We recently opened the doors to Castle Arts Academy, a brand-new online learning platform designed for all artists. Whether you’re a complete beginner or getting back into creating, it’s the perfect place to learn new skills and join a supportive community of like-minded artists.
Want to learn more? Check out our Introduction to Castle Arts Academy, where you’ll find everything you need to know about how the platform works and the five free courses currently available to help you get started.
All of the Academy’s free courses and weekly mini masterclasses are led by our very own expert artists – Stephen Simpson, Hannah Thorpe, and Paige Webb. To help you get to know them better, they’ve answered some of your top questions about art, the creative process, and what you can expect from their online lessons.
Watch the full Q&A session in the video below!
What’s the best advice you have for beginners who don't know where to start?
Stephen: Just start, would be my advice. The hardest thing to do is to just start a painting or a drawing, but as soon as you make that first mark, I think that relieves all the pressure. And then the second and third mark follow on quite easily.
So, the hardest bit is just starting, but my advice is just start – as easy as it sounds!
What would you say is the best way to improve your art skills?
Hannah: Practice, practice, practice. We say it all the time, and that applies whatever level you are as an artist, whether you're an absolute beginner or a professional. The more you do, the more easily it comes.
Try new mediums, join a nice supportive community like ours, ask people around you their opinions and see what they think about it. Just do as much as you possibly can, and it'll just come a bit more naturally.
Stephen: Good answer.
Hannah: Thanks!
How do you stay motivated when you're facing a creative block?
Paige: For me, lots of cups of tea. Go for a wander, get yourself out and about in nature, and just get back into it.
Stephen: Having a break from your work.
Paige: Have a break, take a hot minute, and have a cup of tea.
Stephen: Coming back with a fresh set of eyes is always good advice.
Paige: Exactly that. And kind of just force yourself back into it. Just go for it.
Stephen: Yeah – limiting yourself on time as well. So if you just say, I'm going to do the next 20 minutes and that's all I'm going to do, that's always a good way. Like, giving yourself an allotted amount of time to do your work.
Paige: I agree with that.
Hannah: And actually, just get drawing. There are times when you might not feel like it, or you want to do something but you don't know where to start. Just draw or paint and just get those marks down. And sooner or later, that flow starts and I find it bit easier. I don’t know whether that works for other people—
Stephen: Yeah, yeah.
Hannah: —but just not overthinking it.
Does it matter what level the artist is when it comes to completing your courses?
Stephen: No. Our courses that are on the Academy at the moment are all aimed at beginners, so we cover all the basics.
That being said, I think they're suitable for everyone – it’s always good to have a refresher. We cover lots of things that you might have forgotten, so I know in the graphite pencil course we cover perspective, and a lot of people who are accomplished drawers sometimes struggle with perspective, so it's nice to brush up on that.
I think every course has something useful for everyone really, even if it's just a refresher course.
How many courses are you going to be offering?
Stephen: So right now on the platform, we've got 5 courses and just over 50 lessons.
And every week from now, we're going to be releasing a brand-new video on the platform, and a bit of an exclusive… Hannah?
Hannah: We're going to be starting with a tutorial on how to draw an eye in coloured pencil. Just some hints and tips on how to make a natural-looking eye in about an hour.
Stephen: So that'll be the first video that's released, and then every week after that we'll be releasing a brand-new video.
A bit of a fun one: if you could only use one colour for the rest of your lives, what would it be?
Paige and Hannah: Prussian Blue!
Stephen: Burnt Sienna for me.
Can I ask why?
Paige: It's such a rich colour, isn't it?
Hannah: Yeah, it’s really intense.
Paige: It's so pigmented. Beautiful colour. I say it all the time in the courses.
Hannah: Me too!
Paige: It's my favourite colour.
