Online drawing school of veronica kalacheva. Real review of the school of drawing veronica kalacheva

I have been doing graphic design for several years now, and now I wanted to draw not only on a computer, but also on paper, by hand. Master some new technique, learn something interesting.

As you know, thoughts are material. One had only to think about it, as a certain Drawing school of Veronica Kalachevawith an extensive program of online and offline courses.
At first I didn’t pay much attention, I think, advertising, everything is clear ...
But then something hooked me. It was not just the standard text "come and teach". In each post, I felt a sincere love for my work and a desire to teach others, useful tips, student work, encouraging creativity. I was hooked!

I went to their website, it turned out to be easy and cute. I liked. There is also enough information on each section.
The prices seemed high, but I was ready to take a chance and try. Most of all I was satisfied with what is online courses because on maternity leave I didn't have the opportunity to attend classes in real time.

How is the training going

I will show it using the example of a webinar with Anna Aegis (she also conducts distance sketching courses, for example, "Heroes in the City"). First, the technical part - payment for the course (you can find out how to do this on the website), registration in the system.
Until the course has begun, you can read on the site, or ask the administrators what materials you need. Usually the first lesson of the course is also devoted to materials and their properties. The teachers will tell you what tools they work with, preferences and wishes.

From the pros. With online learning, you are not tied to hours in the day, you can take lessons at your convenience. The video of each lesson opens in stages. Until you complete your homework, you won't be able to watch the next lesson. So much for your motivation :)
Keep in mind that the instructor reviews and comments on each work, and this may take some time. Until the teacher looks at your work and gives the go-ahead, you will have to practice this lesson over and over again. But do not think that you will be bullied all the time and will not be allowed to study further! Not. Your guru will point out the main flaws, thereby raising your skill level.

The only problem, if you did not manage to complete all tasks on time (for example, in 2 weeks), access is closed. If you want to reach the end, pay a certain amount more, and you will again be allocated a time interval and the teacher's attention. But this is also a plus, again, an incentive to engage in and not mess around.

All previous lessons can be reviewed again at the time set by the course.

About the teacher... I liked Anna Aegis. She gives clear structured knowledge, puts everything on the shelves. It would seem that you are drawing kalyaks-malyaks, but with Anna's help they turn into a good sketch. Good diction, clear explanations. I think I will also take this course, because I want to learn how to make fast and high-quality sketches anywhere in the world, sketch not only in a "cartoon style" (which I adore), but also more realistic. I want to create clear silhouettes and outlines with one or two strokes of the liner.

This is how the video control panel looks like:

If you tried to watch the next lesson without completing the task from the previous one:

Schedule:

After you have completed the training, you will be sent a certificate either by e-mail or by mail, if you ask the administrators about it.

You also have many bonuses... Namely - additional free lessons and master classes, newsletter with useful information, contests, discounts for further education. By subscribing to the school's page on social networks, you will also track news and good offers. Thus, I regularly replenish my piggy bank for free lessons;) After all, even at such master classes and webinars, teachers share their tricks that will definitely come in handy.

My impressions of the courses taken

Last summer I decided on distance learning... I chose between the course sketching with Anya Rastorgueva and Pastels for beginners " with Elena Tatkina.

I chose Pastel, because this is a completely new material for me, I have never painted with pastels before.

Running a little ahead, I will say that I just a little, just a little, regretted it, because in Elena Tatkina's lessons we drew a lot of still lifes, and I just hate them :) And in spirit and style, I like Anya Rastorgueva more. But I realized this only after, when I watched her master classes.

In general, I really liked the training. Elena is a competent and intelligent teacher. Pastels are cool stuff.
I used Koh-i-Noor (36 shades), I did not regret it, the price-quality ratio is good. You need to buy better paper, otherwise your crayons will not work at full capacity. The average version suited me - Canson. The paper was used in different shades for different works. And also Elena Tatkina showed us the technique of drawing on sandpaper. Velvet effect, I liked it too.

Drawn, as I said, still lifes, landscapes, animals. They mastered the technique of drawing glass and metal. They put their hands on, studied palettes and color combinations. Unfortunately, people were not drawn. It was a little monotonous to work in a muted palette (Elena Tatkina works in it), and personally I did not have enough bright colors. For those who love such tones, classic still lifes and landscapes, this course is perfect! I recommend!

