The Wonderful Word for This Wednesday is “Tutorials”

Do you ever find yourself scrolling endlessly through your Instagram feed and sending your like minded friends ideas or funnies?

Well, my friend Miki recently send me this :

Doesn’t that look like fun to paint?!  We thought so!  We put our calendars together and the other night she came over with some wine and art supplies and we commenced eating pizza, drinking wine, and playing art.  It was not a tutorial, but a style that we both loved and wanted to try out.  Thank you Beth Nadler for your inspiration!  By the way, you can find more of her work on Instagram and her website.

As we played with our watercolors, we chatted about creativity, etc. and she asked me a very big question, “What is your philosophy about tutorials?”

It was past 8:00pm so my wisdom and my words were in hibernation.  My reply was something like, “It’s how we learn, it’s YouTube Academy!”(by the way, this is not a real thing, it’s just a cheeky name for learning through YouTube that I heard someone say once).

We bid farewell, she went home and I snuggled up with my youngest to watch our show, Young Sheldon.  If you haven’t watched it, you should!  It’s so very clever.  Okay, back to the subject at hand, tutorials.

The next morning, I thought again about that question and realized I had a LOT to say about this.  Mornings are when my brain is working best.  So here goes….

Tutorials are Essential

How else are we going to learn?  Would I like to spend thousands of dollars and go back to school for a fine art degree?  NOPE.  Therefore, YouTube academy it is.

No dispute here, we must learn from others who have gone before us, one way or another.  We can pay and/or do it for free!

By exploring YouTube Academy we find the style we like and we learn how to do it.   It really is that simple.  Furthermore, we find ‘our people’ and we support individuals who are taking time to put together these helpful tutorials and sharing all of their secrets!

Also, all the greats learned from studying and copying those who had gone before them!  It was MUCH harder back then, but they did it.

How to think about tutorials

First of all, do NOT feel guilty that you are ‘copying’.

There is this feeling of shame out there, when someone compliments a piece of art we made from a tutorial.  We hang our heads and admit, “well, I did this from a tutorial”, as if it was ‘less than’.  Instead, let’s say something like, “Right?  Isn’t it beautiful?!  I learned this from ____”.

The truth is, every time I teach a group of people how to do a painting, the SAME painting, each and every one is vastly different from the next.  As humans we are unique and without even trying, we WILL put our own personality into our art.

Also, why else are there THOUSANDS of tutorials people have taken the time to film and share?  They are there for us to consume and learn.  It’s an amazing time right now when there is so much at our fingertips with just a click.

Think, “I am learning how to do the kind of art I’m drawn to”.

Think, “I can take the things I like and make them my own”.

Think, “I can discard ideas or techniques I do not resonate with”.

Think, “I will follow this tutorial step by step the first time, then I will incorporate the ideas I like into my own unique art”.

Think, “I just discovered an amazing tip for getting ____ effect!”

Think, “I’m so thankful these people put countless hours into sharing HOW to do the beautiful work they create”.

Insights from one who creates tutorials and teaches others

I LOVE teaching others how to do the things I’ve figured out on my own.  I’ve spent countless hours creating classes, videos, and BLOG tutorials that I want people to read/watch/do.  As many people as possible!  The biggest compliment is when I get a response from someone who has created something from a tutorial I shared and shared with me their work.

I feel so incredibly happy when someone tells me that it spurred them into their own creativity.  Really, it doesn’t get better than that for me.

I spend exactly ZERO time worrying that someone will ‘copy’ me.  I know (from copying others) that the people learning from me will just go and make it their own.  You will do this by default because you are UNIQUELY YOU.

In case you’d like to see one of my most professional video tutorials I’ve ever made, here is a link to a class I made for Skillshare: Simple and Elegant Watercolor Cards for Beginners and Beyond

If you watch it and like it, let me know!  Follow me on Skillshare.  I plan to do more, but they are VERY time consuming and these days I don’t have much of that!

Rules

These are obvious, but bear repeating:

Do NOT

• post the art you made directly from a tutorial on social media as if it was your own.
• try to sell the art you made directly from a tutorial.

DO

• give credit to the one who taught you
• frame your art and put it up in your home
• give it away to family or friends
• take all the bits and pieces you’ve learned from several others and make something uniquely yours
• Continue learning from those who have gone before you!

Our Masterpieces

We had so much fun!  Here are our ‘final’ masterpieces:  (Miki says she’s not sure she’s finished, just fyi.  I put mine in a frame to stop myself from adding more and more and ruining it!)

In Conclusion

Let’s let go of any guilt we have from following tutorials.  We do not need this in our lives friends!

Let’s embrace the times we live in, and support those who work hard to put these tutorials out in the world!

Let’s not pretend that taking tutorials is ‘just for now, until I can do it all on my own’.  Hopefully you believe, as I do, that there is always more to learn.  I do not intend to forego tutorials at any point.  Sometimes, I just want to be told what to do and do it and get a beautiful result!  TUTORIALS FOR THE WIN!

Okay my beautifully unique friends, go forth and learn from tutorials guilt free!  Share your work with the creator of said tutorial!  Have fun.

Kimberly Snider, Virtuoso, signing off