Online Art Lessons

Online Art Lessons is a membership website of video art classes for hobby artists. The homepage welcomes "hobby artists who want to slow down, unwind, and learn how to draw and paint at their own pace", whether they are picking up a pencil for the first time or returning to a creative passion, and promises step-by-step video lessons in pencil drawing, watercolor, acrylic, oil painting and soft pastels, along with pen and ink. It is a learner product: you pay for a membership, follow the lessons on video, and post your finished artwork for feedback from tutors and other members. The site's copyright line names Paint Basket TV Ltd, and the help page explains that the team lives in New Zealand.

The class library

The homepage counts "380+ Courses & Projects", running from beginner to advanced. The membership page breaks this down as over 370 HD video class projects plus 12+ in-depth art courses. Classes are single projects, while the courses are described as in-depth. The library can be browsed by medium, subject, level or tutor, so you can "jump into the course that fits your next goal."

The featured classes show the range. In oil there are lessons on sunflowers, a butterfly and flower, a blue tit, a winter scene, impasto rocks, an abstract sunset and a raccoon. Pencil drawing covers realistic hands, a lion portrait, realistic glass, weathered textures, crosshatching and a hummingbird. Acrylic classes include realistic tree textures, an impressionist cat, a zebra and pointillism basics. Watercolor classes paint a heron and fish, lupines, a red fox portrait and a tall ship, with flowers in line and wash. Pastel lessons draw an egret, a stone bridge, a sunflower with a bee and a bald eagle, and pen and ink covers a farmhouse.

Free tutorials sit alongside the paid classes, on topics such as monochrome artwork basics, sealing, mounting and varnishing watercolor paintings, sketchbook ideas, narrative art, plein air painting and going from a side hustle to full-time artist. One of them, 100 Hot Drawing Ideas, is a long list of things to draw for when you cannot decide what to tackle next, with ways to turn each idea into many more and the reminder that what matters is to keep drawing.

How the lessons work

Every lesson is a follow-along. The membership page says the site shows "every brush stroke in real time", so you can paint or draw along "as if the tutor is sitting right next to you!" The classes are filmed with multiple cameras, and the palette and the reference photo are overlaid on screen while the tutor works. All videos have subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

Everything for a class sits on one page. The View Class page holds the video, the downloadable handouts (printable references and templates), the equipment list and a box for questions. Longer classes are split into shorter video modules, for example preparing the canvas, painting the background and then the focal point. The player remembers where you stopped, can jump back or forward 10 seconds, plays at slower or faster speeds (slower for painting along, faster for recapping), and lets you switch modules without leaving full screen. A wishlist lets you bookmark classes you want to come back to.

Videos stream only: the help page says downloads are not allowed for copyright and piracy reasons and the lessons cannot be watched offline, but as a paid member you can watch them as many times as you like.

Feedback and the community

Feedback is the part that sets this apart from watching videos alone. When you finish a class, you photograph your artwork (no larger than 1200 pixels on the longest side) and post it in the Ask a Question area under the class video, or in the forum, where each class has its own topic. The homepage promises "personal help when you need it", and the membership page describes a community of students and tutors who give you feedback and help you improve.

The site shows a real exchange as an example. A student named Elke posts a shaded sphere; tutor Nolan praises the tonal chart and asks for a more gradual transition between light and dark. When she reposts, he notes the difference is "like chalk and cheese", then suggests softening the far edge of the shadow by tapping it with a kneaded eraser, since a shadow fades as it recedes from the object.

Members' comments on the site describe the teaching style. Amy painted the highland cow from a tutorial in oils, entered it in the county fair and "won a blue ribbon." Martin writes, "I always feel relaxed when hearing you explain your processes", and credits the lessons with the push to take up drawing again after many years. Marilise writes that seeing hair painted and explained step by step left the feeling "Hey, with practice I can do this!"

Plans and payment

Online Art Lessons is sold only as a membership. The monthly plan is $19 a month until canceled, renewing automatically every month; it cannot be paused, but you can cancel from your profile page and rejoin later, though the help page warns that your courses may then restart from the beginning. The yearly plan is $149, paid once for 1 year of access; it does not recur, and once the year is up access closes until you pay again. The help page also describes a lifetime membership with access "for as long as the website exists with no further payments", though the membership page shows only the monthly and yearly plans. Both plans carry a "30 Day Money Back Guarantee".

Prices are in US dollars. The site accepts PayPal, credit cards and most debit cards with a Mastercard or Visa logo, and card payments are processed through Stripe. Individual classes are not sold here; the help page points to the sister website, Paint Basket, for buying classes one at a time.

Who it suits

Online Art Lessons suits hobby artists, from complete beginners to people returning to art after years away, who like to paint or draw along with a tutor at their own pace. Traditional media are the focus: pencil, soft pastel, oil, acrylic, watercolor and pen and ink. The forum feedback suits learners who want a tutor to look at their work without booking a live class, and the monthly plan lets a newcomer try the library before committing to the yearly one.

Learners who want to download videos for offline use will need an internet connection for every lesson, and anyone who only wants one or two specific classes is pointed to Paint Basket instead of a membership.