With an abundance of art tutorials available online, many assume that they can learn or teach art by following step-by-step tutorials. However, tutorials can only provide knowledge of creating a specific artwork and not the fundamental skills required for becoming a successful artist.

Are you among the many aspiring artists who turn to art tutorials for learning or improving their skills? Do you rely on step-by-step tutorials to teach your students how to create artwork? Are you using tutorials to plan what to teach your students?

If yes, then it's time to rethink your approach.

Art tutorials can be useful for learning new tricks or tips, but they are not an effective method for learning or teaching art. The primary reason for this is that tutorials are often focused on creating a specific end result, such as beautiful artwork. While it may help you create that artwork, it won't give you the knowledge and skills needed to replicate the process and apply it to create different artworks.

Furthermore, tutorials cannot replace the fundamental skills required for becoming a successful artist. Without knowledge of color mixing, color theory, principles of drawing, and other basic skills, completing countless tutorials will not make any difference.

As an experienced art teacher, I have encountered many students who have been taught by teachers relying on step-by-step tutorials. Some even tell me that their teacher has been completing their artwork for them or telling them step by step what colors to add to their painting!

Teaching the process of completing artwork and explaining the why and how of what you are doing is much harder than teaching a step-by-step artwork. But think about how much better off the student will be if the teacher actually explained why and how to mix the colors needed in their artwork!

When I started teaching art, I found it challenging to find resources that would teach the methods and processes of the fundamental skills of art. Instead, all I could find were step-by-step tutorials on how to draw specific objects.

This approach did not align with my vision of teaching art, as I knew it was not the right approach to learning and I would be stuck in a rabbit hole of constantly having to find new ideas for tutorials. 

So, I created a method that would break down every part of drawing and painting that I felt was important for an aspiring artist to know and planned out my art curriculum this way. I then adapted this method for different age groups and taught it to my students.

I never drew or painted on my students' artwork, and I had to be clear in telling them how they could complete their artwork. 

Giving up control over the final outcome of my student's artwork was scary, but it allowed them to develop their skills and approach art as a learning experience rather than just creating beautiful artwork. The results were amazing, and over the years, I have seen so much success and joy from giving this gift to others.

I also thought that the parent' of my students would not realize that I had a slightly different approach to teaching art, but to my surprise, they actually noticed and were very grateful. I ended up with my classes being filled to the max because even though most of the parent's did not understand art, they knew I was teaching my students lifelong skills in art. 

So, the next time you are tempted to learn from an art tutorial, make sure you have a solid foundation of the fundamental skills of art or that the instructor is explaining the why of what they are doing.

And if you're a teacher, consider bringing more of the "how" and "why" when demonstrating to your students how to complete an art project. This approach will help your students understand what they are doing and enable them to approach art as a learning experience that they can use again and again.

Would you like to learn how to plan, teach and create an art curriculum that works? Click here to watch our free masterclass to create your dream art curriculum.