Chapters
- 01. What Is An Art Teacher?
- 02. How To Become An Art Teacher
- 03. 5 Unknowns Of Becoming An Art Teacher
- 04. Want To Increase Your Art Teaching Skills?
- 05. How To Be A Drawing Teacher In Private Or Public Schools
- 06. Teaching Art In A Public School
- 07. How To Give Legitimate Private Drawing Lessons?
- 08. Is A Professional Status Mandatory To Host Painting And Drawing Workshops?
- 09. Become A Qualified Teacher On One Of The Best Teaching Platforms In The World
To be an art teacher can take several forms among the numerous different teachers in the US
Some are directly hired by schools as contract employees or even employed (this is the case for private schools of applied arts). Tutoring jobs are often seen and alternative jobs for ex-teachers.
Others are staff employees (this is the case for the professors of art in universities).
Regarding the particular professors of drawing, several choices exist to exercise this activity at home without committing fraud.
As for you, are you fascinated by China ink, oil painting, and charcoal drawing, or you master the art of portrait or still life? Then, make the most of it by giving private lessons on painting and drawing to those who want to learn near you!
Superprofhelps you review all the possibilities to give a drawing, painting or plastic arts course, as you want it.
Some artists earn their livelihood through a combination of both situations: teaching art during the day and tutoring in the discipline evenings and weekends.
Even after retirement from teaching, dedicated art teachers have a hard time letting go of the brush: for many, tutoring jobs make for satisfying alternative jobs for ex-teachers.
If your thoughts have revolved around how to make your particular brand of art profitable, have we got some news for you!
Take a look at this table; it shows the required qualifications for teaching art at all levels, including independently, as a tutor. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that not all teaching situations require high degrees!
| Qualifications for: | Tutor | Primary school Teacher | Secondary School Teacher | Beyond Secondary Level |
| DBS | advised | necessary | necessary | --- |
| Teaching Experience | advised | necessary | necessary | necessary |
| Portfolio | advised | advised | advised | advised |
| Bachelor Degree | optional | necessary | necessary | --- |
| Master's Degree | optional | optional | necessary | --- |
| Doctorate | optional | optional | optional | necessary |
What Is An Art Teacher?
By definition, an art teacher is an individual specialized in teaching how to create visual art. He or she is responsible for teaching subjects like drawing, painting, ceramics, and printmaking, to name a few.
In advanced art degrees that cover theory, teaching art history also forms a massive part of the teacher's job description.
Moreover, teaching art is different; even an art classroom doesn't look like an ordinary classroom! It is designed to encourage creativity and passion for art.
You can expect this dedicated art space to be full of art supplies, colorful items, walls full of artworks, and pictures, probably made by students.
Therefore, an art teacher finds different tactics and strategies to use these tools and bring out the artist living inside every student.
Furthermore, art teachers commonly use art competitions, exhibitions, and group activities to test and exhibit their students' skills.
Other than teaching how to create a piece of art, art teachers are also good at teaching students how to understand and appreciate art and artists.
In a competitive world, where most people choose science, architecture, and commerce as their career paths, art is misunderstood as impractical. In some cases, it is considered not worthy of a profession.
But, contrary to popular belief, an artist is one of the most paid professions, and it not just fills your pockets but satisfies your soul.
Billing yourself as an art teacher does not compel you to know everything about every branch of art. For example, if your medium is photography, no one would want you to teach them how to sculpt.
That being said, there are a few caveats:
- You should have at least some academic knowledge of your subject matter, as well as practical experience
- The general rule of thumb is that the tutor should be at least one year more advanced in skill and learning than their pupil.
Giving drawing lessons can help you pass on your knowledge and help students to master artistic techniques such as hatching, shading, rendering...drawing basic shapes, learning to draw people or more complicated techniques such as portrait drawing or still life drawing.
By demonstrating through your accomplishments and explaining drawing techniques or basic painting concepts to your students, you will find and impart confidence, in yourself and to your students.
To give private lessons in drawing, watercolor, portraiture, life drawings or still life with no degree is one thing. Your experience, however... your ability to render a subject: that is what matters!
How To Become An Art Teacher
No one has ever become an art teacher without an inherent passion for the discipline.
Therefore, to be a successful art teacher, first, you should have immense affection and respect for art, and second, you should be willing to be a dedicated and passionate teacher.
Teaching art is not like other subjects. It takes a lot of effort and creativity to encourage students to create something unique and admirable.
People often ask, what degree do you need to become an art teacher? Well, other than passion and creativity, you need a bachelor's degree at least!