Now I really want to take a sketching course with Anya Rastorgueva first for

(Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)

First master classesafter watercolor by Veronica Kalacheva in 2013, they did not enjoy much success, despite the fact that the LiveJournal blog of Veronica, an artist and art teacher, had several thousand followers.“There was a strange model: people paid for several classes and after a while stopped walking - it was hard to discipline them, because the course had no beginning or end, all this was sporadic,” recalls her husband Matvey.

Master classes for spouses were then something like a hobby, however, they could hardly claim moreshop of goods for artists "Colored Mondays". Matvey decided to take the courses more seriously - first of allsystematize lessons and rent a permanent studio.

They started everything literally on their knees, Matvey recalls: he personally created a simple website, where they announced a set for a watercolor course, which started on September 10, 2013. The ad was duplicated in her Live Journal by Veronica. “We announced the launch of the course, although at that time the studio had not yet been removed: we were afraid that we would recruit enough people for this,” recalls Veronika Kalacheva. She taught the course herself - from the very beginning, the couple decided that Veronica would be the face of the school.

The Kalachevs immediately decided to make a school for adults. “I am attracted to students who know why they need it, who are ready to go to study after work. They have burning eyes, they fulfill their dreams, - explains Veronika Kalacheva. "And children often learn because they were directed by their parents - that's a slightly different motivation."

School of Veronika Kalacheva in numbers

5 studios in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg

From 1.8 thous. before 27 thousand rubles. prices for courses vary

12.5 thousand rubles. - average course cost

1000 people on average study at school at the same time

More 85% clients study online

57 million rubles accounted for revenue and RUB 27 million- school profit for 2015

Source: company data

ISO for adults

The Kalachevs did not have any initial investment - they expected to pay the rent for the studio and all the accompanying materials as the participants recorded and paid. However, this happened rather slowly - as it turned out, people did not want to book a place on the course in advance, but preferred to deposit money on the last day before the course began. “It was a little annoying, because we were counting on them, those who wanted to declare themselves, but the payment did not come in any way,” recalls Veronica.

At first, Matvey personally phoned everyone who checked in - only then an employee-administrator was hired for this. “I was the first salesman,” he recalls. - I communicated with those who left the application in order to somehow increase the conversion. There were, for example, 20 applications, but only five payments. I wanted at least ten people to pay. " As a result, a group of ten people took the course. “We had a reserve of money, about 200 thousand rubles, for which we could rent premises and organize work. And so it started, ”recalls Matvey Kalachev.

The first studio for the Veronica Kalacheva School of Drawing was rented in the House of Artists on Vavilov Street in Moscow, where she still works. “There are high ceilings, large windows, stairs, atmospheric space - the students really like it,” says Veronika. The main expense item was rent - 80 thousand rubles had to be spent on it. In addition, as money came in, tables and easels were purchased for the new studio, as well as basic materials for drawing - pencils, paper, charcoal, watercolor brushes, as well as tea, coffee, and an administrator was hired. The total expenses just amounted to about 200 thousand rubles.

The main thing was to draw up a program so that the course had a beginning and an end, clearly set goals in order to motivate the visitor, Kalachevs say. Themes were invented by Veronica: they started with watercolors, then added graphics, fashion illustration, lettering (drawing letters and studying fonts). Subsequently, they began to add other courses, depending on the preferences and hobbies of teachers. “For example, I met our pastelist Elena Tatkina, and we decided to make a course on drawing with pastels,” recalls Veronika. The school now also offers courses in sketching, botanical illustration, basic drawing, as well as calligraphy and art history.

At first, the Kalachevs experimented a lot with lesson formats: they tried to do long courses of three to four months in length, a series of Saturday master classes, and outdoor plein airs in Italy. The large format did not work, Veronica explains: “People burn out quickly: eight to ten classes is the maximum number of people who can go through without missing a class, and it’s hard to sign up for more.” As a result, we stopped at the golden mean - a typical course of eight to ten offline lessons in Kalacheva's studio costs an average of 12.5 thousand rubles. In addition, there are master classes and weekend intensives and courses for advanced students: for example, after a basic course in watercolors or pastels, you can take the next, more difficult course to improve your skills.

