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The Virtual Art Academy® Course Building Blocks

The Virtual Art Academy Course Building Blocks covers these key areas. When you master all of these topics, you will be well on your way to creating a masterpiece!:

• Process: These self-study painting lessons give you detailed step-by-step process for how to create a painting. The first lesson in this series shows you how to paint in the alla prima or direct style, using oils, acrylics or watercolors. An alla prima painting is one that is created in one session. Organization is key to becoming a successful artists. Learn all about how to organize yourself and your equipment in these painting lessons. They cover everything you need to know to setup your studio and also how to work out doors or "en plein air" in comfort.

• Drawing: The old saying goes that you can only paint as well as you can draw. Here are some of the secrets I have discovered along the way that have greatly helped my drawing. There is a self-study painting class to help demystify the complex topic of perspective and make it easier to understand, and one that will teach you how to draw those things that are very difficult, such as arches, wheels, and complicated street scenes.

• Form: An understanding of form is essential for giving your paintings a three-dimensional quality. If you do not have a solid understanding of the material in these painting lessons, your still lifes will not appear three-dimensional, and you will never be able to make figures or portraits look real.

• Observation: Much of painting is not about how you put paint on the canvas but about how to see. These self-study painting lessons will teach you the critical skills of how to see color and values. With this knowledge your paintings will automatically become more realistic. You will also learn how to give your landscapes depth and mood using atmospheric perspective, as well as tips to make your trees, rocks, water, and skies, look much more realistic.

• Notan: This is the structure of the dark and light shapes in your painting. A good notan structure is the hallmark of all great masterpieces, and mastering this has been a key factor in helping many of my paintings win competitions. All my secrets are revealed in these painting lessons!

• Color: Color is why many people love painting. This set of painting lessons will help you understand your pigments better, which palettes to use and when, and how to create beautiful color harmony in your painting.

• Design & Composition: You can do a great copy of your subject, but without a strong composition, your paintings and drawings will have no impact. Every principle of design and composition I know about is covered in detail in these self-study painting lessons. I have included plenty of examples and illustrations to help you fully understand all of these important principles and make them easy to learn (there are 40 principles in total!). This is one of the most comprehensive set of self-study painting lessons on this important topic I have seen anywhere.

• Brushwork: The character and feeling of your brushwork goes a long way to increasing the pleasure and delight of the person viewing your work. How you apply the paint also determines how much carrying power and luminosity your painting will have. Whatever your media, brushwork (or mark making in the case of pastel painting), is what makes a painting a painting and not a photograph.

• Visual Music & Poetry (Concept): Creating a good representation of your subject is not art. Although necessary, a good representation is not enough. You need to communicate something to your viewer – some emotion or some idea, or your painting will be nothing more than an illustration. This is what I call the "Visual Poetry" of a painting. This is so critical to creating good artwork that I have given it a complete category of self-study painting lessons to itself.