Sarah Edmonds looks at how artists can benefit from tuition as well as set up their own online art courses.

Have you enjoyed an online art course in the past six months? Maybe you saw this as an exciting opportunity to learn art in a different way. This type of learning is allowing more and more artists to choose to develop their artistic skills online.

As a busy working mother living in Gloucestershire, learning at an elite art institution would have been difficult for me! Online art classes allowed me to do this. I have completed a 10-week drawing course with the London Fine Art Studios. I have also studied with a week-long history of art course by the Courtauld Institute.

Online art classes allow you to connect with others, build confidence and learn, or teach, real skills from your own home or studio. Learning art online also allows for artists from all over the world to share and develop together.

Online learning also allowed many organisations and academies to survive during the Covid pandemic. Heatherley's Fine Art Studios, founded in 1845 was one of these. They launched a range of online courses via Zoom in June 2020 that have proved immensely popular.

 

Best platforms for teaching art classes online

If you're considering teaching online, but not sure how, here are some of the best options:

1. Design an online art course and sell it from your website

Artist Melanie Cormack-Hicks used Ecademy, a professional course provider. They helped her turn her idea into a successful self-paced guide to creativity. Read our interview with her below...

2. Teach live art tutorials via Zoom and sell places from your website

Many artists have turned to Zoom to help them teach remote art classes whilst continuing a personal connection of some kind. This free platform allows you to invite up to 100 people to join you in your studio and follow your teaching programme. Live streaming allows for instant student feedback, which is the nearest you can get to a classroom situation. If you are technically minded, you can load products (workshops) onto a shop web page or employ a web designer to assist you.

If you know what you want to sell and have the images and copy ready, it shouldn't be a long or arduous process. Depending on what kind of website you have, taking payment securely online (PayPal) is straight forward. Remember to record your classes so that it is available for students who have missed the session.

Looking for more painting workshops and holiday advice? Check out our collection of handy guides with top tips from artist tutors.

3. Teach art courses via Instagram Live

Instagram Live is easy to use and this makes it a popular option. Simply head to your Stories app and hit 'Live' without any need for downloads or set up. The downside is that the recording will disappear after 24 hours.

4. YouTube Live painting sessions

YouTube Live transforms online video into an interactive experience with the comments box open for everyone to use. As a bonus there is an option to include additional slides to aid your teaching.

5. Sell pre-recorded painting courses on your website

As an art tutor you might decide it suits you better to supply pre-recorded courses and sessions. You can choose to sell these direct on your own website or perhaps partner an organisation who already supplies them. The New School of Art offers courses and mentoring via multiple artists.

How to create an online art course: Lessons from fine artist Melanie Cormack-Hicks

Melanie Cormack-Hicks

I spoke to fine artist Melanie Cormack-Hicks about her experiences of teaching art online.

Q. When and why did you start thinking about offering an online course?

A. Offering an online course had been on my 'to do' list for quite some time. I only have time to teach in person a handful of times a year. I often feel torn at the end of a workshop, knowing that I have more to give, but that my busy painting schedule means I don't have the time.

Lockdown gave me the perfect reason to create the course I had already been planning. I had to cancel all my three-day workshops in 2020, but I wanted to still give to the artists who should have been attending. In fact, I created the online course with one particular person in mind.

Q. Did you have any concerns about setting it up? (ie technical barriers, filming etc.)

A. Naively, I didn't have any concerns about setting up an online art course. I was just excited to start a new creative venture. Ecademy did all the uploading and scheduling and Nikki, from Ecademy, was as excited as me.

I film to camera quite regularly and post on social media, so more than anything I was curious. Setting up shots in my studio and in my garden was a bit like deciding on a painting's composition. I loved seeing my ideas come to life. I would often wake up dreaming up a new way to capture the imagination of the person sitting down to do my course.

My initial drive soon became more. After launching 'Art of the Sketchbook', I realised I would be able to support many more creative journeys.

Basket Full of Dreams by Melanie Cormack-Hicks

Q. What advice would you give someone who is keen to create an online course. What have you learnt on the journey?

A. Editing takes a long time. Especially if you love the process. Editing yourself is interesting! I wanted the purpose of each creative task to be clear with connections in the learning from one task to the next.

Editing is a vital tool. A task may only take 45 minutes to film, but might take six hours, or more, to edit each section. Then several more hours of shooting stills and time lapses. So, you need dedication and drive.

Q. What is the value of your online course for your students?

A. We each have our own unique take on what gives us our artistic joy. I aim to help each person find what that is.

'Art of the Sketchbook' is a way to find joy and freedom in the pages of a sketchbook. Exploring your visual voice through creative play. Step one is taking away the trepidation of a blank page. I have invented clear tasks designed to spark artists’ and makers’ creative curiosity.

The course encourages artists to explore their own unique voice. I take this journey with them in our sketchbooks. This is where we discover happy accidents, skills we didn't know we had and then the joy begins.

Float Away, acrylic and ink, (110x110cm) by Melanie Cormack-Hicks

Q. What are the downsides of online learning?

A. Having taken an online course myself (led by Simon Carter) I can honestly say I have experienced this from both sides. From the viewpoint of the attendee, I was surprised how much I valued it.

I was able to work in my own studio and there was a clear objective every day. I had another artist echoing my thoughts and giving me new ideas. I felt that the experience helped me to move forward at pace.

The downside for me as the person delivering an online course is that I don't get to see people's faces. That lightbulb moment when something clicks. When you see someone start working with so much energy and determination that they amaze themselves.

Having said that, I know I have given them something special. Something that they will use repeatedly and will forever be a part of their creative growth. When one of my online students tells me they now own a beautiful sketchbook, bursting with ideas... I do a happy dance.

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Sarah Edmonds is a regular contributor to the Painters Online brand. Sarah is also the marketing manager for Pegasus Art and a freelancer supporting creatives and fine artists. Sarah studied a short course at the Slade School of Fine Art and has a degree from Chartered Institute of Marketing.