ArtAchieve (Schoolhouse Review)

Are you looking for a fun and easy to use art program that works for a wide range of ages? ArtAchieve might be just what you need! We received the Entire Level II for review.
How does ArtAchieve work?
There are 6 levels of ArtAcheive and 8-14 individual lessons within each level. The levels progress in difficulty and are appropriate for first grade through adult. Most lessons have the option of either a video presentation or a power point presentation.
A lesson begins with a discussion of an inspiration piece. This is often a piece of sculpture with ties to another culture. The student first completes a “Warm Up” exercise that allows her to practice drawing the shapes needed for the art piece. Then the student is guided to draw the piece using lines, curves, circles, and dots. The outlined works are then colored or painted. Examples of colors and patterns are demonstrated, but the student is encouraged to use her own creative ideas to make the work her own.

Warm up for Korean Wedding Duck lesson










Guided Drawing for Korean Wedding Duck Lesson

Inspiration and backgrounds for Korean Wedding Duck Lesson

What supplies are needed?
The supplies for most of the ArtAchieve lessons are either easy to obtain or are items that you are likely to already own. For Level II, most of the lessons can be completed with a permanent marker, colored markers, and acrylic craft paints (and brushes). Two of the lessons require chalk pastels or paint pens. When you get into level III, you’ll need a few more materials—oil pastels, white charcoal pencil, and shoe polish.
Here are the pieces you will create in Level II:

Our experience:
Emily found the lessons easy and fun to do. I think they were a bit simple for high school, but because Emily hasn’t had a lot of art experience, it was a good fit. She was never overwhelmed, she enjoyed the colorful results, and she was free to branch out creatively without feeling like her art had to look a certain way. I did many of the lessons with her and enjoyed the creative outlet myself. She also did several lessons with a 7-year old that she has been babysitting this summer and reports that the projects were a big hit with her art-loving charge as well.

Because most of the lessons required simple supplies, Emily didn’t have to spend a lot of time gathering supplies or cleaning up. Likewise, if she needed to leave a drawing and come back to it later, that was easy to do. I know  she tends to avoid activities that seem like a lot of work, so the fact that she was able to jump into a lesson quickly encouraged her to do so.
These are some of the projects that Emily and I completed. You can see that our results differed, because we chose to complete use different colors, patterns, and backgrounds.
The ducks are Korean wedding ducks. It was funny that we learned about the history of these wedding ducks in the art lesson, and the following week, my oldest daughter was given a set of them as a wedding gift!

Here are some more of the art projects:



We completed the free sample lessons from Level I as well. A couple of these lessons focused on drawing in perspective and shading—good skills to use with any art project.
ArtAchieve offers 4 free art lessons, so be sure to try them out to see if this program would be a good fit for your family! Lessons are available for sale individually or as complete levels.

Connect with ArtAchieve:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Artachieve
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artchieve  @artachieve
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/artachieve/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+artachieve
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnahofland/