How do I make my paintings look more professional?

At some point in every artist’s development, you get to a stage where your paintings are looking pretty good.

You’ve got a basic understanding of colour mixing, paint application and your drawing’s sound.

But some tricky subjects still elude you.

And you begin to wonder, is it just me or are there painting techniques that I haven’t mastered yet?

I’ve created this Classical Still Life Masterclass with Acrylics, to help aspiring artists to bring their paintings to a more professional finish, dealing with the more complex subject of reflective surfaces such as silver, ceramic and mahogany.

Who would benefit from this course the most?

I’ve designed this course so it is simple to follow and easy to understand, however, if you are an absolute beginner there will be some challenging parts.

This course is aimed at the more developed artist, someone who has painted a couple of pieces that are hanging on the wall at home, knows they can improve but doesn’t know how to make the transition to a more refined painter.

What does this course offer?

I’ve created 5 downloadable Video Lessons covering 2 x Still life setups.

Over 2 1/2 hours of video instruction, alongside a Quick Start PDF guide which includes your materials lists and tools of the trade!

The first study – Silver Goblet

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This study tackles the tricky subject of painting reflections in Silver.

Taking a limited palette you’ll learn how less is more when trying to create the illusion of metal with acrylics.

Building up the painting from the darks to the lightest sparkling reflections, you’ll see how the real skill is looking for the ‘abstract’ within the object to be able to paint it realistically.

This allows you to follow the ‘course’ chronologically to accomplish a new level of painting.

Main Study – Oranges & Ceramic Jug on a Mahogany Table

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You will discover how to build an acrylic painting using Classical oil glazing techniques taken from the past, to create a contemporary acrylic still life.

We build on knowledge and techniques covered in the Art of Acrylics still life course and go deeper into the specifics with more challenging subjects. We use an extended palette and multi-layered glazing techniques.

Here is what you will discover:

  • How to approach seemingly impossible reflective surfaces in a step-by-step way
  • Achieve realistic paintings that still have a sense of flair and expression
  • The importance of selecting the ‘right’ colour ground for rapid block-ins
  • How to choose the ‘right’ pigments for the right techniques.
  • How to craft a sophisticated finished painting using subtle glazing

ipadmasterclass The Artists Eye

Having studied film and cinematography, I’ve tried to create a video course that will give you the best results, as if I’m in the studio with you.

For this still life painting course, I’ve updated a few technical things to give you the highest quality possible.

High-Quality sound

Have you ever watched an art instruction video and lost some critical point because the sound is hard to hear? For this course I wanted voice quality to be key. I’ve recorded high-quality audio at 42 bit/96 kHz, so you don’t miss a word of instruction and the sound is crystal clear.

High-Quality Full HD Video Recording

This course focuses on the painting and was filmed in 1080pHD.

There are 3 main camera views I cover:

1. Over-the-shoulder view of the work as a whole – so you can see how I build up the painting as if you were standing behind me in the studio.

2. A closeup of the brush contacting the canvas – with extreme close-ups, so you can see the grain of the canvas and the bristles in the brush.

3. Stable shot of the palette for when I pick up paint – see exactly how I mix colours. There is nothing worse than when the brush disappears from view, only to reappear with some fantastic new colour. Where did that colour come from?! How did it get mixed?

The palette view is very important, and not just at the beginning of the video.

I want to show you every single mix I make, so I film with the palette directly next to the painting, then you can see shots of the palette throughout the course and gain a sense of my approach to colour mixing.

Real-time filming – No long jumps in progress

I don’t like long jumps in progress when the paint brush goes off camera, the shot changes and suddenly the picture has seemed to drastically improve. To learn the most, you need to see each stage of the painting, so on all my courses I include all the stages so you can clearly see the progress of a work.

Edited by the artist

I filmed it, edited it, and coloured it myself (with a little help from Vanessa!) rather than working with a production company.

Artists have different needs than editors so I wanted to cut the course like an artist, showing you exactly what I wanted to see when I was learning.

Colour corrected footage

This course has been filmed under constant colour balanced conditions, so the paint colours  are as accurate as can be.

I’ve invested in specialist colour correction software to give you the most accurate view of the paint colours and mixes I use.

What if I work in Oil?

Although the demonstrations are in acrylics the course has been designed so you could transfer the skills and knowledge to oils. The colour palette I use is available in acrylic and oils.

So how does it work?

  • After clicking ‘Add to Cart’ you can pay via Paypal using a credit/ debit card or a Paypal account.