It went well. The Kalachevs sold an art supply store and took up the school in earnest. Now the drawing school already has five offline studios, two of which are located in other cities: in March 2016, a studio was opened in St. Petersburg, and in April - in Yekaterinburg. In Moscow, one offline drawing studio brings an average of 80-100 thousand rubles. arrived a month, says Matvey Kalachev, and takes from three to five courses (in the mornings, evenings and weekends). In Yekaterinburg, prices are 20% lower, but the studio is the only one of all has not yet become profitable. The most profitable studio - in Moscow on Novoslobodskaya - brings in up to 150 thousand rubles.

Veronika Kalacheva and Matvey Kalachev, founders of the Veronica Kalacheva School of Drawing (Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC)

Watercolor online

Soon after the first few courses, Matvey Kalachev realized that he needed to bring his business online. “We received packets of messages“ What a pity that I'm not in Moscow! ” from people in different cities of Russia and abroad and thought that an online course could solve this problem, ”recalls Veronika.

As an experiment, the Kalachevs filmed a small course on academic drawing by a visiting teacher and posted it on Vimeo. “This was, of course, not an online education at all, but just a lecture with a paid access. We wanted to create a full-fledged online platform, but it was not clear where to start, ”recalls Matvey. A case helped: the husband of one of the school teachers was engaged in the platform for selling online courses and trainings GetCourse. Kalachev met the three founders of the platform, and soon they decided to work together - according to SPARK, now Matvey Kalachev owns 25% of Getkurs LLC (this legal entity owns an online learning platform) , and the same shares belong to TimurKarimbaev, Marat Nigametzyanov and Dmitry Ostanin. “It was difficult to hire a team of programmers ourselves and develop everything from scratch, and so we united and by the fall of 2014 were ready to launch Veronikin's watercolor course online - and launched it,” says MatveyKalachev.

Kalachev and his partners decided to make a full-fledged set of online drawing courses based on GetCourse. The platform made it possible to create a course as close as possible to an ordinary education: in particular, to break it down into separate video lessons of increasing complexity, as a result of which the student must publish the completed tasks under the video, which are commented by the teacher. There are stop lessons in the course, without which you cannot get access to further lessons. In addition, access to the course is not endless: for several weeks while it is open, the student must complete and complete the training (or renew access for a fee). “The course lasts a month and a half, and the teacher at this time, seven days a week, checks the work, because people have different crazy schedules, and everything must be checked in time,” explains Veronika Kalacheva.

It soon became clear that the gold mine was hiding just online. The number of students began to grow by leaps and bounds: now online accounts for 85% of the entire audience of the Kalacheva school, and the popular online course accommodates an average of 60-80, and sometimes 120 people. At the same time, it costs no less, and sometimes even more than offline: the cost of individual courses reaches 27 thousand rubles. And the marginality is much higher than offline: there is no need to spend money on renting a studio, administrators and materials, Kalachev admits. “All expenses here are the teachers' salaries. Well, the shooting itself is an expensive thing. Plus the cost of programmers - there are five of them, ”he says.

To promote online education, I had to invest in it. The first filming was done on a regular camera and recorded sound through a lavalier microphone, but later a professional studio was equipped at the school on Novoslobodskaya. About 3 million rubles were spent on computers, light and equipment for video filming, says Matvey Kalachev. A week of filming one course can cost about 280 thousand rubles. At Kalacheva's school, a separate team of three organizes video filming of courses and the work of teachers on them.

About 30 teachers already cooperate with the school online and offline, including in the regions, and taking into account the online audience, about 1000 people can study at the school at a time per month. These are mostly girls 25-35 years old, says Veronika Kalacheva: “These are the people who once drew for a long time, and then left for another profession - or did not dare to draw, but this thought lived with them long years... Now they have come to fulfill their dream - and we undertook to help them. "

According to the Kalachevs, in 2015, the school's revenue amounted to 57 million rubles, and the profit - 27 million rubles. This is mainly made possible thanks to online courses.