Get yourself enrolled in an approved and certified teaching program. You can also go for majors in teacher preparation and then do a minor or double major in art.
Subsequently, you are expected to pass some exams, land a job and get your certification as an art teacher. The whole process of becoming an art teacher mainly involves four steps:
1. Get A Degree
Do you need a college degree to teach art in a private school? Yes, you do. First, you need to get a bachelor's degree and then build towards a master's degree, which is more preferred.
A bachelor's degree will make you eligible for a state license, and you can obtain a state credential as an art teacher and move to the next phase of your career.
2. Student Teaching
After achieving a Bachelor's degree, you will need to gain experience. This a separate step because it takes effort and time.
Moreover, it is mandatory for everyone aiming to become an art teacher. This step will put you in front of students willing to learn the art.
Practical experience will expose you to numerous challenges and learning opportunities. For example, to get more teaching knowledge, you can take private drawing classes and teach beginners how to draw.
However, you will not be on your own; there will be co-teachers to seek help from. Secondly, a faculty adviser or advisers will be there to guide you along the way.
You will be in their mentorship, and they will provide essential advice and encouragement. You will learn:
- Classroom management
- Lesson planning
- Grading policies
- How to take private drawing lessons
Lastly, there will be a rubric for you to follow. In the end, you may be asked to submit a detailed report containing highlights of your experience, a portfolio, a formal write-up, or examples of outstanding artwork students have created under your guidance.
3. Pass Your Exams
A state-approved standardized test is mandatory to pass if you want to secure any teaching certificate. And a majority of states rely on the PRAXIS exams, which is the first step to becoming a teacher.
Specifically, the first thing you appear in is the PRAXIS I, a test that includes an assessment of your mathematical and verbal skills.
It is pretty similar to SAT or ACT. However, it is also more straightforward for college students because it indicates that they have already cleared tougher tests.
But remember that meeting the minimum requirements is a must for both parts; otherwise, you will have to reappear for the section you haven’t cleared.
Next is the PRAXIS II. This one tests your art knowledge and ability to teach the arts. And to prepare for either PRAXIS I or PRAXIS II, there are several guides available at ETS.
Although you must keep in mind that some states like California don't have PRAXIS exams, instead, they follow an independent process to assess a person’s ability to teach.
Every state has a specific test to measure classroom teaching skills. For instance, California has three or more trials examining different required skills and abilities.
4. Get Your License
Once you are through with all the tests, exams and have secured the required level of education, all you need to do is ensure your application contains all the necessary documents. These include:
- Transcripts
- Letter of recommendation from your department
- Proof of previous employment/internship/teaching assistant job
- Resume
When all of these things are in order, you will be able to get a job
5 Unknowns Of Becoming An Art Teacher
As the Spanish proverb says, "He who wants a mule without fault must walk on foot." Hence, like all the other professions and career paths, being an art teacher has some unknowns too.
There aren’t too many negative connotations attached to being an art teacher. However, unexpectedly, it does come with some unexpected expectations.
And the way we tackle these accompanying surprises will shape our attitudes towards the profession and essentially makes a difference.
To keep you aware of the unknowns of being an art teacher, we have prepared a list of 5 things that you might not know about this profession.
1. A Rock Star Feeling
Now you must be thinking, feeling like a rock star is not bad at all. That's right! However, the only downside is that you will only have that reverence in front of your students, which can be deceiving!
When you are an art teacher doing your job wholeheartedly, your students tend to look up to you. They put you up on a pedestal and use your experience as inspiration.
Their adoration and respect for you translate into a minor celebrity status!
The problem comes when some people let this affection consume them, affecting how they do their job. Your job is to teach your students, not maintain a rock star status in front of them.
2. Sharing Is Caring
On several occasions, you will be expected to share your art room with other teachers and students. Sometimes even your assignments, supplies, and projects too.
You should know how to work in a group and share things you are not used to sharing. As humans, we are generally not thrilled when someone uses our stuff, but just like we are taught in kindergarten, sharing is caring.
You never know the kind of networks you can make by helping someone when they need it – sharing is your way to build these bridges.
You may find like-minded people to be your companion in this journey to becoming an art teacher.
3. Put On Your Big Girl (Or Boy) Pants
There will be occasions when to achieve something, you will have to stand for yourself. Nothing is for free, and sometimes being too nice doesn't get the job done.
These situations will put you in a position where you have to demand what's yours and find a professional way to do it.