Don’t have a Paypal Account?

In most countries, Paypal offers an option for you to pay using Paypal, without opening a Paypal account.
Here is a screenshot from UK Paypal.

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  • Once you’ve paid, after a few seconds you’ll be redirected to a download page containing all the video links and Information (see image example below)
  • You will also be emailed your download link as a backup.

How big are the video files?

To download the course you ideally need a broadband connection as the video files are quite large (Total 1250 MB) – you do not receive a DVD.

You then have to Download and save the video tutorials onto your home computer.

This can take up to 20 minutes for each file depending on your internet speed as they are quite large.

Do you have a DVD version of the course available?

No

Do I need a special program to watch the videos on my computer?

No, the video files are MP4 ‘s and 95% of computers/laptops will have a media player on them.

If you have earlier software that doesn’t have a media player, you can download one for free.

Apple Quicktime
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

or VLC media player (also free) VLC Media Player http://www.videolan.org/

To view the PDF files, you need Adobe Reader (also free to download)

How do I download the videos onto my Computer/iPad?

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Download Page example

On a P.C

Hover the mouse over the orange ‘Click here’ link and ‘right-click’ your mouse. There will be an option that says ‘Save Link as’

Click this option and a box should come up saying where do you want to say the files (eg, desktop, whatever your files names are called) decide where to save them and then the file should start to download, it might take 10 minutes before it downloads fully (depending on internet speed.)

On a Mac

Click the ‘click here’ link.
It will give you the option to ‘Open with’ or ‘Save file’
You want to click ‘Save as’ and the file will download into your downloads.

Can I download the videos to my iPad?

Firstly, I would download the files onto a desktop or laptop if you have one, just so you have a copy of the files.

Then you have a couple of options, either to transfer via iTunes or to purchase an app on the iPad.

Use a separate app

If you have an iPad you can use a free app called ‘Documents’ to be able to download the video files onto your iPad.

Please note: Without the app, you won’t be able to download and save the videos directly to your iPad. here is a more in-depth tutorial on how to download the lessons to an iPad.

Transferring files via iTunes

If you have a Mac you can:
1. Download the files to your desktop (or find the ones you’ve already saved)
2. Plug in iPad to Mac
3. Open iTunes
4. Drag MP4′s (video files of the course) on the Mac into TV shows or Movies
5. To Play on iPad open the Videos App then look under TV shows or Movies
6. The MP4 video files from the course should play fine.
If you’re on a PC you can download iTunes here and go through the same process.

Can I download onto my Tablet?

Not directly – to download the videos onto your tablet you need to download them to your main computer first and that transfer to your tablet via USB. Here are the instructions from one of my students:

“Here is what I did to get the files onto my Android tablet from a PC.

1. From your link I downloaded the files to my Download folder on my PC. From there I moved them to my Video folder. (which is part of the Libraries folder on Windows 7)
2.I connected my tablet via USB cable to my PC
3.Using Windows Explorer, I copied the files from the PC Video folder, to a folder on my Acer Aconia tablet called Videos.
4. To view the course on my tablet. I click on the App called Multi- media and use the Acer media video app.’

Windows explorer is a graphical file manager in the Windows operating system that displays the contents of Libraries, folders and files. I do not know if this would affect the routine or not, but my tablet is 2 years old and for newer tablets there might be an easier routine.”

Can I download the video files and put them onto my own DVD or USB flash drive to watch on a DVD player/TV?

Yes, you can download the files onto a DVD or USB flash drive.

Downloading to a USB Flash Drive

USB-SAN-DISK-3.0 You can download the files direct to a USB flash drive that will give you portability and extra storage.

Downloading to a DVD

Not all DVD players will playback Mp4 files.

There are a couple of options:

1. DVD playback on another computer:

If you burn the MP4 files onto a DVD and then play the DVD on another computer or laptop it should play without a problem if you have an up to date media player that supports MP4s.

(If you need an up to date media Player you can download one here: VLC media player (also free) VLC Media Player http://www.videolan.org/)

2. DVD playback on a DVD player with a file Converter

It depends on if your DVD player supports MP4 video files.

Many DVD players will say MP4 on the front tray, for example ‘DVD/Audio CD/DivX/MP4/MP3/’

Some older DVD player don’t support MP4 because MP4 is a format with different decodes.

If you have an older DVD player you will have to convert the files using free software.

The MP4 to DVD converter from www.freemake.com is a good choice.

Now with all the technical stuff out of the way we can get painting!Cheers,

Cheers,

Will

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