About Our School

Why Our School Is Unique

Our Online Colored Pencil Painting School is a one of a kind institution.  Its curriculum is based on a unique method of teaching called online personal schooling specializing in newly developed techniques for colored pencil painting.

Though colored pencil has been around for a quite a while, its perception, as a fine art medium is comparatively new. For this reason, there is no existing educational coursework that is devoted specifically to colored pencil. And the instructional program that we use to teach colored pencil painting techniques simply does not exist outside of our school. The material developed by Alyona Nickelsen provides a simple, organized approach to all of the knowledge you will need to master colored pencil painting.

Modern Classical Atelier

Our school is modeled on the concept of master-apprentice relationships common in the Renaissance period atelier art schools. We have taken the idea from the great masters and integrated it with teaching techniques made possible by the application of modern technologies to the same classical relationship.

It is well known that the Renaissance masters’ long-term relationship approach of teaching provided unique possibilities for their students to possess the entire range of knowledge involved in all stages of classical artwork creation. Students learned every intricacy of the process due, quite simply, to the physical presence associated with living within the master’s studio for several years. However, this method had its limitations. It bound the field of students to those who could attend for such a long term in a studio that was limited by the master’s own resources and geographical location. Also, the time involved in study was stretched over a period of years and was not completely devoted to the learning process itself.

Today, modern technology resolves any and all issues concerning geographical location providing instant (verbal and visual) communication with the instructor no matter where on the surface of the earth the class is located. With the help of a computer communication is instant regardless of the distance.

These circumstances present us with an entirely different opportunity than would otherwise be possible. New tools allow us to create a condensed version of the classical atelier method with virtually no limitations, completely devoted to the exciting fine art medium of today – colored pencil.

Online Personal Schooling Versus Short-Term Workshop

At the Online Colored Pencil Painting School, our teaching techniques create an attractive alternative to the one, two or three day-workshops so popular today. We have listed some of the competitive advantages below.

One, two or three-day workshops, as defined, cannot possibly provide students with the in-depth knowledge they require. The maximum benefit possible in such a short exposure is simple information about the materials used for the process and brief explanation of their application.

• The duration of most workshops seldom allows time for students to finish the project they started so that the instructor can comment and hopefully improve their approach. And later, when students are working and practicing on their own and developing questions, the teacher is no longer available and probably is not even in the same city. The factual role of any teacher is to answer questions developed during the process. It is thus that they are converted into the simplified role of demonstrator or lecturer in the workshop environment.

• The practical portion of the workshop format creates even more inconvenience for some students who have the personal preferences to practice in privacy and in their own way: either to dedicate the whole day to the project or work in segments.

• Moreover, traditional workshops do not allow individuality in art instruction. All attendees regardless of their level of expertise share a specific set of information. If the instruction were to present a more extensive explanation of a subject it would require the other students to comprehend and keep up as the workshop progresses. Since all of us learn at different rates, individual needs would normally be addressed later in higher priced personal one-on-one tutoring. The cost of the workshop and the inconvenience of the traveling involved are also significant.

The Colored Pencil Painting program solves all of these problems and satisfies all of these needs for a fraction of the cost associated with traditional personal tutoring.

The Colored Pencil Painting Program

• We supply our students with samples of all necessary materials in the week prior to the beginning of the instruction. This helps you on several fronts. It prevents any problems caused by dissimilar brands and types of paper, pencils, solvents, etc. For the same reason we pay special attention to the selection of colored pencils participating in a specific course so that they match the quality and variety required to complete the coursework. The cost of materials is included in the cost of the course tuition.

• Lecture materials for every week of the monthly course are supplied on DVDs. In this manner students can review the presentation material as long as they need and as many times as necessary.

• Weekly practical assignments are supplied together with a deadline for submission. This provides certain flexibility for the students inside of the learning framework and the structure of a formal schedule.

• Submission of completed weekly assignments, and teacher’s review and comments are all provided via continuous email communication.

• Weekly live online seminars – called Webinars are limited to a small group of attendees and provide instant visual and verbal answers to all questions developed by students. Participation includes students who are studying the same lecture material and using the same art material in the same assigned projects. An access code for each seminar is provided to the student in accordance with the course schedule.

• For students with previous art experience, we offer them the opportunity during enrollment to submit 3 personal works for evaluation. This review is performed by the staff and provides the teacher with an understanding of the individual’s level of expertise. They will also assist the staff in evaluating the progress of the student upon the completion of the coursework.

• The area of interest for each student certainly plays a significant role in the study process. However, introductory topics such as learning basic pencil application, color mixing, compositional rules, etc. should not be over complicated. For example, the intricacies of human anatomy have been excluded from our basic program. To this end our first three courses are devoted to the complete mastery of colored pencil as a medium. Additional subject oriented courses will be available subsequently. These will apply to more advanced topics such as rendering animals, human portraits and figures, etc. with colored pencil painting techniques.

Please refer to the course descriptions for more detailed information, requirements and enrolment.