Fashion for creativity

At the request of "school of drawing in Moscow" Google gives out hundreds of links to a variety of painting schools and art studios - from large state ones like the Sergei Andriyaka School of Watercolors or schools at art universities to small art studios or private courses. It is difficult to calculate their exact number, however, according to Veronika Kalacheva, it increased from a few in 2013 to several dozen.

The demand for the services of art studios for adults has grown several times over the past two or three years, confirms Evgenia Slesareva, the founder of the Art Vacation project, which has been organizing paid master classes of artists in Moscow since 2012. Now, on average, 16 people come to one master class "Art Vacation", and prices for them vary from 7 thousand to 15 thousand rubles. over the weekend, she says. Sometimes you have to cover the costs of the artist's arrival and placement in Moscow. “If four years ago we did six master classes a year, now we hold a two-day master class two or three times a month, and each time two or three times more people are signed up for them than the group can accommodate,” says Slesareva.

In Moscow, art studios have become popular, because people are tired of just working, there is a desire to do something creative, says Evgenia Slesareva. Many people discover a talent for drawing and subsequently begin to do it professionally. “I know at least two studios that appeared thanks to my former students,” says Veronika Kalacheva. Those students who are particularly good at doing well are often recruited by the Kalachevs themselves as teachers - to check papers on courses already underway or to teach their own lessons.

Over time, the Kalachevs plan to expand the business to the regions and to other countries - a page appeared on the site offering a franchise. “We wanted to test demand and found that it exists: we receive 20 letters a month from those wishing to open our school on a franchise,” says Matvey Kalachev. However, expanding into regions is troublesome, he admits. “In Yekaterinburg, the field is generally unplowed, there are no schools of watercolors, but there is still no such trend to open drawing courses as in Moscow. Therefore, our studio is only going to zero and that's it, ”says the entrepreneur.

Nevertheless, the Kalachevs plan to open new branches of the school in Kazan in the next few months and Nizhny Novgorod... “Even if these studios bring little money for us - this is the popularization of the trend and the demand for painting schools, for us it is always a plus,” says Matvey Kalachev. In addition, they expect to start translating online courses into English over time and thus become a truly international project. “If we talk about strategy, there are many countries in the world in which we are not present yet. I would like to fix this, ”says the entrepreneur.

InfoHit editors are not responsible for the content of reviews, the learning outcomes are individual. Please read rules for posting reviews.

Rated reviews: 5

At the same age as Svetlana, I finally got on the watercolor painting course for beginners that I dreamed of. In his youth, there were no opportunities to take up drawing, there was no free time, and there were no such courses either. And I really wanted to, precisely in watercolor. Of my four attempts, only the last one brought me joy, satisfaction, and new knowledge and skill. I studied with the teacher Elena Rodionova from April 8 to May 6, at Vavilov 65. I will not list the advantages of this course of study, I liked everything. She was a wonderful teacher, she explained clearly and competently, did not take into account the time, if they did not have time for something, she could be late, she was not in a hurry. Methods were impeccably drawn up, interesting objects were selected for the image. And she herself is so cute! And the group was very good, the girls are young, inquisitive, active, well-bred. In general, I'm happy with everything. If possible, I will take another course, now after the summer, and now I am going to the open air% uD83D% uDE01.

Reply

A pleasant, sincere and creative approach to beginners to draw ... Everything is very attentive and intelligent ... As they say, without fuss and show-off ... Thank you, great School!

Reply

I took an express course, now I am going through an online watercolor and basic one for beginners - I really like it, I enthusiastically complete each task and I want to do them again and again! And most importantly, I see how my skills are developing and when I manage to perform such tasks that, in principle, did not seem real, then there is simply no limit to happiness!)
We are also very pleased with the regular news from Veronica, as well as the fact that the school has turned into a whole community - it's just great! And yet - while I was waiting for the start of classes on the courses - I watched all the webinars and completed the tasks, and it is also very cool that even outside the class there is food for absorbing new knowledge, practice, inspiration and pleasure !!!

