Digital Art Academy Classes

Bamboo painting by Skip Allen

Open Studio starts in just a few days. This will be our last Open Studio until the fall. Join this wonderful group of digital artists as we study the art of Sumi-e painting with Corel Painter. Class begins on March 27th and runs for four weeks with a new lesson and video each week. Find out why students keep coming back to Open Studio year after year and experience the magic!

To register for Open Studio Sumi-e Painting click on the link.

Your classroom is available to you twenty four hours a day. No need to be in class at any specific time, you simply work at your own pace. Your lesson PDF and video can be downloaded and saved to your computer. Your instructor is there to support you and answer any questions you may have. Each classroom week has a forum area where you can communicate to your instructor.

Some of our instructors offer live sessions via Go To Meeting. These sessions give the teacher and students the opportunity to work together on a specific subjects or lessons to further enhance the learning experience.

So don’t be shy, enroll and enjoy an online class, great for seniors, young adults and kids! Have some fun and enroll in an online class today at Digital Art Academy.

Classes get underway on Saturday June 20th. There is still time to register for your favorite class at Digital Art Academy. This session we are introducing two new Corel Painter classes taught by Skip Allen.

Painter One,  Introduction to Corel Painter
This class is intended for the beginner or those just starting to discover Painter.

Painter Two: Beyond the Basics
This class in intended for the intermediate to advanced student.

Read what students are saying about Skip Allen’s Painter classes,

“I absolutely loved your class and all your inspiring notes and videos. You covered every little detail and it was so easy to understand. Your comments were all so encouraging and inspirational. I really enjoyed the “Intro to Painter 11″ and I am really looking forward to “Beyond the Basics”.

Thank you for teaching us all so much and being so generous with your knowledge and expertise around Painter 11.”

Ginny F., Student

“I cannot say enough about the quality of content that Skip gave us in Intro to Painter 11 at DAA. I highly recommend this class to anyone that needs instruction not only for Painter 11 but also for any Corel Painter that you might have. There is so much he teaches that I did not know about the program. He excelled in his professionalism and giving encouragement to his students. Skip was always there and always so generous with his time and efforts. This class gets an A+++ from me for quality of teaching, content and the very best videos and presentation to help you fully understand this remarkable program. Skip left no stone unturned in helping you understand any facet of Painter, no matter how complex and I really am appreciative of all his efforts and the work he put into his lessons and video presentations. Awesome class, and awesome teacher.”

Judith Phares, Student

“You should take a bow. Your classes were informative, Skip, you stretched my boundaries and pushed me beyond my imagination to places I would never have ventured. For me as a student, I felt more secrets were revealed than I never knew existed. Can’t wait to have more secrets revealed in the next session of the ability of Painter 11.
Your energy, in fact this applies to all DAA teachers in the classrooms and giving of your knowledge is admirable. You all share so much with us, Thank you.
The classes are a breeze and stress free. The technology works, the teaching methods are way ahead of other on-line classes I attend, especially in the digital scrap booking arena.
You guys could teach them how to present classes, that’s one thing I know for sure.”

Shelley Fuhr, Student

“Actually, it’s hard to really find the right words, Skip…you are such an extraordinary teacher. Your teaching method and knowledge of the subject matter….PAINTER 11…makes a perfect combination. It’s quite apparent that you spent a lot of time combing for the last detail and presenting your work to the class that made it so understandable and fun to follow. I appreciate your in-depth PDF’s and Vidoes. The structure of your PDF’s made it extremely easy to follow your instructions. As I said before…just because one knows a program does not necessarily make one a good teacher. You are indeed, a good teacher.”

Barbara Bond, Student

Tim Shelbourne
Diana Dillion
Skip Allen
Elaina Moore-Kelly

For a complete listing of classes visit our latest newsletter  Digital Art Academy

This webinar will only concentrate on painting faces, hair and skin in multiple methods. You will learn at least three different ways to paint faces, eyes, hair and skin. Each method will leave a different painterly effect and it’s up to you to practice and see which one is right for your paintings. While this will concentrate on painting from photo reference, the methods of painting will vary. The same image will be used for each lesson to impress the differences in the finished painting effect.

