How can we improve the community?

[Joshua Jacobo]

During the crisis we have been trying to do more with the NMA community. Free video critiques from NMA instructors was a start. How do you think we could improve? How can we builder a stronger and more supportive community to help us all grow and improve?

[Josseline Jeria]

Thank you already for what you’ve all done so far! It’s great to see things are more active here.

Doing some live streams, which would involve seeing the instructors doing some sketching, drawing, etc, not critiques or anything, something like that (so that there is less direct work for you guys) and having a live chat to go along with it would be great.

I find it would be nice to just chat in general with others here on the community. A majority of the discussion here is critiquing each other’s work, which is fantastic, but I find I would like a general sense of community through sort of less formal interactions about art as well.

If anything else pops up, I’ll add it here 🙂

Thanks Joshua

[liannemoore]

Hi yes I agree with Josseline, thank you so much for the video crits i have learnt a great deal from watching them.  it’s so great seeing brave people putting lots of work forward…

nice to have a chat with others too so maybe a live classroom in some way or  a “silly’ art page would be fun…I have been making kiri-e inspired cut outs on my window for people passing by to see which has been fun.

Anyway thanks Joshua – you’ve been super kind.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Joshua, I’d love to see these critiques continue after the crisis but of course on a reduced scale. You could do 1 or 2 a month (or a week?) for subscribers who submit their work. I’d really look forward to the critique even if it wasn’t of my own work since I learn so much from them. People who want private critiques of their work could still pay for coaching and you could use the monthly critiques as a way to advertise your coaching programs or premium membership. Other community activities would interest me if I thought I’d learn something from them. Challenges are fun if there’s some structure to them, like giving people a deadline to post what they’ve done and maybe at least a brief comment or critique by an NMA instructor, even if it’s general for everyone who posted, as a group.  I think you’d have to somehow break down the community activities according to level. Thanks again for what you’re doing during the crisis. It’s a really nice addition to what NMA already offers and my work is improving as a result.

[Josseline Jeria]

I like your suggestion Diane about setting deadlines for challenges. That would be great for more accountability.

It could be something like a monthly contest challenge with a set prompt or task or specific kind of piece to submit, and there would be a deadline to meet in order for your entry to count. The top 2 or so winners would win a critique. That’ll provide incentive for many people to participate, and to really be ambitious and push themselves to do the best they can for their submitted work.

[Diane Cameron]

Great suggestion Josseline. That would be really fun.

[Eden]

I also would love to see the critiques continue, like what Diane suggested.

I had only been logging into the videos occasionally the past year, but once you’ve started these critiques and the message boards started getting more activity, now I suddenly feel the NMA community.

I guess I just wasn’t on the boards much before because they seemed very quiet. It’s interesting now that I’m starting to talk more and see more of work from other NMA students, a community here I wasn’t aware of til the critiques started.

[Joshua Jacobo]

Thanks for all this feedback everyone. We are watching the community very closely and trying to find ways to improve the experience and obviously to help people get better learning results.

[Umer]

Hi

Thanks NMA for everything you guys are doing.

A suggestion. Few podcasts in which instructors talk about their journey through arts and answer common art questions. My wishlist Karl Gnass, Glenn Vilppu, Joshua Jacobo etc. Legend Steve has already many of such sessions but another one would also be a fresh breeze.

<!–more–>

[Joshua Jacobo]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback. We are working on this now

[Jaylene]

I am really enjoying the 100 day Challenge.  The feed back I have been getting is so kind and encouraging.  I want to do another one when I complete my current challenge.   I have also got a lot of value out of the critiques you have been doing for the pandemic.  I know that is usually for your coaching service.  Perhaps something on a reduced scale (less time/frequency or as reward for winner of a challenge)  with commentary about how a student can get the most out of the coaching service?

I really enjoy NMA,  thanks so much!

[Christopher]

In terms of challenges and critique, maybe NMA could set up a 30 (just a example) day Challenge about a specific topic from time to time. In the thread of the challenge people could also submit questions related to this topic.

The point wouldn’t be a price but a livestream in which the instructor could pick some of the entrys and questions in advance. He/She could use the chosen entrys and questions to show typical pitfalls about that topic.

I don’t know if that’s to much but I thought that way the instructor doesn’t need to react to questions but could organize the information in his/her own words in advance.

 

[kevinbyrd]

I think making some new daily life drawing videos that some pro artists can draw from would be great. I love drawing along with the likes of Glenn Vilppu and Steve Huston. Those free lifedrawing videos you guys posted to YouTube were some of the best advertising you’ve ever done for NMA, it’s what got me interested in it after all.

[Ronjo Solis]

Taking from the study group which Ellie on the other thread has started, it might be good to have a unified calendar which shows the intended schedule of any student who would want to stream and watch a course — it’s always good to have classmates watching the same class (and have a 10-15 minute post lecture discussion)

also, regarding the image browser, i think it can be further improved as the navigation is challenging.

–> when you click on a subtopic (e.g., porraits), you can click on a person. and then, the list of portraits of that person will show. –> when you want to reset your view on the same page, clicking “portraits” again will not refresh it. you have to close the filter/name of the person you have selected…. thanks.

[bart]

I would think it would be cool if there’s a tab on a lesson page where people can post their work resulting from that lesson. Lesson summaries and drawings. (Something like Pinterest has). With this we can learn from eachother fast and comment on our work and progress.

 

[Author]

Posts