New Masters Academy Review and First Impression 2020

New Masters Academy is a subscription-based art education website. There are thousands of hours of quality video art lessons at an affordable price.

These lessons are geared towards artists of all levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced. Also, whether you enjoy drawing, painting, sculpture or design – there are multiple courses on each topic.

What’s Included In The New Masters Academy Subscription?

First of all, there are 2 subscription options: Standart and Premium.

Standard Subscription Includes:

• 7-Day Free Trial
• Unlimited Streaming of 1,000+ hours of art lessons
• Watch it on any device
• Access to the community forums

Premium Subscription:

• All of the things from the Standart subscription
• Access to 20,000+ reference images
• Access to lesson attachments
• Interactive 3D reference gallery

And if you decide to pay not monthly, but yearly, you can save some money.

The 5 Things I Love About New Masters Academy

#1. Professional Instructors

One of the things that attracted me the most to this subscription service are the artists who took part in the project.

Learning from true masters of the craft who have the experience, the skill, and the knowledge is so awesome!

After all, learning from the people whom you admire will help you stay motivated, inspired, and just improve way faster.

Some of these you might know of, and others might be new, but all are equally amazing! There are too many to cover all of them in this one article, so I’ll just go ahead and name a few of my favorites.

Glenn Vilppu

Glenn Vilppu is an American fine artist, draftsmen, painter and art instructor. He is internationally known for teaching professional animators.

He has worked on a variety of feature films and tv shows with Walt Disney Studios, Marvel Productions and Warner Bros. Animation.

There are 86 (!!!) video lessons by him in the New Masters Academy on various topics: the human figure, anatomy, portraits, composition, animals, light and color, creature design, landscape and still life.

Steve Huston

Steve Huston is an internationally renowned painter and draftsman. He created illustrations for companies such as MGM, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and others.

Huston also taught artists at Disney, Warner Brothers, and Dreamworks Studios.

He has 77 video lessons at NMA (New Masters Academy) the majority of which are on the human figure, portraiture, anatomy, and light and color.

Bill Perkins

Bill Perkins is a fine artist who specializes in drawing and painting.

During the last 26 years, Bill has worked in the animation and film industry on over 30 films, TV shows, DVDs, short films, and video games.

Some of his roles were art director, production designer, visual development, layout artist, and storyboard artist.

He worked as a layout artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation on the timeless animation features Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. And as an art director on Aladdin (among other things).

So if you are a fan of Disney like me and want to learn from someone who is so admired in the field, you will definitely enjoy his lessons!

Bill Perkins created 27 phenomenal art lessons for New Masters Academy with the focus on light and color, composition, head and portrait, and landscape.

Of course, there are many other incredible artists who deserve to be featured!

• Ed Fraughton – monumental sculptor.
• Juliette Aristides – realist painter.
• John Asaro – colorful and light-filled painter.
• Mark Westermoe – professional illustrator (worked on Home Alone poster!).
• David Simon – a sculptor of international acclaim.
• Johanna Schwaiger – professional figurative sculptor.
• Rey Bustos – one of the preeminent artistic anatomy teachers.
• Joe Altwer – traditional realist oil painter.
• and others.

There is an instructor at NMA for everyone’s taste, medium, and skill level.

#2. Quality of Lessons

My second favorite thing are the quality of the lessons themselves.

All of these big-name professional artists spend a lot of time teaching you and I the skills we need to improve.

And they are not just 20-minute brief videos. Oh, no, these bad boys go in real depth on each topic and take hours and hours.

So saying, “I didn’t get it” is really not an option with such thorough explanations.

All of the tips and “secrets” are being revealed for those willing to put in the time.

#3. Variety

I LOVE the fact that these lessons are suited for all.

There is a variety of artists as I mentioned in #1.

A variety of topics covered.

A variety of lessons based on skill levels.

And a variety of mediums, including:

• Pencil
• Colored Pencil
• Oil Paints
• Pen
• Charcoal
• Marker
• Paper
• Conté
• Pastel
• Oil-Based Clay
• Canvas
• Brush
• Water Brush
• Watercolor
• Chalk
• Gouache
• Adobe Photoshop
• Water-Based Clay
• Digital Tablet
• Acrylic Paints
• Paper Stump

#4. Extra Resources

The learning doesn’t just stop at watching lessons.

