As you start off in Snail level, it is important to practice humility and move slowly like a snail.

Regardless of your achievements or natural abilities in art or in other areas of life, it is important to recognize that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses... including you.

Since we all have different strengths and weaknesses, we should not treat others differently because of their strengths or weaknesses.

Likewise, we should not expect to be treated better or worst than others because we may have particular strengths or weaknesses.

Set aside your positive or negative attributes and lets treat each other fairly and in an equally helpful manner.

You will find in life that we all rely on each other even when it is not immediately apparent, and not one particular person is more important than another.

The Snail Levels in the Oam Studios Curriculum concentrates on line quality.

Line quality refers to the properties of a line. There are various properties that make up every single line.

An artist must recognize each property when observing and creating lines.

Lay people don't often realize that there are three parts to a line.

You have the opening, the body & the resolution of a line.

The opening and end of a line can be referred to and the ends when discussing both at the same time.

The opening and resolution of a line or ends of a line are made up of shapes but are not refered to with the names of those shapes.

For example, even though a line may start with a circle shape, we use the adjective round to describe it since the art tools are not circles but maybe a round brush or round felt tip pen.

The ends of a line maybe the same or a combination of the following: round, oval, square, rounded-square, triangular, rounded-triangle, sharp, or rounded-sharp.

The body of a line is the length of the line between its opening and resolution. There are three main types of bodies which are uniform, tapered, and undulating.

Uniform lines have an equal thickness through the length of the line. "Uni" after all means one and form refers to its shape. Therefore uniform means literally that it has one form or thickness through its length.

Tapered lines, on the other hand, become progressively smaller toward one end.

Undulating lines are lines that have smoothly rising and falling forms or outlines. This can often be seen in calligraphy as lines may change thickness from thin to thick and then back to thin.

Other types of bodies are typically just descriptions or patterns such as jagged, curvy, lightning, or wavy and so on.

Sometimes descriptors of lines are pointing out the direction of movement such as horizontal, vertical and diagonal.

A lines weight refers the the strength, thickness, heaviness, and sometimes darkness of a line.

Line weight can be measured in many ways. Sometimes, for instance, the thickness of a line is calculated by pixels when pertaining to digital mediums. How many pixels side by side would determine the thickness of a line.

Typically artist describe pen and pencil line weight by estimating the amount of strokes it would take to make the line that thick. So one pencil point or pen point would be one pen or pencil stroke.

Two pen points would be equal to the thickness of a line made with two strokes placed side by side and forming one line. 5 pen points would be 5 stokes of the pen merged side by side.

The weight of a brush stoke usually referred to by its measurement in the imperial system or metric system.

In many cases the tool that is used by the artist will create the line properties.

For example, a chisel point pen will naturally make a square opening and resolution while also creating a uniform body if the line continues in a straight direction.

If using a chisel point pen and the line is curvy then calligraphic properties will be created that will have either undulating or tapered bodies.

Likewise, a filbert paint brush can create a round or oval opening, a uniform or tapered body, and even a sharp resolution depending on the pressure and hand movement of the artist.

Discretion is the power or the right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice and as a virtue one would have the quality of being discreet. This especially when in reference to one’s own actions or speech; prudence or decorum.

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First off, the virtue of purity does not have to do with cleanliness in the art studio.

Instead we are talking about our intentions being pure. That means that our intentions are good or benevolent.

Our intentions should be free of self-interest, egoism, envy, cruelty, spite, greed, malice, trickery or dishonety.

There are places and people that you will live with or work with where preserving the purity amongst each other is more conducive to learning, growing, and caring for each other.

The Unicorn Levels in the Oam Studios Curriculum concentrates on math & science.

Often people don't realize that there is a whole lot of math & science embedded within art.

After all, images are made out of angles, measurements, anchors and vertices even if you don't see them.

If a student is able to think of their art more mathematically, then their drafting skills will become more accurate.

Angels are everywhere!

We can measure angles using protractors and instead of inches or centimeters which measure distances, we use degrees.

Degrees go from 0°-360°. If you turn around in a complete circle then you will have turned 360°.

