Tag Archives: Jake Parker

WHAT TEACHING ART HAS GIVEN ME

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Teaching art was scary at first


I’ve been teaching on and off now for the past 20 plus years. At first I was petrified. In fact I really feel sorry for the first students I had back in the early 90’s at BYU – I wasn’t very good at my craft which caused my teaching to suffer. I hadn’t put in enough time to formulate my opinions about image creation. 

Be committed to your students and your Art craft. 

Fast forward to the present – boy am I glad I didn’t quit after those first few teaching experiences! I strongly believe in exposure therapy. Afraid to skydive? Go skydiving, still afraid? Go a bunch of times. Afraid of a tax audit? Good you should be, don’t mess with the IRS. But,  I really believe that if you’re committed to helping your students learn it will improve your understanding of the subject 10 fold – especially in a subjective subject like art.

The Process

You do something that’s working in your painting. You have to explain it to someone else. You have to formulate words to describe your process. You hear your own words like you’ve never heard them before. You make a stronger connection. You make other connections with other principles. You now have to live by those principles for accountability to your students. Your art making improves. Apply, Rinse & repeat.

Making a difference in the lives of others is priceless.

But it doesn’t stop there. Because as you help someone else attain the satisfaction you have gained you are rewarded emotionally as well. The connections are so much a part of the teaching. Feeling like you can make a difference in the lives of others is priceless. I have made many friends over the years from some of my former students- and can you have too many friends?
And it doesn’t stop there either because it has helped me heal. I’ve talked about my horrible public school experience as a child on my other blog in the past so I won’t go into it again – but finding what you’re good at and feeling valuable doing it has been very therapeutic.I can’t begin to tell you how rewarding it has been to teach at UVU and be able to start Folio Academy with Wayne Andreason and now SVS with Jake Parker. To be able to dream up a class and offer it online is such an amazing turn for me. When we get together the ideas just start flowing and we think of all kinds of classes. Early next year we plan to offer a  “Luminous Color & Light” class. You can check out our Digital Painting class here.

My suggestion to artists:

Start by mentoring another artist or volunteer at a community art program. Donate your time at various art events and offer pointers. Work to learn. You’ll be amazed at how it will inspire you to want to create more…and you might find yourself teaching at an institution or online sometime down the road. The world is getting connected and if you embrace it – it will embrace you.

ONLINE CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION CLASS – SOLD OUT

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Online Children’s Illustration Class – Update

Jake and I are so pleased that our FULL class has SOLD OUT – but we still have the LITE class available for $150. We are humbled to realize that artists all over the world trust us to share what we’ve learned about creating illustrations for stories like children’s books and comics. What is possible today wasn’t possible only a few years ago and it is my belief that we will find learning online more and more common in the coming years. I believe that is why FolioAcademy is doing so well. To think that we can broadcast from our little town in Utah USA to anywhere in the world is mind blowing and proves that if you work hard and dream BIG you can do it! The little map above shows how spread out our current enrollment is to date – but it’s still growing!

FAQ’s:

How long will I be able to purchase the LITE version of the class? We will keep the video only version of this class available until July 10th 2013- the last day of the LIVE class. If you want to watch all of these classes – get the details by clicking here.

What format will the LITE class be in? The LITE version of the class will be in an MP4 or WMV file or both.

If I buy the LITE class how long can I view it? If you purchase the LITE class you will be given a download link to have the complete video files on your computer for as long as you like.

Will I get any feedback with the LITE version? No – we produced two price points to account for the time we will spend with FULL version participants – the LITE class will deliver the recorded version of the FULL class without the critiques, class questions, draw-overs, and skype call.

What materials will I need for either the LITE or FULL class? The assignments we will give will all require drawing instruments like copy paper and pencils (or tablet with drawing program). Adding color to your assignment is optional. You could use Acrylic, Oil, Pastel, Watercolor, Gouche, Ink, or Digital. I advise my students to avoid colored pencil unless it’s mixed with an aqueous media like Watercolor because it takes a tremendous amount of time to build up color while controlling texture. Most illustrators avoid it as a stand alone medium for this reason.

If you have any other questions pertaining to the class I welcome them and will add them to this list if they are pertinent to participants.

Story Art Class for the Picture Book Illustrators

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I, Folio Academy Artist/Instructor, Will Terry & Jake Parker will teach a Story Art Class

We are making a list and will give advanced notice to those of you who want to sign up. Simply leave your email address in the comments section below or email me privately and I’ll put you on the list. These people will get first crack at the sign up when we launch the website. No obligation however if you’re on the list – you will just get an email with the link to the class site.

Ok – so here’s the info:

I’m going to be team teaching this class with Jake Parker! THE JAKE PARKER! This guy is amazing – he’s worked on feature films and comics as well as picture books – not to mention coming off of an amazing Kickstarter raising $85,000 for his Antler Boy book! (Don’t tell anyone – but I’m more excited to learn from him probably than anyone else!)

Where: On your computer
When: Every Mon. and Wed. at 7:00PM – 9:00PM MST Starting June 10th and ending July 10th
Duration: 5 weeks = 10 classes
How much? This will be announced on the website but it will be a fraction of what a college class costs and I think extremely reasonable for what you will get.

Each class will be recorded and you will be able to watch it at your convenience – so if you have to miss a class you can still watch the presentation although you will miss out on asking questions.

In addition you will get a follow up Skype call at the end of the class to go over anything you want -concerning your work or portfolio.

Each class has been carefully thought out and the schedule will be posted on the website.

I’m just bursting – this is going to be so much fun!