As a special bonus, the set of brushes Marilyn uses in the webinar will be available as a free download in the Digital Paint Shop and on Marilyn’s Blog after the webinar ends. Also, a special discount will be arranged on all of Marilyn’s educational materials for 24 hours after the webinair ends and the discount code will be given at the end of the presentation.

Date: Monday, June 8th
Time: 7 pm Eastern
Register Now

Shortly before the event you will recieve a confirmation from Go To Webinar. We look forward to seeing you at The Great Face Paint!

Digital Art Academy

DAA Instructor Tim Shelbourne will be teaching The Magic of Pencil-Drawing for Beginners. Tim crosses the barriers and invites digital and traditional artist to work together in this class which will help strengthen your drawing skills. This is the first of a series of traditional drawing and painting classes coming to Digital Art Academy.

Registration is now open for Session Three don’t miss this class!

®Corel Painter 11
Course Name: © Introduction to Painter 11, Part One, The Basics

Enjoy learning Painter and have access to your classroom twenty four hours a day. Your instructor will be here to answer your questions and will support you through your course work. This class includes video demonstrations which you can save to your computer and view any time. Upon completion of this class students who meet the requirements will receive a certificate of completion.

This course contains video instruction

Instructor: Skip Allen
Duration: 4 weeks
Course Fee: $42

Software Covered: ®Corel Painter 11. A thirty day trial version of this software is available for download. If using the Trial version do not download it until your class begins.

Trial version Corel Painter 11

Basic Requirements:

Skill level:
This class is intended for the beginner Painter user and is intended to foster a solid skill set, or for those who want to familiarize themselves with the new features in ®Corel Painter 11.

* Basic knowledge and understanding of Microsoft® Windows® XP, Microsoft® Windows® Vista or Apple® Mac OS® X operating system
* A mind that is ready to learn

Software Requirements:

* Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista or Apple Mac OS X operating system
* Corel Painter 11

Hardware Requirements:

* A computer capable of running Corel Painter
* Wacom or comparable tablet is highly recommended. With a mouse you may suffer frustration and not be able to take full advantage of the new features that ®Painter 11 offers.

Before you use Corel Painter with your Wacom Intuos 3 tablet on the Mac OS, you need to ensure that the Wacom Intuos 3 driver you’ve installed is optimized for use with Corel Painter. To do this, access the Mac OS System Preferences, and choose the Wacom Tablet command. Choose Functions from the Tool area, and then click the Touch Strip button that appears. In the Touch Strip area, make sure that the left and right Touch Strip functions are both set to Scroll.

The mouse mode option in the Wacom controls panel, which causes a stylus to behave like a mouse, is not compatible with Corel Painter. Always use pen mode when painting with an Intuos tablet and pen.

Introduction to Painter 11, Part One, The Basics

Syllabus

Course Title:
Discover Painter 11, Part One, The Basics

Course Description:

This course is a beginner level course designed to acquaint the student with the most common used features of Corel Painter 11. The participants will experience first-hand Corel Painter’s ingenious drawing tools, realistic brushes and customizable features. At least one work will be created each week designed to take you through the basics of Painter 11. The complete course will be presented in three parts and you must complete Part One before you can move to Part Two.

You will need Painter 11 and a Wacom Intuos, or Cintiq tablet or comparable hardware to take advantage of the new features of Painter 11.

Week One: Getting to know Painter with Doodles

In the first week we will explore the Welcome Screen; brush tracking; opening, closing, and saving your documents; the Workspace; the Menu Bar; brush selector; and the color palette. We will play with different brushes and create still life doodles or quick sketches.

Week Two: Using a photographic reference with cloning

This week we will continue to explore the Corel Painter brushes. We will create a painting using a photograph as a reference applying what we learned in week one along with clone color.

Week Three: Auto Painting, a powerful feature of Corel Painter

In the third week we will discover the Underpainting and Auto Painting palettes and how to enhance our photographic reference prior to painting. We will begin to use the layers palette and selection tools. In the paper palette we will discover Painter’s many paper textures, which enhance the natural look of our paintings.