We all know that in order to get better at art, simply knowing theoretically what to do is not enough.

So New Masters Academy offers additional resources for Premium subscribers:

• 20,000+ reference images
• Lesson attachments
• Interactive 3D reference gallery

So when it’s time to put the knowledge to the test and actually practice, you have everything you need.

#5. Community

There is a lovely community aspect to this subscription, so you are able to chat with other members.

There are different forum threads where you can post your work for review, comment on the lessons, take part in different challenges and more.

I think it’s a beautiful addition that makes this learning experience feel more involving.

The 2 Things I Don’t Love About New Masters Academy

#1. Double-Edged Sword Situation

If you are anything like me, you LOVE learning new skills and always get excited about new opportunities!

So imagine my excitement after I saw so many professional artists teaching their own techniques and skills!!

Yet, with the thousands of hours of content, I feel a little unsettled…

Here is the thing, I want to learn from ALL of them and watch ALL of the lessons and actually practice everything I’ve learned!

But, I simply don’t have the time to get it done or even watch 10% of all the lessons they offer.

It’s not a drawback that there is so much content, just something to keep in mind so you don’t get as overwhelmed as me.

I think it’s important to focus on one topic at a time, and once you mastered it move to the next.

On the other side, you’ll never run out of content to watch, and they do update their library quite frequently.

#2. Pricing

If you want a truly immersive experience, the Premium subscription is the way to go as it unlocks all of the additional features.

Yet, the price for it is more expensive by $10/month.

And while the cost is way lower than what the value of the content deserves, I understand that it’s perhaps not something everyone can afford.

Still, the lessons you get are about equal to those you would get at an Art University. But the price for the latter is waaaaaaaaaay higher, trust me, I’ve been there and still paying back the loan.

So do I think that you should buy less coffee and instead learn from true art professionals? Absolutely!

The Topics Covered in NMA…

To understand if this service is right for you, think about what is it that you would like to learn the most? What do you want to get out of learning from them?

At New Masters Academy, almost every topic has a few courses, using different mediums, at different skill levels and taught by a variety of artists.

Here are the topics and the number of courses offered at the time of writing this article:

• Head & Portrait (18)
• Light & Color (17)
• Human Figure (16)
• Anatomy (14)
• Composition (13)
• Drawing Exercises (7)
• Still life (4)
• Perspective (4)
• Landscape (4)
• Creature Design (4)
• Animals (4)
• Hands (3)
• Design (3)
• Mold Making (1)
• Environment Illustration (1)

Is New Masters Academy Right For You?

There are a few things to consider before deciding if this subscription is right for you.

It’s for you if:

• You are a beginner, intermediate, or professional artist
• You would like to learn from experienced professional artists
• You enjoy using the mediums I mentioned previously
• You are interested in the topics mentioned previously
• You WANT to learn and are ready to put in the time to learn and practice

It’s not for you if:

• You can’t afford the monthly pay
• You don’t have the time to watch videos and practice
• You checked out all of the artists on the list and don’t want to learn from them

My 3 Favorite Courses So Far

New Masters Academy VS Skillshare

Many of you might’ve heard of Skillshare – subscription-based art education.

I’ve decided to briefly compare the two in case you were wondering which one to go with.

Skillshare is great if you are looking for a cheaper alternative or want to create your own courses too!

There is a lot of content on both platforms, it’s just that NMA has a few high-quality art professionals, and Skillshare has many teachers at different skill levels.

Summary

New Masters Academy is a subscription-based art education website. There are 1,000+ hours of quality video art lessons at an affordable price.

The courses are taught by skilled and experienced artists including world-renowned professionals that worked with Disney, Warner Brothers, and Dreamworks Studios.

Pros: professional artists, quality and variety of content, extra resources and community forums.

Cons: recurring cost and an overwhelming amount of content.

It’s suitable for all skill levels and most mediums.

Giving it a shot is risk-free as they offer a FREE 7-Day Trial that you can cancel at any time before you are billed.