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Training Information

Below is some details on photography and art home-study courses I would like to take.

Training Info

Here is a bit of info on some training I hope to take at some point. As I work and don’t have the luxury to take time off I’ve opted for the home study option. After a long period of searching the net and obtaining info from all sorts Open College of Arts came out on top.

The site looks good and gives lots details of their courses. What I like about them is that there is a potential to gain an academic qualification or two. They stress, however, that although they are in the process of applying for validation of a BA Hons degree it is not available at the moment. The highest award that they can offer students is a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) in Creative Arts. This is made up of 120 credits at Level 1 + 120 credits at Level 2. I also like that you are assigned a tutor who will guide you through the course. Course details and links are below:

Drawing:

DW1: Drawing – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/drawing/drawing1
DW1: Drawing in Colour – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/drawing/dr_col
- £450, 5 months, 3 hours a week (for each course above)
- 40 level 1 credits (combing both courses above)

Painting:

PT1: Watercolour – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/painting/p1wc
– 40 level 1 credits (£580, 10 months, 7 hours a week)
PT2: Relating to Other Artists – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/painting/p2rtoa
– 60 level 2 credits (£580, 10 months, 7 hours a week)
PT3: Advanced – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/painting/p3adv
– 60 level 3 credits (£580, 10 months, 7 hours a week) – probably will not do

Photography:

P1: The Art of Photography – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/photography/ph1aop
– 40 level 1 credits (£580, 9-12 months, 6 hours a week)
P2: Landscape – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/photography/ph2Land
– 60 level 2 credits (£580, 9-12 months, 6 hours a week)
P3: Advanced – http://www.oca-uk.com/courses/photography/ph3adv
– No credits that I can see (£580, 9-12 months, 6 hours a week)

On top of the prices is an £100 assessment charge for each course if you want your work to be assessed (and gain the points). Plus you pay for postage to send your assignments to your tutor, though free when they come back. I’ve included the drawing courses, my plan was to actually start with the basic drawing course to see how the whole home-study thing goes, then take on the first photography course. I’m not sure this is such a good idea. The times quoted above are guides and I would say double these. So if I was doing both courses I would need 18 hours each week, that’s 3 hours over 6 days each week for 10+ months.

At the moment I cannot afford this anyway, but would certain like to take the basic courses. I still would like to combine pencil drawing and photography but need to concentrate on one or the other with such training. Either way, completing these courses will take several years.

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