Sometimes angles have a special name i.e. a 90° angle is referred to as a "right angle".

Angles that are narrower than a right angle are called an acute angle.

Angels that are wider that a right angle are called obtuse angles.

When an artist draws they see everything in terms of measurments and distances.

They are constantly comparing areas and cutting them into small portions visually in their mind.

A fraction is a small divion of an area. Understanding fractions will make your art work more accurate.

A "half" is a fraction and can also be written like this: "1/2" or like this: ".5"

A "quarter" is one fourth of something. Just like four quarters make one dollar.

An "eighth" is half of a quarter, is 4 of a half and 1/8th of a whole.

When someone measures they often use a ruler.

Artist on the other hand use many different things to measure.

Of course the most important measuring tool are their eyes. Because their eyes are so well trained they can measure really well using them.

They also will make rulers by cutting a sheet of paper or a string and drawing on their own measurements.

They will also use their pencil by lifting it towards the object tehy are trying to measure and placing their thumb on the pencil to mark the distance from their thumbtip to the tip of the pencil.

Fidelity is the virtue of consistency which is very important in Porcupine Level as well as in life.

It is the basis for reliable thought, reason, morality, trust, and loyalty.

It allows us to predict future behavior based on the history of past behavior.

A person that is reliable is predictable and an artist that gets work done on time is consistent.

Fidelity is most valuable when it is applied to the most worthy ideas, deeds, principles, or affiliations.

The Porcupine Levels in the Oam Studios Curriculum concentrates on stippling.

Stippling is a type of shading where the artist places dots of various distances from one another to make areas darker or lighter in value.

This shading technique is especially important to Oam Studios because it teaches the students patience and closer observation to values.

Stippling is especially great to cloud cloudy, gaseous forms and objects that are distorted by those types of forms.

Printers use the stippling shading technique.

If you look very closely you will see small dots that the printer sprayed on to the surface.

The dots are so tiny and accurate that we hardly ever notice.

When stippling is used for creating a whole painting, the painting technique is called pointillism and the artist is referred to as a pointillist painter.

Pointillism is a painting technique that was developed and credited to Georges-Pierre Seurat, a French artist from 1859-1891.

In the summer of 1884, Seurat began work on A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The painting shows members of each of the social classes participating in various park activities. The tiny juxtaposed dots of multi-colored paint allow the viewer’s eye to blend colors optically, rather than having the colors physically blended on the canvas.

This ten foot wide painting took him two years to complete. Much of that time, however, was spent drawing numerous studies and sketches in the park in preparation for the final work.

A mosaic is a picture made up of small parts which are traditionally tiny tiles made out of terracotta, pieces of glass, ceramics or marble and usually inlayed into floors and walls.

It is very smiliar to stippling because the overall image is made of tiny dots.

If you think about it a television is a mosaic of tiny pixels, but the pixels change colors.

Prudence means being careful about your choices, stopping and thinking before acting.

An artist must be prucdent in every brushstroke or flick of the ink pen but one should be prudent outside of the art studio as well.

To be prudent is a strength of restraint which means you do not succumb to being impulsive.

When you are prudent, you are not taking unnecessary risks, and not saying or doing things that you might later regret.

In life we have control of our words and our actions; unfortuantly not always our thoughts.

Be prudent with your words and actions. Consider the people those words or actions will affect.

The Eagle Levels in the Oam Studios Curriculum concentrates on hatching.

Hatching is a form of shading where the artist uses lines to create areas darker or lighter in value.

There are two different forms of hatching. One is simple hatching & the other is cross hatching.

Other forms of hatching may be a variation of the two mentioned above.

Simple hatching is a style of shading that uses parallel lines beside each other to create darker and lighter values.

The hatch marks are usually on the opposite side of the light source, but at times can be within an object to show divets on the surface.

A master of simple hatching was the notorious Michael Wolgemut. One of my favorite of his works to exam is called Dance of Death or Danse Macabre

Here you can see that the simple hatch marks are often on the left side of the characters bones, which means that the lighting is coming from the right. Whether that be moonlight or sunlight, we cannot be sure.

Cross hatching goes further from simple hatching because, well the hatch marks cross.

