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“To become the best, you must learn from the best.” That is the tagline for Schoolism’s new endeavor to make art education available and affordable for everyone.
Schoolism wants to offer art courses taught by seasoned professionals paid for with monthly online subscriptions instead of tuition.
Schoolism was started about eight years ago by Bobby Chiu, a professional artist and founder of Imaginism Studios. Chiu started out wanting to find a way for himself and other artists to learn from top professionals in the field. Schoolism offers online classes as well as live workshops around the world.
Now Chiu is looking to expand on what he started by making Schoolism courses even more affordable. Instead of students signing up for classes and paying for them individually, they can pay one monthly subscription and gain access to one class at a time. When students are finished with a class or want to change to a different one they can switch courses for a small $1 fee.
Subscriptions start at $10 a month. Classes consist of up to nine video lessons broken down into chapters. Subscribers can re-watch the videos as many times as they want and each lesson includes assignments to practice what was taught. The courses are self-taught and you learn at your own pace.
Chui has said that in order to keep subscription prices down Schoolism will need a minimum of a few thousand subscribers. To get the numbers needed, Chui is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for Schoolism, and has met with success. Schoolism has gained over 2,800 pledges and brought in over $397,000.
For more information on Schoolism check out the Kickstarter Video below.
There is also a premium-level option called a Critiqued Session. This allows you to submit your assignments and the course instructor will review your work and send back video feedback. Schoolism says course instructors will even paint over your work, highlighting areas that were positive, improved, needing work, or areas that should be focused on next.
The lineup of instructors at Schoolism is impressive. Courses are taught by professionals such as Alex Woo, a story artist at Pixar Animation Studios, and Jason Seiler, whose illustrations have been featured in publications like TIME magazine.
Not everyone is an aspiring artist, but Schoolism’s subscription based education for as low as $10 a month is an intriguing idea. It’s not a traditional institution aspiring artists can walk away from with a diploma. But to be able to learn new techniques from successful professionals is quite invaluable.
Image: Schoolism