Patreon & Mentorship

If you’re looking for resources to learn more about watercolor painting, I post them regularly on my Patreon. You can subscribe for $5 a month, and in return you’ll get study materials, tips on my painting process, step-by-steps, and more. In addition, if you are interested in getting my direct guidance, I also offer two mentoring tiers on my Patreon, as explained below. But first, check out some of the content I provide most often to my patrons:

  • Handbook in PDF: The main resource I make available is my Handbook in PDF, where I explain the materials I use, my drawing approach, my painting method, my chromatic logic and my compositional principles.
  • Timelapse Demos: I often record my paintings from beginning to end, and I provide an accelerated edition between 1 and 3 minutes long. These videos show how my general painting process works, although they don’t show specific procedures like brushstroke techniques. I don’t provide real-time videos (read my disclaimer at the bottom of the page).
  • Step-by-steps: I post step-by-steps that walk you through my process of painting, usually to explain a specific topic or technique. These are not tutorials (read my disclaimer at the bottom of the page), but a behind-the-scenes look at the paintings I regularly post on Instagram.
  • Tips, Resources and Thoughts: In addition to my painting process, there are three types of posts I write most often: tips, resources, and thoughts. My tips are on subjects like brush strokes and use of colors. I also explain, as extra resources, some techniques like gamut masking and digital treatment. Finally, I eventually write some reflections on my own work, showing everything from my sources of inspiration to interviews and philosophical thoughts that underlie my artistic work.

MENTORSHIP

  • $25 — Let’s paint together: collective mentoring. I will provide once a month: one photo reference for exercises; one accelerated demo video (30-45 minutes long); feedback/direction to your work through a 1-hour collective call. In addition, I will also carefully answer your questions via email (only 1 per month, so you have to make a list of questions and send them all in one email).
  • $50 — Direct mentorship: individual mentoring. I will offer everything that is foreseen in the previous tier (following the same rules and conditions), but with an extra individual call (subscribers of this tier will also be able to participate in the collective call). The advantage here is that my guidance will be more personalized, mainly in the sense of prioritizing your particular goals from your own artistic itinerary.

WHAT IS MENTORING FOR?

I believe that artistic training can be less tortuous when we can count on the guidance of someone with more experience. Personally, I don’t know what “being self-taught” means. My father, who is also an artist, taught me to paint from when I was a child. I don’t even know how many painting courses and workshops I’ve taken since then. And if today I already feel prepared to teach watercolor painting, it’s because everything I know I didn’t learn alone.

Also, as you may know, watercolor painting is definitely not the easiest and fastest thing to learn. It is, for instance, a lot more complex than digital painting: there is no undo button, or ability to go over the dark value with lighter one or replace some color you didn’t like which is already on the painting. The watercolor technique requires constant training, discipline and, above all, guidance and direction. That’s what I’m willing to offer with my mentorship on Patreon.

Finally, I should clarify that mentoring is quite different from a course or a workshop — if you’re looking for that, please check out this page. First because the mentoring does not have a predetermined duration (you can come and go as you please). There is also no target profile: mentoring covers both beginner and advanced levels. But the main thing is that you can develop your knowledge at your own pace and find what works best for you, rather than feeling the pressure to learn every single lesson in a course or workshop.

SUGGESTIONS FOR EACH PROFILE

  • “I’m not a painter, I just want to support your work”. Thank you very much! In this case, you can just subscribe to the basic tier of my Patreon ($5) or, if you prefer to make a one-off contribution, access the first link on my Linktree.
  • “I want to learn with you, but I’m a total beginner”. In that case, I suggest you take my online workshop at the Art Escape Academy, which is geared towards beginners and offers live demos. At the same time, you can check my schedule of face-to-face workshops and, if you have availability, sign up to take a class directly with me.
  • “I’m not a total beginner, but I just want to KNOW your approach”. Sure, I would love to share this with you! You just have to subscribe to the basic level ($5) of my Patreon. So you can get my Handbook in PDF and access my latest tips and thoughts.
  • “I have some experience, but I want to LEARN to paint like you”. Then you will be very welcome in my collective mentorship! All you have to do is sign up for the $25 tier of my Patreon to have access to the exercises that I propose monthly.
  • “I am already an experienced painter, but I want your guidance”. It will be a pleasure to guide you! In this case, I suggest you sign up for the $50 tier. This way you can schedule individual calls with me, in addition to having access to all the content I make available on Patreon.
  • “I just want to watch your demos, but I can’t make monthly donations.” I understand, but I’m currently unable to make my demos available outside of Patreon. But as soon as possible I plan to stream live demos or sell them individually on some online platform.

