Help bring Art Flashcards to life!

Hi, my name is Brando and I am an artist and art community organizer in Washington, D.C. This is a GoFundMe to raise money to launch a business selling flashcards to artists and art enthusiasts. Read on to learn how I ended up with the vision for this project and also how Art Flashcards have so much potential to do good in our art communities!

I have been an art lover my entire life. Growing up, I watched my dad paint murals and I listened to my grandfather tell stories about his art students. He was an art teacher and wow did my eyes sparkle at the thought of becoming a full-time artist! Following that dream was particularly difficult. Becoming an artist is a lot harder than I expected. At six years old, I started drawing. That was 26 years ago, but it never felt like I had the proper resources or guidance to make it my living. It wasn't until two years ago that I started going to classes to learn from real art teachers how to draw. I started to pick up proper technical skills and also a fundamental education in art principles. I was quickly overwhelmed with information and as I tried to keep up in my classes, I felt like I was drowning in a vocabulary I never knew existed. I scoured the internet for basic videos on the principles of art and design with varying degrees of success, but what I really wanted was a set of flashcards that distilled the core concepts. Flashcards don't replace an education, but they are a great supplement or starting point for classes to continue to build on. And of course, art flashcards didn't exist.... until now.

Books held the information I needed. Andrew Loomis, George Bridgeman, Burne Hogarth. Thus began my journey to understanding these essential pillars of art. Since then, I've synthesized information from blogs, videos, and too many books to bring you the most succinct definitions of each concept.

I have now designed 70 flashcards that cover the core concepts of a beginning art student. The current set covers art categories, design basics, mark-making, and art movements. I need your help to bring these cards into reality. This project is dear to my heart and I've poured countless hours into it, but to bring them to print, I need to cover costs such as a website, sample printing, boxes, shipping, and stocking fees.

I plan to scale the project from digital-only files to full-color prints. I have plans to modify the "Base Set" of cards with expansions that cover color theory, perspective, art materials, tools of the trade, and more! I would also like to add that there are even more opportunities to offer specialized sets of cards for people who want to learn about 3d printing, photography, sculpture, music, installation, performance, fiber arts, writing, graphic design, etc.

As a community organizer in the art space, I am connected to a large network of artists who can provide feedback on the terms and definitions, concepts, and vocabulary before these hit the shelves.

The true reason I want to make this dream a reality is that I want to help encourage the artists of the world, to reduce the barrier to entry that I experienced when I was young, and to deploy a great tool that will give anyone the foundation in art terminology, concepts, and history that they can rely on to further their education. With any luck, we'll both be a little smarter than when we started! Thank you for considering a donation to this project!