Week Four: Putting it all together and then some.

We will utilize what we learned in the first three weeks to create our most complex painting. The layer palette composite method will be added to our arsenal of tricks. We will take a quick look at some intermediate topics such as brush controls and special effects. Basic printing will be discussed.

——

PHOTOSHOP: NATURAL MEDIA FROM PHOTOGRAPHS:

Tim Shelbourne’s Natural Media from photographs. (Photoshop)

You might think that the only way to create natural media style images in Photoshop is either to paint them from scratch, or rely solely on the rather mechanical, overused standard Photoshop filters, but in this course I’ll show you that this is very far from the truth! For many years now, being from a traditional art background, I’ve specialized in creating unique Photoshop techniques for creating artistic natural media style images from digital photographs, and I’m going to share that knowledge with you over the course of this four week class.
Whether it’s oils, watercolour, pencil or pastel, you’ll be amazed just how real these Photoshop photo-paintings can look, and we’ll do it all with a combination of a few quite basic Photoshop techniques and tools. We’ll even discover ways to make use of some Photoshop filters in an artistic and sophisticated way, without the results looking filtered at all!

Requirements:

If you’re considering enrolling in this class, then you’ve made a great choice! ;o)
Seriously though, to get the most from the course, you’ll need to be familiar with the standard Photoshop toolset, be confident with using layers, and have a little experience of basic photo manipulation techniques. sadly, this course would not be suitable for absolute beginners with Photoshop. If you’re in any doubt as to whether this course is suitable for your level of ability, then drop me an email, or message me and we can talk about it.

Hardware needed:

A pressure sensitive Graphics tablet is absolutely essential for this course. Obviously you’ll also need a PC capable of running Photoshop!

Software needed:

Photoshop 7 and above. So, to be clear, that’s Photoshop 7, CS, CS2, CS3 and CS4. This course is not suitable for Photoshop Elements.

Course details:

After the first week, the course is modular in construction, and we’ll tackle a different Natural Media effect each week.
There will be lots of video tutorials included along with the written course. These will be available in either Quicktime or Flash file formats.

Week One:

The Natural Media Toolbox:

In this first week, I’ll present an overall primer where we’ll look at some of the core Photoshop techniques and tools you’ll be using throughout the course. Even for those who have used some of the tools and techniques before, this will be a useful refresher, and for other students, a quick study of these aspects of Photoshop could be a revelation! In any event, the aim of this first week is to get you comfortable with some Photoshop essentials!

Week Two:

Let’s get sketching!: Digital pencil drawings.

OK, now we’re through the basics, here we’ll start creating natural media effects! For the first of our self-contained projects, we’ll concentrate on creating a super-realistic pencil drawing from a digital photograph! This is a complete, self-contained, step-by-step lesson, with some really exciting diversions thrown in along the way, such as simulating chalk and charcoal! Hold on to that digital easel, this could be a thrilling ride! All of the material in these self-contained modules will include comprehensive video supplements!

Week Three:

Colourful crayons: Let’s do Pastel!

Enjoyed the Pencil project from last week? Then you’ll love Pastels! Once again, starting with a digital photograph, we’ll explore how to recreate the colourful, powdery lusciousness of soft pastel, complete with coloured ground and textures. Once again you’ll be treated to lots of additional videos, and we’ll wander off road a little to investigate how to simulate charcoal drawings. As with all of these lessons, the start images will be supplied for you, so all you have to do is have fun, learn and paint!

Week Four:
And for the finale to the course, we present… Oils! When it comes to the ultimate in natural media, nothing quite compares to the look and feel of oil paints, and here we’ll simulate this centuries old medium flawlessly. With all the texture, artistry and surface quality you’d expect from this medium, we’ll simulate it all here, again from a supplied start image. What better way to finish the course! There’ll be a special extra full length video tutorial here for everyone who posts their finished final assignment before the course closes!

