Skillshare is “an online learning community with thousands of classes for creative and curious people, on topics including illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, and more.” It’s a fun place to access art classes at any time of day. I’m amazed by the fine art and collage in some children’s picture books. Now I’m learning a little about how this art is made by watching Skillshare. Here’s a few classes I recommend.
“Demystifying Graphic Design: How Posters Work” by Ellen Lupton. “Ellen shows you how to tell a story, excite the eye, and use visual language to create emotional, effective design.” The class is in collaboration with the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
“Drawing With Scissors: Modern Folk Inspired Botanical Collage” with Mel Rye. “The low-pressure nature of collage-making is such a relaxing and enjoyable way to create art. . . It’s an amazing technique to turn to when you feel creatively blocked or uninspired, or if you find drawing intimidating.” This class is about making “playful and quirky botanical collages.”
“Composition for Illustrators: Expressing Ideas with Story, Structure, and Style” by Tom Froese. The class introduces “6 popular compositional approaches that can help you come up with more ideas and tell stories in more creative ways.”
“The Paint Slapping Magic of Brushes – Get Better Acrylic Paintings” by Amanda Rinaldi. If “you’ve bought every brush under the sun but your clouds still look like angry flying caterpillars” then this class is for you. This class touches on painting trees and branches, grass, leaves and flowers, clouds, and more.
“Acrylic Painting: Brushwork for Beginners” by Kate Broadhurst. This class addresses “different brush shapes available and the types of marks you can make with them . . . How to control your brush. . . creating texture with dry brush, sponge, and palette knife techniques.”
“Art Essentials: COLOR/Really Learn What Color in Fine Arts is All About” by Jennifer Moorhead. The class promises to explore “the many aspects of color theory while introducing you to artists and how they utilize color.”
I’ve been playing with collage the past year or so and settled on a style that seems to suit me. Here’s an example. If you’re into art as hobby or profession, you might like to browse Skillshare.
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