How important is preparation? Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." Hello everybody! I'm making this comment and pinning it to the top. I understand that this program isn't for everyone, I get it. Lots of you are beyond this art teaching program in your artistic journey. Lots of you think you can get this content on KZread for free, or that it's too much money. These are all valid points for you, and I hear and am happy for you! But there are lots and lots of artists that will benefit from knowing about it. If you want to do professional work in the shortest amount of time, focusing on the skills you need to perfect with teachers not only showing you how to do it, but actually giving you a critique in one on one sessions, as well as supplying you with the tools and paint you need. This training will help those of you who are looking to not only be fine artists, but artists aspiring to get into the commercial end of things. Video games, book covers, illustration, portrait work. Please just remember that just because it might not be right for you and where you are in your artistic journey, it's important information that I would have loved knowing about when I was starting out. The internet as a great help in having access to an art program like this, wherever you live in the world. If it's not something you're interested in, I have dozens, if not hundreds of hours of free content in which I teach you what I know... enjoy and PAINT ON!!!

I was more than cautious in spending the money to do this. But out of work and needing direction in my art, I decided to take the plunge. I completed the first 4 blocks in 3 months. I worked at it full time plus. I am exxtremly happy with the program. It is worth the money. I thought I was reasonably happy with my painting before the course. I will do one of my "best" paintings over now that I have learned from Evolve and know it will be much much better. thank you Evolve. Mary Jo

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Mary Jo, thanks for chiming in on your experience with the Evolve program, and congrats on successfully getting through the first 4 blocks so quickly. Have you found you learned techniques and ways of working that have helped you improve?

I think the reason most of us don't reach our potential is because we have been conditioned to think artistic ability is a talent, or gift. Why would any sane person who has already proved they do not possess this gift keep trying? Then there are those who really have a passion and push themselves but improvement is so slow you begin to think you will die long before you achieve any real improvement. This is the reason I stopped trying about 5 years ago, improvement was so expensive and slow that I decided to just watch art videos. Thank God for the Evolve add with Daniel at the beginning of many of those. I am not so old I can't put a year in. And, I have enough junk around the house that I can sell to pay for Evolve.

Hey Steve. It's a small world. I'm an Evolver myself and have been for a while. I have neglected it recently, since my big move. I never really got set up properly after moving but I'm ready to continue with it (hallway through block 4). I'm glad to see you endorse it. It's true that it's expensive compared to free videos on KZread. It depends on your goals if it's worth the cost. From my experience, it's the real deal. Kevin and all the other teachers are great artists and give great critical feedback. So it's an Atelier-style education but cheaper and at your own pace. If you want to paint at a professional level and sell your artwork, it's a great option and more than worth the cost. It's a fantastic program and everyone who is part of it seems to love it. There's a lot more to it than just watching videos, painting, and getting feedback. It's definitely worth fully checking out. This is just my honest opinion. Thanks, Steve.

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Steve, you're the first Evolver who's actually taking the program that I've heard from, and I really appreciate your feedback. I've heard that if you break down the cost to a per hour rate, it comes in around $5 an hour. For high quality art instruction, I don't think you can beat it. You're right about it being an atelier style education, and I've taken classes there and know how good they can be if you want to paint representational art. Not everyone lives near one, or can afford the tuition. This price, though much more than free KZread art videos, is waaay less than what you'd pay for in person schooling. But then, I'm preaching to the choir now aren't I? ... grin. Good luck going forward with your classes and thanks for chiming in!

@stevenmcleanart

3 жыл бұрын

@@SteveAtkinsonFineArt You're welcome Steve. You know how much I appreciate your channel and your teaching. I'm always happy to see your videos appear on here. Yeah, broken down, the price looks very good though I didn't break it down in this way. I looked at it overall and asked myself if I thought it would help me get to where I wanted and I saw enough potential to sign up. I've never regretted it for one moment. I see the value in it. I actually think it's even underpriced. Like I said though, it depends on your goals. If you just like to do a little painting here and there for yourself, it may not be what you need.

