Saturday, January 23

Online Art Courses - How To Decide?

I'm one of those "hard to shop for" people. My birthday was last Sunday, Jan. 17th. I told Joel not to worry about a gift, that I'd choose one for myself. That's what he had done for his Birthday two weeks prior, so I figured what was good for him was good for me. I'm trying to keep the pricing about the same, of course. He bought about $65-70 worth of goodies for himself. So, I'm thinking an art class would be just perfect. That's what I wanted anyway, and there happens to be a few new ones about to start that I think I'd enjoy. One is Willowing's Fabulous Faces and the other is Color: Beyond the Basics w/Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen.

I've taken one course from each of them previously and enjoyed them both very much. Well, I've never taken a course from Julie's new co-star, Chris Cozen, but I do have her book, Altered Surfaces.

I'm having a hard time deciding which of these courses is best for me right now. I'd love to just purchase them both, but alas....I can't afford to be spending every dollar on art courses & supplies no matter how much I'd like to do just that. That wouldn't be very frugal of me, now would it? I doubt Joel would appreciate me spending upward of $150 on all of this, either. That is what both would cost if I included the supplies list. I believe the supplies list for both courses are more like suggestions than necessities, however, I have found that it sure does help to have exactly what the instructor is using to get the results you're after.

So, I thought I would compare the two. This will be a comparison based on MY needs. This is not me trying to decide what course is best for everyone, as I think both would be beneficial and fun to anyone interested in art or learning new techniques.

  • Both are interesting and would be useful to me.

  • Willowing's classes are downloadable. Julie's are not.

  • Julie's class is $23 less than Willowing's. (Give or take. Had to use GBP to USD conversion)

  • I have all of the course materials for Willowing's class already.

  • Both instructors provided contests, however Willowing's contest is over. If I sign up today I could still win something if I choose Julie and Chris's class. (I never win anything...who am I kidding)

  • Willowing has a course outline pdf for downloading before the class so you'll know exactly what you'll be doing week by week. Unless I missed it, Julie's course doesn't have this.

  • I've taken several face classes from different instructors in the past, but never a Colors class.

  • All instructors will be available for questions during the course.

  • Both classes are taught on Ning.

Okay, enough of that. It's not helping me make my decision. I still can't choose. There's one other thing that I'm wondering, but not sure about. Just how much are they planning to focus on color and how to mix colors together for a cohesive outcome in Julie's class? I really wish there was a course outline for this class. I don't want to ask all these questions and then decide on the other course. Rude, right? Also, how much of what will be taught in the Colors class is also in Chris Cozen's book? I have her book, as mentioned before. It's a great book and quite inspiring. Then again, so is Willowing, so that isn't a separating factor.

In case you're interested in taking the courses, here are the YouTube video ads for both:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PueQ_I12o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-UBRQo7WvI&feature=player_embedded

Here's another option; Go to Books-A-Million or Amazon.com and buy books on exactly what I want! That doesn't seem like as much fun as someone walking you through the process, but I could get a taste of both Color and Faces and save a little cash in the process.

3 comments:

Jennifer Williams said...

If I has a choice I would probably go with Julie's class.

While I think it's cool to learn how to draw faces the market is already over saturated with them due to SuziBlu's class and will be more so once this class is over. Plus all your stuff will end up looking like everyone else.

Julie tends to teach you to do more your own thing and I think the colors will help you go a lot farther in the long run than faces.

I have the same indecision over classes too. Unfortunately it means I spend waaay too much money on waaay too many classes.

Anonymous said...

WOW! You are really thinking this thing out....that's a good thing, though. Good luck with your decision. I know you will enjoy either. I have had an urge to paint lately too...just can't seem to squeeze everything in lately though. You are a good inspiration to go forth with my urge though. Thanks!
Love ya Heapes, Bibbi

Rischa said...

For anyone wondering, I never took either class. As much as I wanted to take BOTH of them I decided to spend the money on art supplies instead. I've taken so many classes that I thought maybe I should just slow up for a while on the classes.

BTW, for anyone else that might want to take classes from either of these teachers, they're both wonderful. I've taken previous classes from them both and you can't really go wrong choosing either.