Whether it's your program, supplies, or project, don't play dumb every time. Learn to speak up when necessary, but don't get too emotional. Staying calm is the key.
4. Learn To Say "No" With Poise
When you have a unique skill or talent, you are frequently sought out for favors. As a result, there will be many people asking you to do free work or help out.
But it would be best if you learned to say NO without being impolite. At times, people will ask for supplies, ask for course material or even ask for help when they need it – shut them down!
As a good person, you should be ready to help others but know the difference between being a nice guy and being used.
Hence, don't overdo yourself and ensure that you don't help others at the expense of your own progress.
5. Not Enough Appreciation
Keep in mind that there will be times you won't get enough credit for your hard work. Your efforts are under-appreciated, and people won't understand your position.
When it happens, pat your back, reflect and appreciate yourself. Then, clap for yourself, or better yet, find people who can join you while clapping for yourself.
There will be some largely demotivating times and incidents. However, you will have to take care of yourself and develop admirable things for yourself and your critiques.
Want To Increase Your Art Teaching Skills?
If you are tired of googling private drawing lessons near me and haven't found anything relevant, we can get you what you are looking for.
Superprof is a fantastic platform where you can get all the lessons you need. Whether you are an art teacher, an art student, or just someone confused about studying arts or not, Superprof has it all for you.
People from all across the globe use it to teach various subjects online in groups and one-to-one sessions. So visit Superprof and start your educational journey today.
How To Be A Drawing Teacher In Private Or Public Schools
First of all, let's get back to the issue of the required qualifications of teachers in primary, secondary, or higher education.
The art teacher is not like the others, a little bit silly, covered in paint, with an artistic style, brushes in the hair, they share, nevertheless, the status of his peers.
Teaching Art In A Public School
A professor of arts who teaches history of art, painting or other in a public institution, whether it's a primary school, a secondary school, or a university, can have two statuses.
Do you know them?
- At first, they can be a full professor and a state employee with an art diploma obtained in the public program. However, their employer is then the State, and they become a member of the public service.
- They can also be hired under contract to do the same work in a private school and teach the painting (gouache, oil, acrylic), drawing (black stone, graphite, soft pastels, etc.) techniques without limit.
Giving Drawing And Painting Classes In A Private School
Whether the art teacher takes care of a year 11 class in secondary school or teaches in a prestigious school of applied arts, they can have various statuses according to if the private school is under contract or off-contract.
The point to know which status you will have by leading arts courses in the school:
- For a private school under contract, the art teacher will have a contractual status with remuneration and an hourly workload modeled on other employees.
- There is no concourse to obtain the position in a private school off-contract or pay scale for the drawing courses.
Indeed, private schools under contract cannot issue the status of state employees to the professionals who give drawing or painting workshops or give art history courses.
At the beginning of his career, a drawing professor can make approximately $1975 a month.
Namely, to teach in secondary education, it will be necessary to obtain a vocational certificate in the functions of private education.
It happens that private schools have difficulties finding replacements for art teachers. In this case, they can give a chance to people who do not have all the required diplomas. However, you have to know that you will be kicked out without remorse if the permanent teacher reappears.
And it doesn't matter your excellent control of the charcoal drawing technique or your extraordinary work on Caravaggio.
A former art teacher of primary school can become a professor and give online drawing courses during his retirement.
To do that, he will have to create a new status, except if he wants to make this activity in a hidden way.
How To Give Legitimate Private Drawing Lessons?
If you don't work in a school, you can choose among various statuses to charge your services of drawing techniques, painting, or a sanguine chalk course.
Do you want to design and offer painting workshops on your porch?
Do you love the idea of passing on all the artistic knowledge that you have gathered in these last years?
You are a retired professor of arts, and you miss teaching children?
To Become A Freelancer And Give Art And Design Courses
By becoming a freelancer, you will be an independent art teacher or a freelancer if you prefer, capable of giving drawing courses for children and adults.
You can either work from your home, go to your student's home or still join an artists' association. The leitmotif is the same: paint, draw, teach the techniques of color, learn to create a painting, etc., to passionate students.
The simplest way today is to declare an auto-entrepreneur activity directly on the corresponding portal.
This way, you can charge service of painting or artistic workshop within the rules of regular labor. Every service results in a numbered invoice and obliges you to keep an account book.
Don't worry, even the worst mathematician can get away thanks to a simplified tax system and a right not to charge the VAT. Phew, because for artists paperwork is never the favourite thing to do.
To facilitate your everyday life and your accounting, it's recommended to propose packages of courses to avoid charging your students after every drawing or painting workshop.