Steve, I have four years of atelier training, and this looks like a pretty good program to me. I also think teaching values and paint handling right away is a good idea, especially when they tackle drawing soon after. Drawing is obviously important in representational art, but it's also a life long learning process, so starting it a little bit later doesn't bother me. I think their way of helping people succeed at the beginning of the program will help students to continue the process and not drop out, which is pretty easy to do when you're learning online.

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Debra, thanks for sharing your insights on what you see with the Evolve program. I'm with you that I'm fine with delaying the drawing portion of the course as long as they cover it and teach comparative measuring, which they do. And as you say, drawing is a lifelong pursuit if you're wanting to be a representational artist. Thanks for adding to the conversation and happy painting!!!

I’ve recently heard of the Evolve Program and just joined in June. It’s exactly the art education I was looking for and I’m so happy. The Evolve team and community are absolutely amazing. There are Live Events on various art topics, Q&As with Instructors and Study Groups every week so you get to ask your questions and learn from other students’ questions. You can even schedule a One on One video call with an Instructor if you need further assistance. It’s just amazing! I highly recommend the Evolve Artist Program.

You said it in the intro...so many on KZread posting so called lessons...tutorials and they have no idea how to paint!!!

Hi Steve, thank you for reviewing this program. I happened upon your channel a couple days ago when I was looking for a way to cut down a painting panel without using a saw and came across your tutorial on making your own paint panels. Since then, I started watching your videos. I appreciate all the information you have on your channel and will continue to watch. I'm currently taking a course from Scott Christensen and am very interested in trying out Evolve. It looks like an excellent course. It occurred to me the other day, I haven't worked in any of the fundamentals of painting and drawing in a very long time. Yes, you can get the information from many books and videos but having that feedback from an instructor and other students is invaluable. I used to poo-poo artists who say they are classically trained, but let's face it, that is why we value the artists of the past so much. Classical training is where artists develop the training to render a scene or draw a figure without struggling through it. Yes, you can do it without, but if you do this professionally time is money. It comes down to skill and the knowledge to lock in your subject quickly, read the values accurately and not fight the paint through the process. Art school was not in the books for me when I was younger, and I know I lack skills that would make my work better and speed up my time at the easel. Anyway, thank you again, this course is definitely in the future for me. 10 hours a week is only 2 hrs a day with weekends off, that's not much of a time commitment to up your game.

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

2 жыл бұрын

Amanda, thanks for your thoughtful comment. Of course, I agree about Evolve and its value. The thing about being an artist is that we are never done learning or working to improve our skills. Too many "artists" are teaching when they should be taking classes themselves. I know you'll be a better artist for having gone through the Evolve program. If you think about it when you finish, come back and let us know how it went for you? I've taken Scott Christensen's plein air class and his advanced plein air class. He's one of the most articulate and thoughtful painter/teachers I've met. I know you'll come away with your bag of tools much fuller than you went in. Paint on!!

Thanks for the info Steve! I'd never heard of Evolve, and am only seriously investigating them because of your recommendation. I found you a couple months ago and enjoy your friendly, relaxed lessons, sense of humor, and painting style. I believe you're sincere in what you choose to endorse. Perhaps you, or Evolve Artist, could elaborate on one request I have. I'd appreciate more detail on how you applied the lessons to your landscape paintings. Looking at Evolves website, all the example art is still life, portraits or figures. Being a landscape painting hobbyist, seeing how this investment improves landscapes would be greatly appreciated. BTW, Evolve's free mini-course about depth and volume was an excellent, clear, well-presented lesson.