Stephen: For me, it’s Burnt Sienna. It's in oil paints, I use it all the time. Because you’ve got that range – you can dilute it down to make it really glow. So it's got a real thin translucence. It’s got that luminosity about it in the oil paint, but equally, you can use it thick and it’s got a real dark value. So yeah, it’s versatile.
What's your favourite art tool or material that you can't live without?
Paige: Mine is a fan paintbrush that I've had for about 20 years, and I will find a way to incorporate it in pretty much any oil painting that I do. It is a beautiful, old, rusty paintbrush.
Stephen: I thought you were going to say your paint palette, that’s well old.
Paige: Gosh yeah, the paint palette, which I use all the time, don't I? It is mountainous, that thing.
Stephen: For me, I think a tool I can’t live without is a palette knife for mixing oils, applying paint. I think I'd struggle if I could only use brushes, so, a palette knife.
Paige: You love a palette knife, don’t you?
Hannah: Graphite pencil for me. I always take a pencil with me on holiday, I always sketch, although I don't use them when I'm painting at all. And if I'm allowed a second one, I have got a very large round watercolour brush which I completely love.
We'll let you have two.
Hannah: Thank you!
Does the paper size and/or type matter?
Hannah: Yeah, it does. It does for me. I think when you're really starting out and you're using things like graphite, then it's fine to just do it on printed paper if that's all you've got to hand.
The more you do, the more you realise that actually the papers are geared towards the medium that you're working in. So yeah, I think it's helpful.
And I also think it's helpful for me to work big and not always be working cramped. So little sketches and things I would do in smaller sketchbooks or smaller pieces of paper, but if I start to get really stuck into something, the temptation is always to go quite small and I prefer to work a little bit larger. I think you can be a bit more expressive. So yeah, it does matter.
Stephen: Yeah, definitely. It depends what you're what you're working on as well – in the graphite pencil course, I do a warmup exercise that's a continuous line drawing. I wouldn't really encourage anyone to use good quality paper to do that.
But if you're spending an hour or two hours on a drawing, then it's worthwhile investing in some decent paper that's going to help you and make your drawing the best it can be.
Paige: Especially with watercolour as well, it needs something that’s going to carry your medium. So watercolour paper is geared specifically to hold that amount of water.
If you're looking at creating a new piece of art from scratch, where do you start and how do you approach it?
Paige: Start by getting rid of the white canvas. I don't know if anyone else is the same.
Hannah: Yep.
Paige: Strike out the white. To me, a pure white canvas is horrifying. So tone the canvas, get rid of the white, and whilst you're toning it, you've already started painting, so you're already going. Just carry on – keep going for it.
Stephen: Yeah, it's similar to the first question about advice for beginners. Just start, just make that first mark, and then you're on your way.
Hannah: And find something that really inspires you. If you're looking at something or bringing something to mind that you're not bothered about…It's just much easier to do it if you've got inspiration and something that means something to you – say, a photograph of somewhere special, nice light on an object, or a still life or something – it’s much easier to get going if you feel inspired.
Paige: I call it an arty itch. You get an arty itch, and you have to scratch it, don’t you?
Hannah: Yeah, you do!
Finally, what advice would you give to someone who wants to make art their career?
Hannah: Be brave. Be prepared to take criticism on the chin, learn from it, and not be put off by it. And be prepared to ask people's opinions as well, but also not to be completely deterred by them.
Stephen: Yeah, I echo pretty much what Hannah's just said. Don't be afraid to put your work out there. And I think it's easy to forget that all professional artists were beginners. So we all were like total novices at one point. So, yeah, just show your work, get some feedback, improve.
Paige: I agree, completely agree with all of those.
Stephen: Took all your points.
Paige: You did take all my points!
Get started today with free, beginner-friendly art courses
Feeling inspired? We’d love for you to check out the Academy and have fun exploring new techniques and developing your art skills.
With five free courses across drawing, colouring, and painting plus new free content added every week, there’s always something exciting to learn. Sign up to Castle Arts Academy today!
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