Uncomfortable's Advice from /r/ArtFundamentals

Announcement: New curriculum and some questions for the community

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/2ktbcl/announcement_new_curriculum_and_some_questions/

2014-10-30 20:03

Uncomfortable

So after a month, I've started a new set of lessons, focusing on drawing people. Portraiture, anatomy, figures, etc. This is not one of my strengths, but I am embarking on this topic in the hopes that I will solidify my understanding of it while teaching it to the rest of you.

Now the thing is, when I created /r/ArtFundamentals, I... seriously lacked forethought. I was focusing only on the first curriculum (which follows the Dynamic Sketching course I took at Concept Design Academy. I didn't consider what I would do when I transitioned into different topics that did not necessarily build upon the previous material in quite as direct a manner.

I'm pretty much stuck with the "LESSON #" convention. What I can change, however, is what's listed on the sidebar and how the members' flairs are shown. Until now the flairs have just been 'Completed Lesson #'. Now I'm thinking of shifting into 'Dynamic Sketching Level #, Whatever Else Level #, ...' Of course, the flair ends up getting pretty long. Maybe just DS#, WE#, etc.

I'm really not sure at this point. If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to chime in.

I'm also thinking that lessons 1 and 2, though technically part of the dynamic sketching curriculum that I learned, are really foundational exercises that everyone should do regardless of which other lessons they wish to follow. Which means I'd be removing that from the DS curriculum... Aaagh confusing.

Anyways, yes - if anyone else has any input on the matter, pleasegodhelpme.

[deleted]

2014-10-31 01:42

Browsed through a few during some free time. Won't be able to do the exercises until the weekend, but they look pretty great!

Avalonquestions

2014-11-09 15:50

I'm in the same boat, I just have to let my school work simmer down and I can finally jump right into this "homework" :)

tmku

2014-10-31 09:57

Hey, nice to see new lessons popping up!

I think categorizing lessons by the common theme is a way to go here.

It will definitely help keep things clear as more and more lessons appear and using shortcuts like DS#, WE# (with maybe a legend on the sidebar explaining their meaning) will make flairs look clean and concise.

SketchyHatching

2014-11-01 18:46

I second this. Maybe WEC for completed.

Uncomfortable

2014-11-06 20:11

So I pretty much went with this, and used some of my web-dev knowledge to spice it up a bit. Differently coloured icons/badges seem to be a bit easier to understand at a glance, and they look quite a bit fancier too. Here's hoping they give people a bit of incentive, too. People like achievements, right?

tmku

2014-11-07 07:16

Man, this is awesome! Very nicely done, I like the shapes and overall aesthetic.

Hope you're ready to embrace the hordes of achievement hunters that are bound to flood this subreddit after the word spreads out :P

One thing you might want to consider is displaying the full badge text when you hover your mouse over it - but that's just nitpicking.

Uncomfortable

2014-11-07 17:11

I didn't think that'd be possible, but I figured it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

MigMigg

2014-11-02 23:41

Another method could be using "folders"- text posts, and having links to each lesson in the folder.