Monday, December 2nd
2024 Painting Lesson Reviews
The Virtual Instructor
- $13.30/month or $67.90/year
- Learn to draw or paint
- Beginner and intermediate/advanced material
- Video and ebook lessons
- 7-day free trial
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Useful blog posts
- Fantastic student reviews
The Virtual Instructor is a course put together by artist Matt Fussell. He is a world renowned visual arts instructor who loved teaching and took to the internet to increase his reach to more students. The Virtual Instructor was created in 2009 and over 23,000 people have been a part of the membership program so far. Students can explore both drawing and painting through The Virtual Instructor and find beginner or intermediate/advanced materials to match their skill level.
Narrow by skill level
There is a variety of watercolor, oil, pastel, and acrylic painting courses from The Virtual Instructor. You can browse through the courses to see which one looks most interesting to you or use the filter features on the site to narrow down your best options. You can filter courses by drawing, painting, digital, beginner, or intermediate/advanced. The names of some of the painting courses include "Line and Wash”, "The Watercolor Workshop”, "The Oil Pastel Course”, "Jungle Path with Acrylics”, or "Oil Painting Master Series” among others.
Ebooks with each module
When you click on a course you're interested in, you'll be shown how many lessons are included and be able to review the course curriculum topics, read highlights of what you'll learn, and view snapshots of the ebook it comes with. The Virtual Instructor says that they've designed their course to accelerate learning by teaching in different styles. Each course module includes an ebook with clearly defined steps and illustrations with corresponding videos.
Buy a course or subscribe to all
The painting course lengths range from 1.5 hours with 7 lessons to 4.5 hours with 22 lessons. You can buy a course outright for $12 - $37 depending on how much material is included or have access to all the courses with your membership.
Monthly or yearly membership
At the time of this review, The Virtual Instructor had a banner on their website offering 20% off of any course with a provided discount code. The cost for a membership where you get access to everything on The Virtual Instructor site is $13.30/month or $67.90/year. Besides the courses we explored and the virtual ebooks they include, members also can join weekly live lessons where they can get real-time instruction and ask questions. These are saved for later streaming and you'll find over 490 of them online.
Free trial and money-back guarantee
If you're hesitant about signing up for The Virtual Instructor, you'll be pleased to hear that they offer a free 7-day trial. It includes access to everything on the site, and once the trial is up you'll automatically be billed for the plan you sign up for. Even after you've signed up and your plan has gone into effect, you are still eligible for The Virtual Instructor's 30-day money back guarantee. If you aren't completely happy with your subscription during this time, you can reach out to the company and get a full refund.
Explore free blog posts
On top of the courses from The Virtual Instructor, they have a fun and useful blog with articles about drawing specific things, the best erasers for sketch artists, the differences between pastels, tips and tricks for storing and protecting art, and instructions on how to paint a variety of objects and animals. This is free information that is worth exploring when you have some extra time on your hands.
Worth the money
Like many other painting courses, The Virtual Instructor has student testimonials on their website that sing their praises. Outside of this, we found that most everyone felt the course was well worth their money. People feel like no matter what you want to learn about, you'll find a video that covers it here. There are thousands of followers on The Virtual Instructor's social media sites and students are impressed with what they're offered through the courses. There is no Better Business Bureau rating for The Virtual Instructor, but that's not especially uncommon with small businesses like this.
Affordable and low risk
We really like that students have the option to purchase a single course outright with lifetime access or get a broad array of material with a subscription. Whichever route you choose, you won't be overspending here. You're getting a lot of bang for your buck, especially considering the free trial and 30-day money back guarantee. The Virtual Instructor offers a comprehensive learning experience and is a really safe bet for painting lessons. This is our favorite option among online painting lessons and has earned our highest rating.
More Painting Lesson Reviews
Where is the Best Place to Take Painting Lessons?
Painting is a beautiful, creative, artistic outlet. It gives you the ability to see a stunning nature scene and recreate it, use your own style to capture a moment in time, or pour your emotions into a project and make a visual representation of what is inside of you. It's one of the most calming and soothing hobbies you can take part in, leaving your mind and body grounded.
Finding someone who teaches painting in-person is much harder than finding a piano teacher or a dance class, so quite a few companies have created online programs for you to do from home. It's significantly less expensive than in-person lessons would be and you can go at your own pace, pause, or rewind different sections to hone in on a technique you're struggling with. You can do a few minutes at a time or spend hours on a masterpiece - it's up to you.
Painting Lesson FAQ
Continued from above...
Painting is great for people of any age to take part in. Whether you've got a finger-painting toddler or you're a retired professional exploring new hobbies, painting suits everyone. If you're like most of us, the majority of your artistic "training” and painting experience came through the classes you took in school while you were growing up.
Some of these may have even been mandatory, so you might not have appreciated them at the time. Unless you took extra painting credits, dove deep into all the episodes of Bob Ross you could get your hands on, or found a private studio that teaches classes, you may have hit a dead end in your training and are wondering what your options are.
Online painting lessons are as convenient as it gets. The class you choose can reflect the style you're interested in learning. If you're wanting to learn to draw people rather than nature scenes, you could find a class for this. Maybe you're interested in acrylics, watercolor, or oils specifically. There's a class for that too. With our help here, you'll be able to match yourself to online painting lessons that fit your experience level within just minutes. Before getting started, you'll likely be given a list of materials you need so that you can get your own in-home studio set up and ready to go.
We've done a lot of the important research regarding some of the best online painting classes available to you and recommend keeping the following things in mind when you're looking around:
- Art style. Are you looking for general education on painting so you can discover the type you like best? Do you want to dabble in all different styles and learn the basics of each? Or are you looking for something in particular? Explore the styles taught in the online classes and choose the one that piques your interest.
- Price. Although you're spending pennies on the dollar compared to private painting lessons, the cost is still a big consideration. Does the company offer a program with a one-time cost that you'll have lifetime access to? Or is there a subscription fee to continue your education month after month?
- Instruction type. Do you like the idea of a live masterclass that adds a personal touch to your training? Or do you prefer separate video lessons that you can progress with, pause, or reflect back on if you need to? Consider your preferred way of learning when choosing a painting program so that you get the most out of the lessons.
- Reputation. What have others said about the painting program? Does it have glitches or is it always running smoothly? Is customer service easy to work with if you need to cancel a subscription or have an issue with your account? What do students have to say about different instructors and what they've learned from them?
The experts at Top Consumer Reviews have researched the most popular online painting lessons available to you. We hope this information helps you find a company that accelerates your painting skills and gives you a relaxing, enjoyable experience!
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