I have online instruction

[ron lemen]

Hello again, I wanted to share this thread with you. I am doing art foundation videos for an online art school called X-train. I dont know the details exactly, I am sure you can look them up online. They are mostly graphic design and web design, logo, lettering, etc. But all of this stuff still has foundation in classic art training. And that is what this series is about. It is about holding your pencil, sitting properly, proportions, measuring, values and how they work, etc.

I would like to say there are specialty classes on there but those will be through another company, Gnomon. And those start very soon, I will let you know when.

Meantime, check these out, they are what they are, and I am no actor...hehe


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXNzq07O8Do

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6LqCfifocs

Thanks for not throwing hard objects...


Ron

[j a k e]

These are awesome Ron. The demos are great, and I like it how you say everything that you're doing, while it's happening. Great to see you going through both digital and traditional painting too.

[Mitchell]

Very very cool Ron. The second video was great! haha. I'd be very interested in these videos.

[JAG.]

indeed... excellent vids. i look forward to seeing these - JAG

[Interceptor]

Great! Looking forward to these!!

[Malicious Panda]

oh wow, I'd definitely check this out

[Matsign]

Oh cool demo man, keep us updated for sure!

[Diego]

you look and sound like a great person to learn from, i wish they were longer but anyways, thanks for sharing these ron and keep us updated.

[egerie]

With a set like this, I was expecting Regis to waltz in at any point! Pretty cool video and yeah the second one was pretty funny :) Thanks for posting!

[ron lemen]

Heh, thanks everyone for peepin. The videos were shot in a blue screen room egerie, the sets are all CG. they have some tricky lens that can realtime that stuff around me.

The website, X-Train is an online school. I will be doing the traditional portion of their classes, and the rest is big time designers and photographers, etc.the goal is to completely educate the next gen of designer/artists, blend them into one being, as art is heading in that direction with multimedia and so forth. Doesnt mean you cant specialize, it just means a better education for the next gen of artists. a more thorough education I should say. These guys share a similar vision I have about art education and I love it.
It is a bit produced, but I would rather have that than another budget art film with bad camera positioning, or whatever the case may be.
Next will be the dvd series and book series. Those will supposedly begin releasing in June or July this summer. We shall see what happens with the publishers vision...

Thanks again.

ROn

[teneprism]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up/ update in regards to this series of classes that Ron has done for XTrain.

All you have to do is signup and then join the class to have access to the content- the classes are excellent- very informative and cover all the fundamentals in a comprehensive way- wish I got this in art school!

http://training.xtrain.com/free-classes

[Earendil]

These are great!

[panchosimpson]

hmmm, i think i'm missing something bc i've registered, "attended" the class, but when i hit watch, the windows media logo flashes for a second, then nothing, the video screen disappears....does this site require something else?

[PixelFarmer]

I just got an email from xtrain saying they are now offering these classes for a reduced price of $79, retail $310. Does anyone know if they are offering more than the free classes previously being shown?
I noticed that in some of the free Video's by Ron Lemen he states that he will move onto something else at the end of the video. But those videos do not exist, are these "missing" videos part of the paid package? or are they offering the once free video's for $79?

I wish Ron would make his own videos and publish them. I learned so much just from those few.

[thek]

PixelFarmer, I'm currently going through a similar dilemma. I've emailed xtrain's customer support three times now since last week, and each time with no reply - that doesn't really bode well for the course does it!

I still am really tempted to give it a punt though, because I love Ron's style, and like you I found the free videos really informative. I've also noticed there are resource and exercise sections that won't open until 1st August so maybe there will be some form of study material to accompany the videos for people who sign up?

If it is xtrain trying to make people pay for videos that they've given away free though, then it wouldn't be fair.

[thek]

Right, I've just had a comment deleted from their blog in which I asked when the classes would be starting. It doesn't look good on them does it? It all seems pretty suspicious.

20070730-edit: The comment wasn't deleted, I was just looking in the wrong place! Sincere apologies.

[panchosimpson]

If it is xtrain trying to make people pay for videos that they've given away free though, then it wouldn't be fair.

that's actually the point, they had a "trial" period during which the vids were free, sorta like beta testing....now they are beginning to sell the videos (which was clearly the original intention)....

At any rate, it was pretty generous of them to offer them for viewing in the first place, because videos like these don't shoot themselves, and the camera guy doesn't work for free

[thek]

You're correct, fair was the wrong word to use and with the quality of the videos being what they are, they're perfectly entitled to charge for them. What I found strange was that they appeared to be selling the same videos back to the people who have already seen them. However, I think what that $79 covers is the chance to participate in an online community based around the videos. Which is a good thing.

Their customer support could do with some tightening up though - 3 emails sans reply!