Contact Tim:
tim.shelbourne@digitalartacademy.com
tjs@timshelbourne.co.uk

—

Welcome to the Magic of Layer Masks class!

Instructor: Tim Shelbourne

Layer Masks are arguably the most useful devices in Photoshop, and if you’ve never used them then you’re missing out on a whole new world of creative possibilities! many Photoshop novices run for the hills at the very mention of Layer Masks, believing them to be some kind of arcane, mystical science that’s mind-bogglingly difficult to understand. This is far from the truth, as you will learn during the next four weeks of classes.

I’m passionate about layer masks, and I’m certain that you’ll share this passion by the end of the course. We’ll look at exactly what layer masks are for, how they work, and the very simple principles behind everything you can do with them! Along the way, we’ll be looking at some stunning, and surprisingly simple creative projects involving layer masks, and the course will culminate in the creation of a natural media effect painting that relies almost entirely on the magic of layer masks!

This course will include comprehensive video tutorials.

General Information:

Course Name: Tim Shelbourne’s – The magic of Layer Masks

Basic Requirements:

Skill level:

If you’re enrolling in this class, you need to have some basic experience of using the main toolset in Photoshop and have some experience of using layers. You really don’t need to be an advanced Photoshop user, and of course I’ll be happy to help you out during the courses with any difficulties you might have.

Software Needed:

Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3/CS4. Photoshop version CS4 would be an advantage here as there are some great new features which expand the possibilities of layer masking. Anyone using an earlier version of Photoshop would be well advised to download the 30 day trial version of Photoshop CS4 upon commencement of classes, just so you have it on your machine to refer to when appropriate.

Hardware Needed:

You’ll obviously need a computer capable of running Photoshop. Although it would be theoretically possible to work through most of the course using a mouse, having the use of a pressure sensitive Graphics Tablet, such as a Wacom or similar would be a huge advantage and is highly recommended.

Course Description:

Week One:

Layer Masks: The Basics.

In this first part of the course, we’ll discover exactly what layer masks are, and why they are such a huge benefit to the way you work in Photoshop. We’ll look at how to actually work with Layer Masks, and the basic concepts behind them. By the end of this first week, you’ll be confident in creating and modifying layer masks, and you’ll already be starting to wonder just how you ever survived in Photoshop without them! There’ll be some nice exercises at the end of this week that you’ll be completing as homework!

Week Two:

Advanced layer masking: Let the fun begin!

In this second week, we’ll build on the knowledge you’ve already gained by looking at the more intricate aspects of using layer masks. There’ll be quite a lot to learn this week, but we’ll do that via some really interesting exercises that will add some invaluable tools and techniques to your Photoshop armoury. We’ll cover things like creating layer masks from channels, creating complex masks and using masks via complex selections.

Week Three:

Painting with masks: The Art of the Layer Mask.

This week we’ll look more closely at using brushes with layer masks, and actually painting on them. As part of this section, we’ll look at using Adjustment Layers via Layer Masks, and also how we can restrict the effects of a layer mask to just a single layer. This week will show you many more creative Layer Masking techniques, building on what you’ve already learned.

Week Four:

Layer Mask heaven: Bringing it all together!

After all that hard work, the final week of the course will allow you to use all of your new skills in a fun way, and here we’ll actually create a full-blown natural media style painting, which really takes advantage of the power of Layer Masks! In a single piece of work this week, you’ll see that all that learning was worthwhile!

—

Traditional Media-Digital Media

The Magic of the Pencil- Drawing for beginners!

There’s a radio show here in the UK called “Desert Island Discs”. The idea of the show is that celebrities are invited to list the songs they’d want to take with them should they be marooned on a desert island! At the end of the show, the interviewees have to choose 3 luxury objects that the really couldn’t live without on said island. I doubt if I’ll ever be a celebrity, so I won’t be invited onto the show, but if I were, without doubt my three luxury items would be a box of pencils and a couple of beautifully crisp white sketchpads. To my mind, the humble pencil is, ultimately, the only tool an artist needs. It’s not the Pen that’s mightier than the sword,  it’s the Pencil!

