolor Palette- Unbox & Swatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXcdOzHve_s (watercolor, student grade showdown, watercolor review, watercolors)

Saturday, March 26th: Light Sources, Shading, Drawing Fabric- How to Draw Anything Class 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDOXfpZmqL8 (drawing tutorial, art tutorial, how to draw, art class, drawing class)