@evolveartist

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Dale that is a really great question! I'm entirely not sure what Steve specifically applied to his landscape paintings from our lessons, but I can tell you why he was able to. It has to do with how you perceive and approach art making. In Evolve, we teach our students the very fundamentals of art that apply to every subject matter. These fundamentals are the building blocks of our visual reality that are present in everything we see. By equipping our students with the knowledge and experience to create with those building blocks, using oil paint, they become empowered to recreate any representation of reality on a canvas or panel, regardless of subject matter. So, we don't teach our students how to paint portraits, or landscapes, not even still lives! Instead, we teach them the deeper fundamentals that apply to all of those things. As a result, our students quickly grow confident in approaching any subject matter that they want to paint, in far less time it would take to study each subject matter separately. This is why we say "we offer the shortest path to gaining the skills necessary to create art without limitations." Here's another way to think about it. If you spend a few years focusing on practicing desert landscapes and then receive a request to paint the snowy tundras of Alaska, how confident would you feel about delivering that commission? Not very confident, right? But if you spent those same years painting the same desert landscapes but instead focused on gaining a command over light and shadow, values, edges, color, etc., you would be able to create the impression of snow effortlessly, even if you had never painted snow in your life. Steve understands these fundamentals and that is why he is able to consistently make one beautiful painting after another and learn from them to make better ones in the future. Even though each painting is different, the fundamentals are the same, and they carry forward from one painting to another. And I imagine that Steve recommends the Evolve program as a great foundational course for this very reason (Steve, please correct me if I'm wrong). I hope that answers your question and not only explains why we do not offer specific courses on specific subject matters, but also explains how we are able to get the desired results for our students so efficiently. This is a great question and I think I'll make a video about it on Evolve's channel some time. Let me know if I can clarify anything or if you have any more questions 😊 ~ Daniel

@daleg9355

3 жыл бұрын

@@evolveartist Thank you Daniel for this explanation. This helps!

Great idea!

So, you are a professional artist and still learned from this program? I am all about the basics and went to art school 30 years ago. But now I am able to pursue my work on a higher level. As soon as I finish my present class I'll give it a go.

Sounds like something worth looking into?

Steve, thanks for the info. it is very informative and i am kinda interested in the program but hmmmm kinda too pricy. I know 2k is "cheap" for a life-long painting lesson compared to workshop or other programs but still a big payment for me, let me think about it!

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Huchen, I get it! 2K is not cheap, and it's not in everyone's budget. Hopefully, you can either learn what you need on your own, or decide that it's a worthwhile investment that will help you to avoid years of trial and error. Both ways can work. I hope you achieve your goals, I do know that if you work hard and stay committed, you surely will! Paint on!!

I paint in acrylic. Can I do this course with acrylic paints? Or can this course help evolve an acrylic artist?

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Abi, unfortunately, this is only for oil paints. Part of the course is teaching you how to handle the slippery nature of oil paints. Happy painting!!

👏

I was so excited until I saw the price

Thanks for the offer - but no thank you. It's way too overpriced. Can get the same instructions for free at KZread.

@evolveartist

3 жыл бұрын

All the information you need to make incredible art is available for free on the internet. If our program was just a collection of teaching videos we would also share them on KZread! For us, though, we find that a true education is not just in receiving the knowledge. We cut away all the excess and present the knowledge in a particular order, at the right time, and have our students apply the knowledge into experience while having a guide to keep them on course every step of the way. We take the ball of yarn that is "learning art" and straighten it out into a single line, creating the most efficient path to having the technical proficiency to create art without limitations. I know we artists "love" math, but let's break the price down. Based on our student averages, if you can put in about 7 hours a week into our program, you will be producing highly realistic paintings in 1 year. Rounding up, that's a $6 per hour education. (College is $500 per hour for 18 credits at $50k/year). Factor in all the art supplies we send you (included free with the tuition, worth $1k) and you are looking at a $3 per hour investment for a streamlined education that you have lifetime access to with 24-hour feedback on your painting assignments, in addition to being able to meet one-on-one with your instructors about your work or even career goals. Most other courses of this caliber take 4-5 years and require scholarships or debt... and don't have a money-back results guarantee. Another way to look at it - how many paintings you would need to sell to break even on the course? Selling 10 photorealistic paintings at the end of our program for $200 each would be a steal 🤔 At the end of the day, the tuition for Evolve is still an investment, and it's not for everybody. It just comes down to how to how serious you are about leveling up your skills, and how valuable your time is to you 😊

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

No worries Anna, free is what I try to do with my channel. I have maybe hundreds of hours of content and it won't cost you anything! This focused teaching definitely isn't for everyone. I'm glad you checked it out and my next free video will be here before you know it. Happy Painting!!

