if its not clear this class is closed, i'm not taking in more people... but feel free to browse
just in case anyone is wondering what this sub-subsection of the forum is about... basically the original mentoring thread got me thinking about mentoring and it somehow turned into this online class deal.
posting is restricted to the people in the class btw. this is a debatable decision but in the end i think it's the right choice. i hope people will still check out everyone's progress and provide moral support in each 'students' sketchbook.
oh and btw a big thanks to chaosrocks and davi for helping to get this section all set up.
the following is the original overlong e-mail i sent to prospective students:
first of all, i am looking at this whole thing as less of an individual mentorship and more like a class, so i guess you can consider it to be an 'online class' or somesuch. when my graduate school applications are complete i will be hitting various schools in the L.A. area for teaching positions. so this will be a kind of 'beta' for what i have in mind for a class in rl. whatever i brew up for this class has already been in my mind, if loosely, and undoubtedly what i learn from this will carry on to my future classes. so in that sense i have as much (if not more so) to gain from this as you do.
a class implies certain things, lectures, crits by both myself and students, homework, etc. i will probably give out assignments either weekly or biweekly, depending on the effort i see. i will give lectures as best as i can through essays and diagrams. this means a lot of reading may be involved. if you are afraid of reading please consider another mentor.
i've received some funny pm's with people saying they want to learn drawing, painting, color theory, anatomy, perspective, character design, how to cook an omelette, fix a flat tire, etc... c'mon guys,let's try and situate ourselves in something resembling reality! of course i will be attentive to whatever your interests/desires may be,but i am not a swiss army knife.
you can think of the class as having two sides. one side is the technical, academic stuff. since i'll be throwing a lot of theory/psychobabble at you, at the very least i want people to get some good technical information in case all else fails. i am a very big proponent of drawing and believe it's the basis for just about everything. that means the academic part of the homework will involve a lot of observational drawing, which you should be doing a lot of anyway. i have very specific feelings about this, almost to the point of being dogma. hopefully i will be able to reign in my 'beliefs' sufficiently .
the second half can be considered the 'creative side'. frankly, skills are the easy part. making creative decisions is where the real work and interest is. in addition to having technical homework, you will also have assignments that ask you to do 'personal work', whatever it is (it doesnt really matter what it is).
also, this whole thing will be viewable (but closed) to the public. if you are squeamish about having other people looking at you learn, bail out!
i'm talking to chaosrocks about possibly having a subsection devoted to this class but if that doesn't pan out, expect to register to a temporary forum i set up.
also, please understand what i am or am not capable of. if you're into digital environments... do you see any of that in my sketchbook? i have zero experience with digital artmaking! i'm probably not the person to talk to! (granted i'll have plenty to say about it hahaha) my sketchbook is the best representation of who i am, and if only a smidgen of it aligns with your interests, than perhaps i'm not your guy.
so in a nutshell:
*weekly or biweekly assignments. this means work. & deadlines. at artcenter each class meant 5 hours in class + 6 hours of homework. i dont see why it should be any different here... and since you don't need to worry about the commute, you'll need the time to put in 6 to 10 hours in the homework.
*lots of talking, lots of critiquing, lots of reading, by both me and you.
*not necessarily a lot of individual attention. i may NOT have the time to talk about 15 pieces of work each week. i may have to just select a few as 'examples'. but then again, maybe not. just expect to be flexible. there's a big difference between reasonable expectatations and entitlement.
*lots of talking, lots of critiquing by YOU on the behalf of OTHERS. this is the reason for a class in the first place. everyone needs to participate w/ their words in addition to their work.
*this will go on for a minimum of 10-15 weeks. depending on how much material i end up having. if you cannot sustain effort for this length of time, bail out.
finally, the big problem as i see it is people flaking out due to time, and real life issues. this is the internet after all.
to this i say: well, it's nothing personal. do the work, on time, and i will give my input. don't do the work, and i have nothing to talk about! again, it's nothing personal. you get what you put into it blah blah.
if you don't do the work temporarily, missing deadlines or whatever, but you don't want to give it all up, then you will be expected to 'catch up' to receive CURRENT crits. basically i WONT crit old work, but i'll need it done to crit current work.
last thing i'll say about that is this: treat this like a real class in a real building with a real teacher, instead of a fake one like me . behind the avatars lie real flesh and blood people, so i'm pretty much holding everyone up to that.
i'm not sure about class # size. i'm expecting about 30% of people to flake out during the course of the class. i'd like a minimum of 10 students so i guess i'll be taking up to 15.
you will be one out of ten or fifteen students. think about what this means. pros and cons. are you happy with 1/15th of my attention? how might you get more? would you be happy with less?
if you can't put in the 6-10 hours into the homework + crits etc.... no big deal. maybe next time. or maybe you'll be better served 'observing'. whatever works for you!
be honest about the workload. if you flake out you are depriving someone else.
thanks,
steve
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