Experienced Digital Painter

Joe K.

Hi I’m Joe and I’ve drawn and painted digitally since 2008. My work includes realistic portraits and illustrations. I’ve taught digital art for two years now and have been teaching art in general for four years. My students include grade school to college level. I was accepted to School of Visual Arts and Ringling School of Art. The way I teach is to allow students to draw and paint whatever they want based on a reference image of their choice, and my role as a teacher is to help them study and copy it properly from the ground up. More advanced students are encouraged to draw and paint their own work and collect their own reference material. I have a free form style of teaching, helping students cultivate their own style and discuss who their artistic influences are and where they want their style to go. For example, a student primarily interested in landscapes or layouts would not need an overly thorough knowledge of anatomy. In my opinion, it is better to hit at the core of exactly what kind of art they want to make, so that they don’t waste their time and have more fun with their work. The class will be done through video conferencing such as Zoom, and the student can send a file to a shared folder for me to review. I will then offer constructive criticisms during the class. I will often work with the students on the same project to show how I would approach it.

While my style is more realistic, I’ve worked with students who prefer more cartoony and anime styles and have helped them to study and learn from their inspirations. The fundamentals of art are important to learn for any artist and they will add professionalism and skill in any style, such as an understanding of anatomy, form, color, values, composition, and shapes. It is the fundamentals that I will mainly teach and I will try to be hands off with their personal stylistic choices. Depending on their interests, I may talk about their art career ambitions.