This give us even darker values and can also allow us to be less concerned with the hatch marks as they tend to stop being as noticable.

A very famous artist that has mastered cross hatcher, and that most people are familiar with, is Albrecht Durer.

His work, Praying Hands, is the work that most often people recognize, but the cross hatching in praying hands is so subtle and the hands themselves actually have nothing to do with prayer so it is best to reference his other great works.

In his work Saint George on Horse Back, you can really see the mastered cross hatching that Durer is capable of.

Simple hatching and cross hatching can be performed with a number of type of lines including perfectly straight lines.

Better though, and more difficult to apply is using contour lines to either type of hatching.

Contour lines define the interior structure of an object. So if a the object is round, the contour lines will curve along the shape.

If the shape has divets within it, then the contour lines will describe them as well by curving into and bending out of the divets.

The above drawing is called a cross contour drawing. You can see that the contour lines describe the surface of the hand and that shading is made possible by the thickening and thinning of the lines.

Generosity (also called largess) is the virtue of being liberal in giving, often as gifts. Generosity is regarded as a virtue by various world religions, and is often celebrated in cultural and religious ceremonies.

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Justice is the moderation or mean between selfishness and selflessness – between having more and having less than one's fair share.

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The bestowing of unconditional love and having a positive impact on the lives of others. Showing a genuine concern for the good of others, with unselfish acts of kindness such as: compassion, caring, thoughtfulness, service, and other humanitarian and noble actions.

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Compassion is the ability to feel sorrow over another person's suffering, and to express that sorrow in a way that is intended to alleviate that suffering. Unlike pity, compassion does not suggest any feeling of superiority to the suffering person, but is instead a virtue that forms a bond with the sufferer.

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Simplicity is the virtue of removing the unrelated things to reveal the essence. Simplicity is the direct alignment with reality and it is the opposite of false. Simplicity is the opposite of excess. Simplicity is also the opposite of indirect.

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Good faith is the virtue of truthfulness. You might call it sincerity, truthfulness, honesty, veracity, candor, or authenticity, the particular word chosen is less important than the deep respect for the truth they each convey.

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Mercy is the virtue of forgiveness. It is the decision to stop hating and to renounce vengeance. It is about your choice, not other's choice. Mercy does not nullify the evil, and it does not give up the fight against evil; it is your refusal to be drawn into evil, to add to the hate, or to continue the violence.

Manga is an umbrella term for a wide variety of comic books and graphic novels originally produced and published in Japan. Unlike American comic books, which are usually printed in full color, Japanese manga are almost always published in black and white. Full-color prints are often only used for special releases.

In Japan and in Japanese, anime (a term derived from the English word animation) describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. In addition to original works, anime are often adaptations of Japanese comics (manga), light novels, or video games.

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As a virtue, tolerance implies that one accepts differences in people. You don't expect others to think, look, speak or act just like you. Tolerant people are generally free of prejudice and discrimination. ... An exaggerated tolerance may amount to a vice, while intolerance may sometimes be a virtue

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Gentleness is the virtue of doing your good with the least possible harm to others. It is the decision to approach others from a stance of love—or at least benevolence—rather than indifference, or worse. Gentleness is courage without violence, strength without harshness, and love without anger.

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Courage is a virtue when we choose to do good, especially when that is most difficult. Courage most demands our respect when it incurs risk without selfish motivation. Courage is moral strength in the face of danger. Courage is most virtuous when it is combined with knowledge, wisdom, and opinion.

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Having a sense of humor helps us to endure things more easily. Indeed we could hardly get along without it. The person who sees man only seriously, only morally or pedagogically, cannot endure him for any great length of time. We must have an eye for the oddity of existence. Everything human has something comic about it.

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Gratitude is the virtue of rejoicing in what is. It is expressing the feeling of joy we get from all that brings us joy. It is the opposite of regret, which is a feeling of sadness for what is, and of nostalgia, which aches for a past which is now gone

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Virtue is the quality of being morally good. ... The word virtue comes from the Latin root vir, for man. At first virtue meant manliness or valor, but over time it settled into the sense of moral excellence. Virtue can also mean excellence in general.

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