Art scares me! Ok, I said it; so, having the opportunity to bring art to our homeschool by someone who is not only NOT scared of art but is GREAT AT IT is exactly what we need. We recently had the opportunity to review the Monthly Plan to Creating a Masterpiece and it is EXACTLY what we needed!
WHAT IS IT?
Creating a Masterpiece is an online art program website available for all levels – beginner to advanced. If you are looking for a homeschool art program then Creating a Masterpiece might be what you are looking for to help in your homeschool.
The art lessons are divided by level (beginner through Level 5) and can also be sorted by medium (i.e. pastels, pencil, ink, watercolor). There is even a section on Art in History where students can find art projects sorted by historical time periods.
HOW IT WORKS
The lessons vary in difficulty and time commitment, even within each level. For instance, a Level 1 lesson may require on lesson to move through or might be 3 or 4 lessons for one project. This is the same for each level.
To work through the program, you subscribe to the online art program and then begin. You have access to all levels. You can start at the Beginner level or start with more advanced if you have a more advanced artist. Also, if you have a particular medium your student is wanting to learn, you can find lessons on these as well.
The mediums that are used in this program are BROAD. Here is just a sampling (not all inclusive):
- Watercolor
- Oil
- Glass Mosaic
- Copper Tooling
- Silk Painting
- Soft Pastel
- Woodburning
- Ink
Once you choose where to start (we started on Level 3 for Pencil Drawing and Beginner for Watercolor Painting based on my 12-year old daughter experience), you click on the project that looks interesting. You do not necessarily have to go in any particular order.
Each lesson has several components.
#1 – A photo of the completed project and a brief summary of the artist and the project including the medium utilized and the setting if applicable. Also included is what you will learn in the lesson. For instance, here is a quote of what your student will learn in a Level 2 acrylic painting project.
You will learn important basics such as positioning items in your picture to create a good composition, the process of painting with perspective in mind, how to mix the acrylic paints to get the color you want and how to paint the reflections in water.
After the description you will have the links to the lessons included in the project. Again, depending upon the level of the project it may be 1 lesson or even 7 lessons to complete the project.
#2 – Video Lesson – Each lesson link contains a video lesson with the artist showing the student step-by-step how to move through the project.
#3 – Supply List – A supply list necessary for the project is listed below each lesson.
#4 – Helpful Tips – Each lesson includes Helpful Tips that gives students tips about the lesson.
#5 – Lesson Highlights – Each lesson has Lesson Highlights where progressive photos of the project are shown for reference.
#6 – Downloads – This section, included with each lesson. It has a button for downloading a high resolution photo of the completed project, a button to print a pdf of the supply list for the lesson, and a button to order supplies for the lesson.
#7 – Advanced Applications – This section is pretty cool. It includes actual student images of projects that are the lesson or using the same medium and principles learned in the lesson.
There are different numbers of lessons in each medium available. For instance, there is only one lesson in glass mosaics however there are 5 in acrylic painting and 8 lessons in watercolors.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Overall, I think the setup is great and the lessons are easy to use. The site is very user-friendly and there is a large variety of projects. My daughter loved that she could choose from a variety of projects.
She really enjoyed the lessons and sometimes, unless it was necessary for drying time, she went ahead and did several lessons at a time.
I think this is an excellent way for an older student to explore their desire to learn and improve their art skills and a great way for younger students to have art lessons when the family doesn’t have a lot of art background. For me, I could learn a lot from the lessons and doing one with my younger son was so much easier using the videos.
You can see my daughter’s completed Level 1 Watercolor in the opening photo above. Here she is working on it!
Be sure to check out Creating a Masterpiece on Facebook and visit their website. And click the banner below to see what the rest of the Homeschool Review Crew has to say about Creating a Masterpiece.
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