My kids love to draw and create. Their love for art must come from my brother. He is an amazing artist. My niece is quite talented, as well. It boggles my mind how they can see an image in their head and translate that image with pencil, pen, or stylus. Seeing their talent at work confirms something for my own life. I am NOT an artist. I can draw a straight line with a ruler, but beyond that… Although I am not an artist, I do want to encourage my children to love art. Cue Sparketh. Sparketh is a subscription based website that offers a variety of art lessons online that are both appealing and fun.
Art Lessons Online
With over 500 video art lessons online, ranging beginner to advanced, Sparketh is sure to have a course your kids will enjoy. It is ideal for homeschool families or families with kids who just can't get enough art in their lives. With Sparketh, budding artists can learn perspective, how to draw and paint their favorite animals, and even create art style portraits. The lessons on Sparketh are taught by real artists (i.e. not by mom). Lessons can sorted by subject, skill level, and course type.
Art Lessons Online
My son chose the art style portraits track. The Art Style Portraits track has 14 courses. Each course has several videos, so this track has 100 videos!
The courses in the Art Style Portraits track are:
- Facial Proportions
- Minimalism Portrait
- Compliment Me
- Fauvism Portrait
- Pop Art Portrait
- Basic Watercolor Techniques
- Harlem Renaissance Portrait
- Manga Character
- Abstract Expressionism Portrait
- Basic Colored Pencil Techniques
- Impressionism Portrait
- Cubism Portrait
- Surrealism Portrait
- Realism Portrait
The courses can be completed sequentially or randomly. In some cases, it just makes sense to do them in order. For example, learning about facial proportions would help with all of the portraits, while learning basic watercolor techniques will help with completing the Harlem Renaissance Portrait.
Mister has really enjoyed the courses so far. He loves that he can pause a video, or back it up, until he's certain he understood and can complete what was explained. His only complaint is that there isn't a video game track. #sigh
I love that I can give my kids an art education at home without being an artist.
Art Lessons Online Tracks
While there isn't a video game track, there are 6 different “tracks” of instruction on Sparketh. Each track is a grouping of courses. This is nice because it enables students to enroll in the set of courses that are of interest to them, and keeps them all grouped together.
- Art Style Portraits – the Art Style Portraits track has 14 Courses and 100 Videos. This track enables students to learn how to draw portraits in different art styles
- Drawing Animals – the Drawing Animals track has 23 courses and 129 videos. Students learn to how to draw and paint some of their favorite animals with this track. It has lessons from beginner to advanced!
- Drawing Nature – the Drawing Nature track has 11 courses and 65 videos. With this track, students learn how to draw and paint the beauty of nature.
- Elements of Art and Design – the Elements of Art and Design track has 26 courses and 157 videos. This track teaches everything from types of lines to 3 point perspective.
- Three Step Creations – the Three Step Creations track has 10 courses and 40 videos. This track enables students to draw cool works of art in 3 quick steps.
- Yummy Food – the Yummy Food track has 9 courses and 45 videos. Students learn how to draw the food and meals that you love to eat in this track.
Art Lessons Online Subjects
Some students may prefer to select their courses by subject, rather than enroll in a track. This can be done easily by selecting from art, drawing, or painting in the navigation bar on the Sparketh Courses page.
Art Lessons Online Skill Level
Lessons are also segmented by skill level because Sparketh understands that skill level varies by student. Skill levels include beginner, intermediate, and advanced. There are currently 59 beginner level courses, 25 intermediate level courses, and 4 advanced level courses and new courses are added to the library weekly.
Art Lessons Online Course Types
Course types include activity, challenge, creative, project, and technical. You can also search by instructor or medium. Speaking of mediums, there are lessons in acrylic, charcoal, mixed media, pen, pencil (graphite and colored), oils, tape (yes, tape), and watercolor. It's an amazing art resource at their fingertips!