You might think, like many others, that you can’t draw. Well, I’ve got news for you; You can! To my mind, if you can write then you can draw. After all, when we’re taught to write, we’re simply taught to copy shapes, and in the end we get so good at this that we can actually draw these shapes from memory, without even thinking about it. In essence, all you’re doing when you’re drawing is copying shapes, although I’ll acknowledge that some shapes are more complicated than others, but the principles involved are the same.

So, in this four week course, I want to release the artist within you, via the power of the pencil. We’ll look at how to start drawing, by simplifying your subject, we’ll also look at the fundamental skills you need to develop such as rendering form, light, and shade, tackling proportions, shading, perspective and lots, lots more! I’ll go as far as to say that by the end of this course you’ll be drawing confidently, and you’ll have all the tools, techniques and skills you need to be able to produce beautiful sketches and drawings.

This course is truly cross-media! Essentially, to take part, all you really need is a few pencils, some paper, and lots of enthusiasm. A digital camera, or a scanner would be a bonus so you can post the results of your exercises! Alternatively, you could use Corel Painter, Corel Painter Essentials, Corel Painter Sketchpad or even Photoshop for the entire course, as all of these allow you to use brushes that mimic the humble pencil incredibly accurately!

Drawing is my passion! Join me over this four week course and make it your passion too!

Requirements:

There are many options here, depending on how you wish to approach this course. If you’re using the traditional method then all you need is your passion, a few pencils and some paper. If you intend completing this course on your computer, there are obviously more hardware and software requirements, and you can read about those below.

Hardware needed for the traditional approach:

You’ll need a range of drawing pencils in these grades: 2B, 4B, 6B. You’ll also need a reasonable quality A4 size sketchpad. A ring-bound sketchpad would be best as these are easier to photograph or scan your sketches. You’ll also need a small craft knife, some fine sandpaper and a kneadable eraser. If you have any specific question about this, please post a question in the Pre-class section of the forum.

If you’re taking the traditional approach, you’ll also need a scanner attached to your PC, or a digital camera so that you can post your sketches and assignments.

Hardware needed for the digital  approach:

If you intend completing this course digitally then obviously you’ll need a PC capable of running the software of your choice. Also, a pressure sensitive Graphic Tablet is actually essential for this course!

Software needed for digital students.

To complete the drawing course on your PC, you’ll need either: Adobe Photoshop (Any version but not Photoshop Elements) or Corel Painter, or Coral Painter Essentials 4, or Corel Painter Sketchpad.

Course details:

This course is not software specific in any way, but of course anyone working digitally will be given appropriate instruction for setting up a Pencil brush. My whole purpose in this course is to teach you to draw and sketch, which you can do either physically on paper, or on your PC.

Week One:

The pencil: Let’s get right to the point!

In this first week of class, we’ll look at the materials you’ll be using, either physically, for those working with pencil and paper, or digitally for those drawing on a PC. We’ll also have a primer with some simple exercises on line and shading, to get those drawing fingers loosened up and get you comfortable with mark making! Think of this week as an opportunity to become friends with that pencil! There’ll be video supplements showing things such as sharpening pencils, how to hold your pencil and using a kneadable eraser.

Week Two:

Itchy Fingers: Let’s get drawing!

In week two, we’ll get down to some drawing. I’ll show you the right way to draw, and, surprisingly, the wrong way to draw… just so you know the difference! You’ll see how much easier drawing is if you break complicated objects and form into very simple shapes to start off with. I’ll also cover fundamental principles here like proportion and construction. There’ll be lots of juicy lessons this week, and you’ll end it with much more confidence than you started with!

Week Three:

Form essentials: Into the light!

Perspective is vital when it comes to drawing, and this week, via some really simple exercises I’ll simplify this seemingly brain-boggling subject, and illustrate that it’s nothing to be scared of! Also this week, we’ll concentrate on light and shade, using many of the shading techniques you practiced in week one. By the close of this week’s lessons and exercises, you’ll be sketching fully formed objects, complete with light and shade.

Week Four:

Now you can draw!: Pencil power!

