Are you an Online Art Course Junkie?
Trying to become an artist, an illustrator, or a pattern designer is not easy. Times have changed where the appeal of college and university degrees are no longer attractive compared to the instant gratification of knowledge with an online art course.
So where and how do you start? There is a plethora of courses out there. It can be overwhelming. It is also easy to fall into the trap of doing one course after another. Alternatively, doing multiple courses in parallel!
Admittedly, I was planning to complete two online art courses last year but I ended up completing four. The lure of knowledge and the feeling of not knowing enough had started to surface. I wanted to learn more and more.
It made me wonder how easy it is to become obsessed with online art courses. I started to ponder on the things that may attribute to this obsession.
Chasing The Magical Unicorn
When I was young, I loved collecting stationery. The pursuit of the perfect pen to write with. The ‘magical pen’ that would help me get A pluses on my school assignments was my goal.
My infatuation with stationery later turned into art supplies as I got older. If only I could find the perfect materials to draw or paint with, my art would be amazing. I still have two boxes full of art supplies and some items still in their shrink wrap.
So what’s my point with collecting stationery and art supplies? Online art courses can be considered in the same light. The pursuit of the ‘magical unicorn’ that will turn us from mediocre to brilliant where we never actually put in the time and effort to perfect our skills.
But what good is it having the best tools or the best education without putting things into practice and refining the skills that we have learnt? As we know, knowledge doesn’t equate to skill.
Productive Procrastination
According to the website Solving Procrastination, productive procrastination (also known as structured procrastination) involves doing beneficial things while delaying doing more important things.
By doing the online art course, it may provide us a false sense of accomplishment as we put off doing something important. However, nearing the end of the course, we may start to stress because the important things we should be doing are still incomplete even though we are being productive. This could spiral us into further procrastination by finding another online art course to do so we can continue to feel productive.
Being A Storm Chaser
The storm chaser Mike Olbinski laments that one of the most difficult aspects of being a storm chaser is the fear of missing out — the ‘FOMO’. Sit, Jane CNN (2021, September 20)
A study by Psychiatry Research revealed that FOMO was linked with greater social media usage regardless of age or gender. These days it’s so easy to see what other artists, illustrators or surface designers are doing. From seeing what new course they have enrolled in to seeing what new course they have created.
At times it may feel like there is pressure to keep up with the Joneses, even though we should be focusing on how the online art course would benefit or contribute to our skill set for our own personal journey.
Adding to this, a majority of course creators tap into or deploy FOMO marketing in one form or another. Yes FOMO marketing is real!
As humans, we naturally want to be a part of things, to know what’s going on, to be connected and not be left behind. FOMO marketing uses our human psychology against us which forcefully encourages us to sign up to courses we don’t necessarily need or want to.
Some of these FOMO marketing strategies below might sound familiar to you.
a) Showing how in demand the course is
Have you ever seen those Instagram reels or posts where the course creator is pinning names on a board to share how many students have already signed up? What feelings does it spark in you? Do you think wow there are so many people signing up, am I missing out? Just right there, the course creator has provoked FOMO in you. If you didn’t know how many people signed up in the course, would you think differently about the course?
b) Limited time offer
This tactic usually provides a sense of urgency. Some examples include
- A countdown clock to the close of registration
- The course registration is limited to only a certain length of time
- The course is only offered once off or once per a year
c) Rewards for early decisions
Providing a discount or a bonus if you sign up early.
d) Promote Experience
This leverages testimonials and affiliates where some alumnus provide information to validate the course. Affiliates are BIG these days! Affiliates are ex-students who are paid a commission to promote the course. Promotion can be in for the form of an Instagram Live talking about their experience of the course and what the course has done for them to sending an email to tell you about their experience.They usually provide an extra bonus or something if you sign up through them to entice you further. It should be noted, the information is usually biased where only positive experience is shared.
e) Free Mini Courses
This entices the target audience to register for the actual course. In marketing terms, it provides a higher conversion rate. It allows the potential student to get a taste of what the actual course is like and an opportunity to lure you in deeper. The mini course usually offers you some high-level information and has a Facebook group to allow you to mingle with other potential students. The Facebook group allows for a tighter (and targeted) social media group where you can see potentially what your peers are sharing, namely, if they have signed up for the actual course or not. In addition, you need to provide your email address during the sign up of the free mini course. This allows the course creator to obtain your email address to provide you further email marketing.
Insecurities & Fear
All the above items could be linked to our underlying insecurities and fears which makes us vulnerable to being an online art course junkie.
From my observations, there are two categories of people:
a) The newbies
These are the ones looking to shift their career into art, illustration, or surface design. This is biggest market of potential students for course creators. I observed most course creators target this slice of the pie whereby possibly offering a costly solution to fix our insecurities.
I noted a particular group which I’m also part of — the moms. As moms, we can be quite vulnerable after our little ones are born whereby struggling with identity, loneliness, fatigue, and time. Often browsing on social media at times when we are fragile and seeing everyone’s life highlights as a norm making us feel like we are not as good. Then from out of nowhere, we see an ad for an online art course which can solve all our problems.
b) The experienced
On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who do more online art courses due to imposter syndrome. They feel they are not good enough and constantly feel the pressure to up-skill and keep up. Initially thinking they lack one skill then often one course leads to another unlocking further insecurities that they must learn more and more.
Conclusion
Okay so what next you may ask? To be clear, I’m not saying online art courses are not beneficial. They can be when you find the right one and you implement the skills you learnt from it.
If you find yourself doing one online art course after another, take a breather and consider the following:
- Check that the online art course aligns with your goals and objectives
- Check if the online art course is a priority or are you trying to delay doing something else that is important?
- Take time out between online art courses to action what you have learnt
- Be mindful of FOMO marketing tactics and do not FOMO into doing an online art course
- Be sure to allocate the appropriate time and resources to complete the course
- Ask yourself if you are in a good head space when you sign up? Are you signing up because of underlying insecurities or fears?
- If you sign up through an affiliate link, is the person someone you trust? Or are they just wanting you to sign up so they can get a commission?
Lastly, there is a lot to learn out there but don’t try to learn everything at once. Go with your own flow.