That's funny, they're so many of these on-line art teaching sites, and they all claim to be the best available right now..... they promise professionalism and all that we want to hear ....

@evolveartist

3 жыл бұрын

I can understand where you are coming from. There are a lot of art teaching sites and tutorials out there, and many artists have been let down by them in pursuit of a true education in art. And the success rate for students in art college is abysmally low for such a high investment. So we made the decision to build Evolve, which is founded on truly delivering student results. Everything that we do is for that purpose - the art supplies, the feedback, the accessibility to mentors, our results guarantee, etc. Through that, we hope to redefine art education and raise a new movement of highly proficient artists who can create art without limitations 😊

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

Yep, there are lots of them. Not all of them deliver what they promise, I get that you're skeptical as you should be! I was too. Some of them actually work though too. I never hear that there are too many colleges out there and all of them make promises. The more options out there doesn't mean that it limits you, it just gives you more choice. The best we can to, if we're in the market to take classes is to find one that teaches what we want to learn, includes the art supplies in the price, offers one on one teachers (who are professionals themselves) and social media support, and lots of videos to help you to learn and help you find work once you're through the program. This one is the one I've researched, participated in, and settled on as the one I would take if I was looking for advanced training.

@elanamarino2624

3 жыл бұрын

@@evolveartist way too expensive, and the art supplies are not needed. Also there's no explanation of what kind of brushes...paints and such. Everyone who has some feel ...likes to have their own brand of brushes...especially not ones that someone else chooses...without any pics nor explanations of what kind and such...the brand of paints..what colors how many and so om

@evolveartist

3 жыл бұрын

@@elanamarino2624 on our website we have an interactive picture of some of the supplies we provide (second page). For a more detailed overview, there are multiple unboxing videos from our students on youtube (which you can also find on our youtube channel). If you'd like to know how we chose our color palette, brush types or have any other questions, send us an email and we can give you all the details :) The program isn't for everyone - it was designed with the beginner in mind, and because we are dedicated to getting results for our students, it is important to us to make sure that they have everything they need to succeed :)

@AbiNomac

2 жыл бұрын

@@elanamarino2624 - you miss the point entirely and have underestimated the value in the course presented here.

skiping directly to light and shadows and painting with oil things you might not even be able to draw doesnt seem to be a good way to introduce this kind of course to complete newcomer. from a quick look it seems more focused on already advanced people to learn the medium of oil painting.

@evolveartist

3 жыл бұрын

Strange, right? The Evolve program once started in drawing, just like most art courses. But we found that we could get higher quality results from our students more efficiently by starting out with oil paint. From the materials we send to the exercises in the program, we made it so that you do not need to have drawing skills in order to start turning form and making realistic grayscale paintings. In that controlled environment without having to draw your own proportions / shapes, students significantly level up their quality control, which becomes their standard going forward, like a good habit that can't be shaken. Once our students have a solid understanding of how light and shadow, values and edges turn form to create the illusion of 3-dimensions, we then walk them through proportional drawing from direct observation. And the level of precision that comes out is so satisfying :) So, take a deeper look 😊We built our program with the complete beginner in mind, starting with how to hold a paintbrush and how to properly mix paint. Everything builds on top of itself, and comes together in the proper time to lay a foundation in art making that is solid and unshakeable.

NO Thanks for the 18 minute commercial.

@SteveAtkinsonFineArt

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Jack, thanks for the comment, it really is appreciated. I understand where you're coming from and though this program might not be what you're looking for, it might be just what some other people are. Not to worry though, I have lots of videos that are absolutely free in which I teach you what I know and it won't cost a dime. But, thanks for looking anyways. Paint on!!