It would be fun to make a video showing my journey and the journey of other artists! In the meantime we have some blog posts about artists in the evolve program. Here's the article on me (Daniel): evolveartist.com/meet-the-evolve-artist-daniel-folta/

Thank you Assiya! Means a lot 😁 that’s awesome, we’ll be here when you’re ready! ~ Daniel

Glad to hear that Dave! You're very welcome 😊 ~ Daniel

That's super awesome to hear! Thank you for sharing Blackbelt 🙂~ Daniel

Glad to hear that Marcos 😊~ Daniel

You're welcome Hoang! Let me know if you have any questions 🙂~ Daniel

It's my pleasure 🙂~ Daniel

So glad I could help Lydia! Definitely reach out if you have any questions, either about the content in these videos or the Evolve program itself 🙂 ~ Daniel

Hey 🙂the Evolve Program is suitable for watercolor artists, however it is important to note that we only teach in oil painting. That being said, the principles and the way of thinking that we teach for oil painting applies seamlessly over to watercolor. But we do not teach the application of watercolor itself. For example, you will learn about light and shadow, value, edge, color, how to understand what you see, how to draw accurately - everything you need to make pro level art - you'll have the ability to make realistic oil paintings. Our students have been able to transfer their skills to other mediums, like watercolor, acrylic, digital painting, pastel, etc. quite easily. Let me know if that makes sense ~ Daniel

Glad I could help! 😃 ~ Daniel

Yes, when making gradients, it's good to add transitional values, instead of smush or blend the paint together. The idea behind this video is to help you know when and where you should make a soft edge, or a hard edge, based on an understanding of what you're seeing, rather than simply copying what you're seeing. What's great about this is that you can apply these same principles to a painting even if you don't have reference for the painting you're making, or if you want to make the painting better than the reference itself 😊 ~ Daniel

Oh no! 😱Well definitely check out Evolve's training program - we get artists to pro level skills in about 350 hours of painting study. We provide the art materials, feedback, video lessons, coaching sessions, weekly live classes, and more. Here's a good video to watch if you want to know what it takes to get pro level skills 👉 bit.ly/pro-artist-masterclass Hope that helps 😊~ Daniel

Great points Mayonnaise 😊 thanks for bringing it up! You are completely right - I could have taken the time to clarify more on that. I made this video with beginners in mind and I wanted to keep it simple because it's sooo easy for artists to overcomplicate it or get fire-hosed by too much information. In Evolve we really value teaching the right information at the right time, stripping away the less essential things and targeting the most critical parts (and I may have shaved off too much here, especially the note about form shadows on things like cubes). Once those critical things are understood, it becomes easy to digest additional information (like how cast shadows get softer the further away they get from the object casting them. But because you can create the illusion of form and depth without having any softened cast shadows, I omitted that from the video). So yes, form shadows can have sharp edges and cast shadows often have soft edges. But on a theoretical, fundamental level, it's important to understand that even in the "sharpest" of form shadows, the light is still dropping off as it turns in form. In the case of a cube - the "soft" edge still exists in theory, except that it's so tightly pressed together that it appears sharp to the naked eye. As for cast shadows, it's important to understand that even in diffused light - the cast shadow is created by something directly blocking it, which theoretically creates a 0% to 100% transition of shadow to light (even though it really never is 0 to 100). From this place of understanding, it's easy to make adjustments in either direction. I could go on and on, but we've seen that teaching this way really works for our students in getting a solid foundation under them. So, for the purposes of learning, it's easier to start by simplifying it down into a process that delivers results. And it "forces" you to think about each decision you make with your edges based on an understanding, getting you away from just copying what you see. And if you follow the process and run into something like a cube that turns sharply in form, you would (hopefully) immediately recognize that even though the edge is form shadow, a gradient would not suffice. And all of this goes back to Picasso's famous quote - "learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." If I only give you information without any rules, I'm not helping you think critically about why the information is what it is. The rules set limitations, like guard rails in a bowling alley to move you effective results (hitting pins, and not gutter-balling). Eventually those guard rails become restraints, and so, as our students progress through our program we start taking those limitations and rules away - but the understanding remains cemented in their mind. Hopefully these ramblings made sense! Let me know your thoughts 😊~ Daniel

@@evolveartist ah, i understand. Simplification is essential, but i personally believe the route to a comprehensive outlook on some art foundations is just as essential. Such as in this situation, how i taught myself, was how light travels in a straight line, and understanding average light/shadows. I didnt really go deep into understanding hard/soft edges or values at that point, but the general "cell shading" aspects of it. In other words, i understand the methodology of what you are saying, i just believe the details of that methodology is kind of in the wrong stages of the art process. But depending on the course you are paving for the students, it may be much easier for them to piece everything together if they follow through with what you are teaching, unlike me who kind of prefers a solid, more comprehensive outlook of the fundamentals. Thanks for the input, tho!

@@MAYONNAISEMOOSE oh if you want a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals then you’ll find that in the Evolve program! The order in which we teach these things in the program is quite different than how I explained it in this UKposts video, because our students are applying the information we share through specific painting assignments we give them, converting the information and experience into skill. We make sure that they are understanding the material and gaining the skills by providing constructive feedback on every painting within 24 hours of submitting. In comparison, these UKposts videos here are really just snippets and additional supplements to our full training program. And that program gets students to pro level art skills in about 1 year. Again these UKposts videos simply can’t constitute a comprehensive education because knowledge isn’t enough to get results for students - they need guided experience to build the knowledge into skill, which the platform doesn’t really allow for. So while I want to get better at explaining topics in these videos - and I have gleaned something very valuable from your feedback here, thank you! - I’m not pretending to build a comprehensive education on our UKposts channel, because the platform isn’t designed for guided assignments and feedback. So, if you’re looking for a comprehensive education, you’ll find it in Evolve, where the knowledge and the guided experience work together to teach one/a few things at a time, apply it, review it, and then teach another new thing, which is supported and reinforced by all the things previously taught. And as you are practicing, you are reinforcing all of those previous skills again and again. And our results speak for themselves. Check out our instagram @evolveartist, read our reviews, etc. You’d like Kevin’s explanation of form and cast shadows much better than mine. It’s much more comprehensive and he talks about how light travels, etc. (He teaches the Evolve program, not me). But anyways, now I’m curious about your work! Drop me a link or send me pictures via email at hello@evolveartist.com (reference my name). Do you also teach art? If so, send me a few paintings your students are making. Happy to keep this conversation going (I love talking about this methodology stuff!) 😁 ~ Daniel