In week four, we’ll use all of the things we’ve learnt so far to produced a finished drawing, using all of the principles and techniques we’ve covered. I’ll wager by now you’ll feel like a fully-formed artist, and you’ll end the course with a completed drawing you’ll be proud of! My ambition at this stage of this introductory course is that the knowledge and ability you’ve gained will inspire you to progress to a more advance course.
—–

Portrait Painting – Part II, With Diana Dillion

Skill Level: Intermediate

Programs: Corel Painter 9.5>, Photoshop 7>

Hardware: A Pen tablet is HIGHLY recommended.

Prerequisites: Although not a must, it is highly recommended that you take “Portrait Painting – Part I with Diana Dillion” BEFORE this class – OR, if you already have portrait painting skills we invite you to learn a continuation of exciting and different ways you can enhance, improve, and take your paintings to the next level. Students must also have a good basic knowledge of Painter and Photoshop, like how to open and save files, how to choose brushes, etc.

This class is a continuation of Diana’s Portrait Painting – Part I class. It is designed to help the student go beyond the techniques taught in Portrait Painting – Part I. Learn how to really put life and character into your portraits by painting skin with texture! Also involved will be learning how to paint peoples “laugh lines”! : Yes, we will deal with painting wrinkles! Learn how to paint youthful portraits, making babies and children look more painterly by enhancing details that make them who they are in a painterly way.

Diana will show you exciting techniques for converting your painting that you painted in her Portrait One class, or a finished portrait that you already have, into a Charcoal painting! “Wow” your clients and friends with this very popular style of Black and White or Sepia toned paintings!

This class will cover texturizing paintings, adding new and different backgrounds with the use of Photoshop and Painter to create a masterpiece of your imagination! Place your subject in a background that is unique to them as a person, or create a fantasy background that will come to life with different textures, special papers, and special techniques to take your portrait paintings above and beyond my first class in Portrait Painting – Part I.
Diana will also teach you how to enhance your portraits with basic embellishments! Take your painting to the highest level of finishing by adding even more depth and texture with this process! By applying just a few products you will have a painting that resembles the look and feel of a traditional work of art.

Week One:

” Backgrounds – Using other pictures and textures to enhance backgrounds.
” Put your subject on a background that brings out their personality!

Week Two:

” Painting skin with texture – includes wrinkles and older people’s skin.
” How to make babies smooth skin look more painterly.

You will see how using textures and brushstrokes can make such a difference!

Week Three:

” A continuation of painting skin with texture. You will learn how different papers can be utilized to add texture to skin.
” Painting men’s “five o’clock shadows” and freckles.
” Learn how to create your own direction of light to add depth on photos taken with an on-camera flash.

Week Four:

” Make your painting come alive with embellishments.
” Converting your painting into a Charcoal painting.

To enroll in any of these new courses be sure to create a New User Account, if you have not already done so.  Please use this link to register for your classes. Once logged in, simply click on your favorite class to enroll.

Digital Art Academy

Digital Art Academy is pleased to announce our new class offerings for Session Four! Digital Art Academy will continue to bring you the best in online training from the comfort of your home. At Digital Art Academy we are working hard to expand our curriculum and will soon be offering classes in traditional media drawing and painting. Digital Art and Classical Art are coming together at Digital Art Academy!

Digital Art Academy is proud to introduce you to our new instructors for Session Four!

Tim Shelbourne
Kirk Nelson
Susi Lawson
Jill Garl
Diana Dillion

Visit Digital Art Academy course curriculum page to see our listing of new class offering for Session Four!

How Do I get Started?

To enroll in a class at Digital Art Academy please use this link:

http://www.digitalartacademy.com/Moodle/

1. On the home page you will see located in the upper right corner the Log In section. If you are new to DAA you will need to create an account, please choose “Create New Account”. This is the first step to enrolling in your favorite class!

2. Upon successful registration you can now log into DAA using your User Name and Password.  Once logged in click on the class you want to enroll in and follow enrollment guidelines located at the bottom of the class description page.

3. To read the class syllabus, click on the Blue information icon located just to the right of the class name.