Reply

I am very glad that I discovered the school of Veronika Kalacheva. She graduated from the courses of botanical illustration with a wonderful teacher Svetlana Lance and began to look at flora and fauna differently))) Now I am drawing online watercolor Sherlock and with the help of wonderful teachers Natalia Dyukova, Polina Arutyunova and Veronika Kalacheva herself, I plunged into the world of watercolors up to their ears) ) It's contagious and I hope that after finishing the training about Sherlock, I will continue to study the available trainings of the school - fashion illustration, sketching and much more!

I am often asked how to learn to draw? And where?
We have to admit that we don't have many schools in our city ... although wait ... there are almost no schools to, for example, learn the basics of illustration or create storyboards, so online learning is a good way out. I want to tell you about my experience and the resources on which I happened to learn: paid or free.

School of Veronica Kalacheva. The cost is 15,000-50,000 rubles
I'll start, perhaps, with the mastodon - the school of Veronika Kalacheva, notorious for its prices for courses. I bought an express watercolor course from them for 990 rubles to see how much this format suits me and how the work of the school and teachers is generally organized.
There were only three lessons in the course, and one of them was somehow in a free webinar, but not the essence. We painted: a tree against a sunset, a rose and a house. Each work was commented on by the teacher, for clarity I will attach my work and feedback here, as long as I remember it, because access to the lessons was naturally closed, and you won't be able to find anything.

I don't like any of this work, I plan to burn them so that the descendants will not see this shame, but I will show you :)




Let's start with the fact that apart from the house I didn't like anything: the tree is somehow too simple, the rose has this strange green spot on the background.
1. I specially bought a flutes brush for 800 rubles to fill it.
Feedback from the teacher: for the future, do not leave gaps between the reflection and the tree. All.

2. Instead of a rose, I tried to draw a peony.
Comment from the teacher: make the petals more contrasting, do not touch the green spot, it is now abstract and looks good.

3. Let's start right away with the comments: the bush on the right is too green and the shadow in the windows is too turquoise.

This ended the course, but there was also an additional webinar for course participants with a breakdown of the work. I didn’t like the assignments and the feedback was not long enough. I liked much more free course "cancer winter", which took place in January. Here are some works, there were more varied techniques, references.






Recently I took another free course on summer extreme sketching: I am sure that half of the world participated in it, and the rest heard about it and raged on Instagram from the number of black and white trees and people. I expected that we would be working with color, markers, and not just liners and brushpen. It was very upsetting that in the lessons they called for not going into details and professionalism, and in the periscope Anna Aegis noted the work done on the highest level... The winners will be announced on July 9, let's see how fair the choice will be.

I will show you my work and the final assignment (I think you won't win a trip to Paris with him), so I didn't even post it on Instagram.








I thought about buying a course on watercolor painting or drawing with markers, but thought about the feasibility and value for money.
Basically, you can replace these activities with a lot of practice. And I don't like that access is limited for the duration of the course. In other online schools, you get access forever.
Do you have anything to say about this school?

Amlab.me. The cost of the courses is 2500-5000 rubles.
I bought a subscription (or rather, Leshenka gave it to me) for the sake of Sofia Miroedova's lessons. But there are other teachers there as well. I "listened and watched" a course in the basics of illustration, digital painting, character and environment. To be honest, learning is like watching lectures, there is no homework or feedback... Therefore, you need to work out everything yourself. So this is more just theory than practice.
Here are two of my works from the digital painting in photoshop course.

Lectoroom. The cost is 3000-4000 rubles
I bought two courses "onion, garlic, eggplant" and "watercolor commercial illustration - flowers" by the magnificent Tatyana Shirbidova, better known as PICTTA, she has an offline school in Barnaul and I want to go there if the class is on a weekend. What do we need these 300 km. ?

I like that in flowers Tanya explains everything from the basics and talks about the materials. Teaches you how to make fillings and tells a lot of useful things.
But! In the course there is no reference from which to draw, the teacher draws from life and it turns out that you also need to buy vegetables in order to repeat what you saw and practice your skills. Let's say I find onions, garlic and eggplant, but the peonies have already faded.

I have not completed the work on the course yet.

Bang Bang education. The cost is from 4500 to 20,000 rubles.
I’ll just put this school here, I didn’t study in it, but can you give your feedback :)