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Bridge the gap between art school and your art career

Internationally acclaimed artists act as your industry mentors, offering current information, personal guidance, and the training you need to design a head-turning portfolio.

  • Online & Interactive

    Every class is delivered online and in real-time.

  • Linear Progress

    The mentorship programs meet you where you are at and guide you every step of the way towards your goals.

  • Personalized Training

    Each course pairs you with a mentor who will help you pursue your goals.

  • Community Networking

    Be inspired and challenged by a community of passionately focused artists.

What is the mentorship program?

Great art takes hard work and dedication. Our Mentorship Programs place you on a track to succeed as a visual artist with the help of award-winning working professionals as your mentors. Each program consists of progressively challenging 10 week long courses, designed to help you develop and polish your skills, while building a career-ready portfolio for your field of interest.

Students may choose from two different mentorship programs: the Illustration Program or Concept Art Program, which can be complete in less than 12 months.

Illustration Program Concept Art Program

A custom-tailored course to develop your artistic voice

Each semester, your mentor will assess and help build your skill and development in relation to your professional goals. This includes exploring career opportunities and positioning yourself for success both creatively and professionally.

Improve your skills with hands-on assignments

You will receive hands-on assignments to hone your skills, further your understanding of the craft, build your portfolio, and develop real world experience.

Build & Polish Your Portfolio

Your instructor will give you personalized feedback throughout the semester, giving you all the help you need to improve your work and add to your portfolio.

Industry-leading pros as mentors

Passage instructors have worked with some of the biggest names in publishing, comics, entertainment, and more. Their clients include:

 

Resources that are off-the-charts

Guest Speakers

Each semester, your course features three world-renowned visual artists as guest speakers. From award-winning art directors to iconic artists in the entertainment industry, our guest speaker events give you the chance to learn from legendary pros.

Online art class pencil drawing of man by John English

Study Hall: your midweek critique

Study Hall is open to the entire Visual Arts Passage community and invites students to meet-up participate in group critiques from a wide array of artists from all programs.

On-going assistance between classes

Each course uses Slack as a tool for you to stay in constant communication with your mentor and fellow classmates. This gives you the ability to ask questions, share progress, and stay on track between live classes.

Need More Help?

We can help you with any questions related to enrollment, portfolio development, and the student experience.

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Frequently Asked Questions

We offer a number of professional tracks including the Illustration Program, Commercial Gallery Program, and Character Design Program. Each program consists of a series of linear courses, each building upon the lessons taught in the previous. Each course consists of 10, 3 hour long classes. During the semester, you will complete hands-on assignments, receive personal critiques, and have insightful discussions regarding your skill and professional development.

You will meet with your mentor every weekend for a live 3 hour class. You also have the option to attend the midweek  "Study Hall", which is live class meet-up for all Passage students.

During your mentorship, you will develop your skills via lecture, demonstrations, and learn-by-doing assignments. Every assignment you submit will either be critiqued live and in real-time during your online class or feedback will be provided as a recording shortly after the live class.

Yes, Visual Arts Passage levels the playing field for artists. We go back to the basics and help you rethink the way you create visual narratives. This information is applicable to all artists, regardless of experience level.

We only require you to commit and pay for one course per semester. If for any reason you need to take a break from the program, you can return at a later date and pick up with your next class. We also have payment plans available for all of our live courses via lending with Affirm. If you need help arranging this assistance, please email hello@visualartspassage.com

Yes, as a mentorship student you will only take one, 10 week long course per semester. You do have the option to attend topic-based mini courses during the week, such as Color Theory or Figure Drawing.

Students will spend a minimum of 3 hours per week attending live and online classes. In addition, we recommend planning on at least 2-3 hours per week on your assignment as well. This program is designed to be extremely flexible, so you get out of it what you put in. Some of our students commit much more time each week.

You need an ambitious, won't give up attitude, and a computer with access to wifi. Here are the system requirements for using Zoom video conferencing.

Mentors are assigned to instruct specific courses. Students are then paired with the best Mentor for their personal growth. Special requests are not always possible and is not always advisable depending on the student's skill level or professional interest, but we do our best to accommodate requests.

We currently host all of our classes in Zoom. Students do not have to purchase this software. Google Classroom and Discord are also used for communication outside of the live sessions.

YES! This is designed for busy people - that's why all of our classes are available on-demand and are hosted on Saturdays.

Yes! Our Foundations Course, which precedes our Illustration and Concept Art Programs, is perfect for high school-aged artists. The Foundations Course will also prepare you to join our Illustration and Concept Art Programs. You must be 18 years or older or provide permission from your parent or legal guardian to apply or attend any of Visual Arts Passage's classes.

Visual Arts Passage is the perfect place to sharpen your skills. Passage levels the playing field for artists. Our organization consists of advanced and amateur artists. Artists who are exceptionally advanced are allowed to test out of our first installment. This is not encouraged, but allowed on a case-by-case basis.

Each program features presentations by six guest speakers per semester. The guest speakers are extremely successful artists. Many of these artists are on year-round contracts with some of today's most iconic studios and brands. The presentations often consist of lectures, demos, critiques, or Q&A.

Yes. It is possible to test out of any course at Visual Arts Passage. To do so, students must apply to the program and schedule a portfolio review with John English to determine this. All applicants are prompted to book a portfolio review. You can also submit your portfolio to hello@visualartspassage.com

Visual Arts Passage is a highly personalized training resource and mentorship for artists. Unlike higher education, this is an industry-focused organization that will help you improve and advance your skills as an artist and introduces you to professional, working artists. This program is not built on theory, it is built on the industry. Visual Arts Passage is not accredited.