Thus, you can issue, for example, invoices for ten courses all at once. Obviously, this does not prevent you from granting facilities for payment to your drawing apprentices.
An art teacher’s professional activity, which consists of leading particular drawing or painting workshops at home or in a different place, is registered in the list of liberal professions.
And yes, don't forget that a freelancer giving courses in drawing technique, oil painting, or soft pastel has the right to earn no more than $42,000 a year.
Can anyone give drawing tutorials? As long as you've got the talent, yes!
The school holidays will be the opportunity to live your passion by organizing training courses of watercolor, teaching the technique of shades and the light, or still learning to draw manga in a drawing class.
Fortunately, released from the administrative duties, you will have plenty of time for your courses of India ink, internships of painting or still drawing workshops of "still life".
Having A Society To Propose Particular Or Collective Creative Drawing Or Painting Workshops
If you are a speaker in schools of art on a case-by-case basis or if your revenue is significant by means of the creative workshops you give, you will need another legal and fiscal status.
Already know that if you create a real company as an art professor, not subjected to the system of the micro-company, you will need an accountant.
What type of company to choose as an activity for an art teacher?
- LTD: Private company limited by shares if you want to work with other associate artists.
- One Man Company: little risk and little investment
- Unipersonal Company: limited liability company with a single shareholder with few start-up capitals
Subsequently, the status chosen to exercise the activity of art teacher will have no impact on the proposed activities.
You can prepare students for the entrance examinations of the best art schools, teach young children the bases of the painting, or give watercolor classes to your neighbor Monica.
Discover how to set your rates as an art tutor...
Is A Professional Status Mandatory To Host Painting And Drawing Workshops?
The temptation can be great to give art and design courses without declaring them to whom it may concern. $35here and there, that won't hurt anyone!
Because within the framework of illicit work, the method of payment is made in cash, from hand to hand.
For one student it can be harmless, but if you really plan to settle down as a drawing or painting teacher, making your publicity, and living on this activity, this is not the solution.
What are you putting at risk when working without declaring your resources?
The biggest risk is, without a doubt, denunciation.
Indeed, why would another professional proposing the same services let you propose courses potentially cheaper without declaring them?
The threat is to prevent the institution managing social security payments from hiring an investigator without your knowledge and observes the "carousel" of your private drawing lessons clandestinely.
Have caution with your art lovers students too, you never know!
Follow these tips to find students for your art classes!
To give your drawing, plastic art, and painting courses, you have several choices of status according to your profile. If you give courses to round off your month or because you're simply on your own, choose to begin with a freelance status. Check first if that works.
Looking to find students for your drawing course? Join as a art tutor on SuperProf without forgetting to look at the profiles of other enthusiasts of drawing.
The course offers are multiple:
- Discovering the brush
- Initiation into the bases of the drawing
- Improvement with painting workshops
- Learning of the sculpture
- Learning prospecting, modelling, and the exercises of the sketch
- And a course for preparation for fine arts
To begin teaching, most of the artists will have to obtain a master's degree or even a doctorate to make them more competitive. The majority begins as part-time teachers and assistants of teachers, then as consultant professors, then to obtain finally full-time jobs. It's a domain which experiences a lot of competition and is not an easy path to choose due to limited positions as full-time jobs.
Become A Qualified Teacher On One Of The Best Teaching Platforms In The World
Teaching art can be an enriching experience, both for the student and the teacher. Students will learn to perfect new art techniques; in contrast, teachers can learn about people, their creative habits, motivations, and expressive processes.
Art is a way of expressing our inner thoughts and feelings, and the best art class always encourages free unbridled expression.
Finding students and teachers for art classes can be a chore in itself. It's hard lugging along art supplies to classes and maintaining a schedule. Fortunately, with Superprof, home-based art lessons are very much possible.
Every Superprof art teacher (or tutor of any other subject!) is provided a page where they create a detailed overview of their education and experience, explain what they have to offer and even show artistic realizations.
Admittedly, the best tutors have some demonstrable type of formal education in artistic disciplines; at least one of the following:
- A high school diploma in literature with an option arts
- A Fine Arts School training
- A preparatory school certificate denoting entrance to top art schools
- A two-year technical degree in visual creation
- A Master's Degree in Art
- Some may even have a teaching certificate!
- Passion and the experience of drawing or painting practice.
To reiterate: no art degree is required to give independent art courses or tutor in art. However, you should have some declaration of your teaching ability and activity.
Discover all you need to know about becoming an art tutor.
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