SOME TESTIMONIALS

I first joined Marcos Patreon because of course I want to learn to paint like this incredible artist. However, to my surprise Marcos deep contemplations on painting, composition and color have been so rich. I’ve realized that I’ve been so focused on “learning to paint” that I’ve missed the deeper meaning. Thank you Marcos for opening my eyes when I didn’t even know they were shut.

SHAYNA LARSEN — Colorado, USA

Through your posts on Patreon, I not only have the opportunity to get to know your fantastic watercolour technique better and to receive valuable tips, but also the chance to better understand you as an artist and a person. At the same time, it helps me to reflect on my own self. But not only that! It is also exciting to read the opinions and views of other participants, which also helps to broaden my own horizons!

SYLVIA HEIL — Salzburg, Austria

More and more I find it important to learn about the painters motivation of painting specific subjects in a specific setting rather than talking about technique. Your posts kind of match that expectations. With Patreon I also like the kind of intimacy you have in contrast to the open social media like instagram, facebook etc. Here I find more encouraged to more openly critic or write my point of view because it is a closed group.

DIETER WYSTEMP — Langen, Germany

I consider Marcos Beccari an incredible artist and an excellent teacher. His posts go beyond the purely technical issues of watercolor and often involve more conceptual and even philosophical issues of art. His texts usually present a series of concepts that help to reflect on the true reason why we are painting and in constant search of learning. Also, following his Patreon is a great opportunity to improve my painting, as the themes are not always simple and constantly force me to step out of my comfort zone. I really like the way the videos and step-by-step are presented and explained. His e-mail feedback and video meetings are also great for getting feedback on my work, asking questions, and making suggestions. It is definitely an excellent source of learning for watercolor students.

MIGUEL RAMIREZ — Brasília, Brazil

DISCLAIMERS

  • About vacancies and waiting list. Both mentoring tiers have limited vacancies because I dedicate most of my time to the university where I work. And Patreon doesn’t allow any kind of waiting list. So, if you want to sign up for my mentorship and there are no vacancies at the moment, I suggest you sign up for the basic tier ($5) to access my content and stay tuned at the end/beginning of each month, when some mentees give up and open new vacancies.
  • About vacancies and waiting list. Both mentoring tiers have limited vacancies because I dedicate most of my time to the university where I work. And Patreon doesn’t allow any kind of waiting list. So, if you want to sign up for my mentorship and there are no vacancies at the moment, I suggest you sign up for the basic tier ($5) to access my content and stay tuned at the end/beginning of each month, when some mentees give up and open new vacancies.
  • About my demo videos. The shorter demos (timelapse) are available for free on my YouTube channel, where I promote my Patreon. The longer demos (30-45 minutes long) are exclusive to my mentees, who also receive instructions and feedback. Also, I’m currently unable to offer live demos in real time because I don’t have the resources to store such large files — but I plan to do so when I reach more patrons.
  • About tutorials. I don’t offer tutorials because I don’t believe it’s possible to learn painting through tutorials. I have nothing against tutorials. I always use them to learn some software tool, to fix a household utensil, to renew the decoration of my house. But tutorials only teach specific tasks, not something like a painting technique I’ve spent my entire life practicing. Also, I’ve never met any artist who learned this way.
  • About my vacation. Every year I have two months (usually July and December) to take vacations, so there will be no mentoring and no posts in those months — you can stop paying, but if you are my mentee, your spot will remain open and can be filled by someone else.
  • About mentoring calls. The mentoring calls will be only intended for feedback, not demos. The calls will be scheduled at least 1 week in advance, with a non-negotiable day/time (always in Brazilian time), and will always be recorded and posted on Patreon (for those unable to participate at that time). As the recorded calls are heavy files, I do only make them available until the next call, so the next recordings always replace the recordings from previous months.
  • About dates and payments. In order to avoid anyone getting advice and not paying anything for it, calls are always scheduled for the beginning of the month after the demo, as well as emails will only be answered after the monthly payment.
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