Watercolor Academy Review by Johann Krammer

Story and artworks from Johann Krammer, Watercolor Academy student

As I started this course, I had no experience painting with watercolors. Watercolors were something for children, nothing that lasted, rather something fragile that soon ended up in a drawer and was forgotten. But the Watercolor Academy showed me that to paint with watercolors opens you a new colorful world of painting. For some time, I was looking for a painting technique that allowed me to paint quickly and easily. An art in which I could achieve results far more quickly, an art that required a certain serenity and whose results did not cry out for perfection.

So, I was very happy that Vladimir and his team with Anna Ivanova, Natalie Richie and Ilia Ibriaev released their new course, the Watercolour Academy. When I first browsed through the course, I immediately saw that painting with watercolors has nothing to do with kids' stuff. It looked like this course could be a real challenge. But with the experience from the other courses, I knew that Vladimir and his team would explain everything perfectly.

I immediately set to work and began to paint an apple using different painting techniques. These techniques are taught very well in the course, so that I had a usable result in my hands after just a few hours. Following Vladimir's recommended approach, I painted many more everyday objects to become familiar with the medium of watercolor. Sometimes with a good result, sometimes with something to be optimized. I explored my surroundings and painted everything that interested me. So I was pleased to see the many videos in the course that show in detail, in an entertaining and interesting way, how to paint all the necessary subjects such as clouds, water, buildings and lighting moods. Of course I wanted to try that out immediately.

The course contains lots of basics on the different painting techniques and shows in detail the procedure and also very useful hints to avoid or correct mistakes. And of course I also wanted to apply the knowledge I had gained from the Drawing Academy, the Life Drawing Academy and the Old Masters Academy.

I started to paint the people around me. Painting with watercolors is an ideal medium for this. It allows you to quickly draw people in their natural environment. How to paint portraits in watercolor is described in detail in the Watercolor Academy. By the way, how to draw things and people is also described in detail in the two other courses by Vladimir London and his team - the Drawing Academy and the Life drawing Academy. Two online courses that I can highly recommend.

Now, with the knowledge from the Watercolor Academy, I was finally able to practice my hobby on holiday as well. Through the detailed explanatory videos of the Watercolor Academy, I now knew how to paint houses and buildings, how to bring out details, how to paint animals, how to paint landscapes, and how to paint seascapes. I had never really been into landscape painting before the Watercolor academy, but when I watched the learning videos by Ilya Ibryaev and Anna Ivanova, I was very excited.

These videos contain so much content that you need some time to work through the material and even more time to put all the information into your own paintings. And if questions arise about the videos or your own painted pictures, Vladimir's team is always there to lend a helping hand. So far, I have never had to wait longer than 24 hours for an answer from Vladimir and his team, which is always detailed and to the point. Often, a concrete response with many helpful tips arrives within the next few hours.

One last topic I want to mention here are the still life painting videos. I did not know that painting of still-life brings so much fun and knowledge about color combinations and composition. But Vladimir's videos on still life showed me how to bring out the colors to their best advantage. I liked these videos a lot and now I proceeded to paint my own still lifes. Now I know that painting still lifes is the ideal way to get to know colors and composition. Thanks to Vladimir's perfect explanations!

The course is also rounded off by the many examples in the Gallery of Watercolor Masters. A very good point of information to see pictures of other watercolor painters and possibly learn something new.

Now I have reached the end of my review of Watercolor Academy. I can really recommend this course - as well as the other courses Drawing Academy, Life drawing Academy, Anatomy Master Class and also the Old Masters Academy.

Johann Krammer, Watercolor Academy student

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