What Art Techniques and Tutorials Can You Learn on Artists Network?

Updated

Artists Network is a subscription-based art education site that combines streaming video courses, magazine articles, and step-by-step technique guides across oil painting, watercolor, drawing, and more. You can use it to study specific methods—such as atmospheric perspective, fat-over-lean oil painting, watercolor whites, and portraiture—through paint-along sessions, demonstrations, and written tutorials. The site is best suited to artists who want structured, medium-specific instruction and are comfortable learning through a mix of video and editorial content.

What techniques and topics are covered

The homepage and article listings show a curriculum organized around practical, medium-specific skills rather than general art history. Representative examples include:

  • Atmospheric perspective — a paint-along session on creating depth through color and value shifts.
  • Portraiture — a demonstration of John Singer Sargent's portrait approach with instructor Johannes Vloothuis, plus a separate portrait demonstration by Marcos Rey and an article on authenticity in portraiture.
  • Oil painting mediums — a guide to painting "fat over lean" and a simple explanation of oil mediums.
  • Watercolor — creating abundant light with watercolor and five ways to let the white of the paper do the work.
  • Composition and design — using notan (light-dark balance) to design eye-catching compositions, featured in the Watercolor Artist Winter 2027 issue.
  • Texture effects — tips for creating crackle paste textures.
  • Drawing — portrait demonstration content and drawing-focused articles.

The site also carries art-business and inspiration content, such as reinventing visibility and how flowers inspire a year-round art practice, so the learning scope extends beyond pure technique.

What formats the instruction takes

Content arrives in several forms, which matters for how you learn:

Format What it looks like Best for
Streaming video courses Over 2,000 hours of video, including paint-alongs and instructor demonstrations Watching a technique unfold in real time
Magazine articles Four magazine titles, including Artists Magazine, Watercolor Artist, and Southwest Art Reading focused technique breakdowns and artist profiles
Digital and print editions Current issues available as digital or print products Following themed coverage, such as a collector's issue or competition winners
Product library 500+ unique products Supplementing instruction with materials and references

A paint-along, for example, lets you follow a finished demonstration from start to finish, while a magazine article such as the fat-over-lean guide gives you the underlying rule to apply in your own work.

How to find tutorials by theme

The site organizes content by medium and topic through its article sections—Art Business, Oil Painting, Drawing, and Watercolor appear as distinct channels—and through magazine issues that group related techniques. To study a specific skill:

  1. Identify the medium or technique you want (for example, watercolor whites or oil mediums).
  2. Browse the matching medium section or search the article and course listings for that topic.
  3. Choose a format: a video demonstration if you want to watch the process, or an article if you want a written explanation you can revisit.
  4. Check the current magazine issues for themed collections, since issues often bundle several related techniques.

The site's competition and new-product sections are separate from instruction, so treat them as discovery entry points rather than tutorials.

What to expect before you commit

Artists Network describes itself as offering over 2,000 hours of streaming video, 500+ products, and four magazine titles, and it presents subscription options through its subscribe and join pages. Pricing details and any login requirements are not specified in the available site information, so confirm current terms on those pages before subscribing. If your goal is to learn a specific technique, start with the free article listings to judge whether the teaching style fits you, then decide whether the video library and magazines justify a subscription.