
SkillShare Premium enables the user to take online courses from professional artists. You can follow along with video demonstrations then publish your own work to the SkillShare class community. I have had a SkillShare Premium paid account for two months. I have used it rather extensively so I feel comfortable creating a review. Overall, I have enjoyed my SkillShare experience. I wanted some more specific information on skills such as color mixing. YouTube has lots of great “follow along as I paint” type videos but it lacks instruction on the fundamentals I was looking for. That said there are tons of great vlogs on YouTube to get you started and I recommend going there initially especially if you are short on funds. I will write up a comprehensive post on which channels I found the most useful very soon.
On to SkillShare. I will give a pros and cons list as well sharing the projects I did from my favorite classes.
Pros:
- Asynchronous Classes – Classes are video recordings you can watch on your own schedule.
- Professional Artists with a talent for instruction – Not everyone can teach what they know well. My favorite Skillshare instructors are all very good teachers!
- Affordable – I got the yearly plan which is just under $9.00 USDA a month
- Lots and Lots of Content! – I have a growing class list that I can’t seem to put a dent in. Extensive library on digital illustration, drawing, inking, watercolor, oil painting, art business, marketing, and more
- Video tutorials are short – Lessons are chucked into short segments
- Video quality is high – I have completed 20+ classes now and found most of the videos to be well edited and good quality
- Instructor feed back happens – Most of the instructors will leave comments on student projects and will answer questions in the course community. (Emphasis on the word “most” as in not “all”.)
- Project sharing – You can upload your projects and view other student’s work.
- App – You can download classes to your mobile device for offline viewing.
Cons:
- Billing – I have read several negative reviews stating that it is hard to cancel the service. Also, several customers complained they did not receive a warning email after their free 30 days was up their credit cards were just charged.
- Asynchronous Classes – Just have a realistic expectation of what you are buying with SkillShare. This is not the same thing as taking a live online class from a professional artist. Generally, students have a rather extensive level of contact with the instructor and sometimes live classes include a portfolio review. You won’t get that with SkillShare, however, live online classes can run into the hundreds even thousands of dollars. Skillshare is less than ten dollars a month if you go with the annual subscription. I don’t feel ready for such a heavy investment that live courses cost yet so Skillshare is a nice option for me and my pocketbook. But, I am taking a hard look at https://www.svslearn.com/ and http://vilppuacademy.com for next year. I will do a write up if I take the plunge next summer.
- Doesn’t have everything – Skillshare is weak on some of the media I love such as Pastels. So if you looking for something specific make sure they have it before signing up.
- 1-800-? -As far as I can tell there is no 1 800 number to call if you have an issue you will have to fill out their help form.
- App – The app does not enable you to view other students’ class projects
- It is not entirely clear if the Artists are paid fairly. More about that here.
- Some of the classes don’t have quality teachers – but it is easy to avoid these by looking at the reviews or lack there of.
Other:
- Help – I can’t comment on their responsiveness to their help form as I have not had a need to fill it out
- Scholarships – They do seem to offer them but I have not investigated it.
Bottom Line:
I have enjoyed my Skillshare subscription and consider it to be a good value.
My favorite classes so far:
Anyone Can Water Color by Yasmina Creates
and
Watercolor Magic: The Basics of Color Mixing and Color Harmony
The Anyone can Watercolor class is a great introduction to beginning watercolor and is the first SkillShare course I took. It was also my first experience with watercolor. I recommend anything taught by Yasinma she is fun to learn from. Her classes are short, cute, and joyful. She is also self-taught so I think she understands better what people like me are looking for in Art Instruction.
Modern Watercolor Techniques: Beginners Level by Ana Victoria
and
Watercolor and Mixed Media
If you’re looking for new and different watercolor exercises these are the classes for you. Ana does a lot of “spacey” type art so she is right up my alley!
INKING CUTE ANIMALS: Explore the Ways of Traditional Illustration I by Sova Huova
I recommend all of the courses in this three part series. The instruction includes ink, water color, and gouache. Here are some of my projects from them.
If I peaked your interest click the link below to help support this site. Happy art journey!
so colorful 😍😍😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for sharing! You’re amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks 😊
LikeLike