Why I Stopped Making Pre-Recorded Courses (And What I'm Doing Instead)
I have a course sitting in my shop that's 9 hours long. Unsurprisingly, almost nobody's finished it.
That's not a humble brag about how comprehensive it is: that's the whole problem, in one sentence.
The information was never the bottleneck
Let's be honest about where we are in 2026: Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini will happily build you a tailored syllabus for absolutely anything in about ten seconds flat, then point you at the millions of free tutorials already sitting on YouTube and every art account's highlight reel.
So if you're an artist who wants to learn something (anatomy, colour theory, Photoshop, Procreate, character design or modelling in Blender…), the information is not the hard bit: we're drowning in it. The hard bit is what happens after you get it.
What my own analytics actually told me
Here's the bit I don't love admitting: I've watched the numbers on my own pre-recorded courses. People buy them… then weeks go by, months. Sometimes people join the student Discord a year after they’ve made their purchase. It’s not a problem per se, but I know first-hand the kind of guilt an unwatched video course generates as it sits in your hard drive or in your browser’s bookmarks. And the issue isn’t that the content's bad (I take pride in my reviews!) - when I actually hear back from students, on Discord or in a DM, it's always some version of "something came up". Life got in the way. The problem is that we all take on more than our brains can process in a week that also includes, y'know, an actual job and having some sort of social life.
In a way, whether someone watches the course or doesn’t, after they buy it, shouldn’t affect me at all - but weirdly, it does. I create a course because I want people to benefit from it: it bothers me if it becomes a purchase they might regret because they never have time to actually use it.
The bite-sized trap
Say someone does clear that first hurdle and actually presses play. The next problem is that most pre-recorded courses are built for the lowest common denominator, because every platform and every "how to sell your course" guru says the same thing: keep videos under 10 minutes, ideally 5–7. Which is a fine rule if you're teaching someone how to hold a pencil. It's a useless rule if you're trying to teach something vaguely more in-depth.
In my experience as a student, whenever I’ve taken other pre-recorded courses, this means a rather sharp feeling of disappointment when I realise that all that’s included in a video is the most basic point possible, which I could have worked out by myself with a simple Google search.
The realisation that changed how I teach
But the more I thought about it, the more I clashed against one simple realisation: even a perfect pre-recorded course wouldn't fix how broken pre-recorded courses are. People don't need another list of tools or someone else's specific workflow. As we’ve established, you can find both of those for free, forever, without me. What people actually need is to build their own process, and no amount of watching me draw or explain a concept does that for them.
It's the same mistake beginner artists make when they try to learn anatomy from another artist's stylised characters instead of studying an actual body. It doesn't work. You don't learn how a body behaves by studying a personal style; it might seem faster, but it’s a shortcut that leads to picking up the other artist’s mistakes and biases.
What actually works is someone guiding your process while you do the work. Otherwise, you may as well give up on learning altogether and just ask ChatGPT to regurgitate all of human knowledge, never read a word of it, and prompt out the finished result.
me, happily throwing away a course I already started filming
So here's what I'm doing going forward
As someone who's been teaching online since 2018, and after a few months spent pondering this, I've landed on three formats instead of pre-recorded courses:
Live online masterclasses: small groups, real feedback on real homework, every week
1:1 tailored mentorships: built around one specific person's practice, which makes them the least cost-effective format for me and the most useful one for the student
In-person workshops in my hometown, Turin, or wherever will have me
The first of those is open right now, and it's the reason I'm writing all this down instead of just ranting about it on my Stories.
Artist's Algorithm: the live masterclass version of everything above
Artist's Algorithm is a 6-week live course for artists who are sick of social media feeling like a second job, built for the exact problem this whole post is about. It's not a course you buy with good intentions and never open. It's live, capped at 15 people, and it starts on the 14th September 2026.
What that actually looks like week to week:
Weekly 90-minute live sessions - roughly 60 minutes of teaching with real examples, a short break, then 25 minutes of Q&A. With 15 people in the room, everyone actually gets heard
Feedback on your actual homework, live, on the spot
A private Discord (the Scribble Coven) for the group between sessions
Every session is recorded, so a missed week doesn't mean a missed week - and you get lifetime access to rewatch
A 45-minute 1:1 at the end, on your specific profile and strategy
The six weeks cover:
The 5 Archetypes of Art Accounts: finding the path that actually fits your voice
Content formats that win in 2026: carousels, reels, stories, lives, adapted to your corner of art
The Angle Finder Framework: the formula behind shareable posts, built around your Archetype
Content planning without the overwhelm: native insight tools and third-party apps
After you post: captions, comments, story strategy, repurposing content across platforms
Beyond social media: monetising past Instagram, including the actual outreach process and media kit that turned social into a third of my income last year
A bit of context on why I think I can teach this specific thing: I've built 105K+ followers organically, had carousels reach 500,000+ people, and worked as an illustrator with clients ranging from Disney and Dungeons & Dragons to Little Golden Books, alongside brand partnerships with names like Lenovo, Xencelabs and Paperlike. I also dropped below 100K followers in 2024 and had to rebuild my account completely, so this isn't advice from someone who's never had the algorithm turn on them.
Early bird pricing (€350, down from €390) is live until 21st August 2026. If you want the full breakdown (pricing, FAQs, who it's for and who it very much isn't for), that's all on the course page itself.
I'm not making another 9-hour course nobody finishes: I'd rather spend those hours with 15 people who actually show up cause let’s be honest, being live with a class of humans is just so much more fun!
With love and chaos,
memo
Book your spot at this live 6-week course, capped at 15 people to keep the group small and give plenty of attention to each person!
You get:
Weekly 90-minute live sessions focusing on different aspects of social media strategy, from figuring out your Voice and Brand Archetype to planning content in a way that feels sustainable and fun
Actual feedback on your actual homework, live, on the spot
A 45-minute 1:1 assessment of your profile or strategy at the end
Lifetime access to every session after it happens (each class is recorded, so a missed week doesn't mean a missed week)
Printables, templates, emails I’ve actually used to secure brand deals and cool work opportunities
How it works
Starting 14th September 2026, we meet once a week, evening CET (morning/early afternoon for EST and PST). Once you've signed up, you'll get access to a private Discord — the Scribble Coven — where we'll lock in the exact day that works for the group.
Each session runs 90 minutes: roughly 60 minutes of lecture with real examples and live demos, a short break, then 25 minutes of Q&A — with only 15 people in the room, everyone actually gets heard.
Homework goes in the day before each session, so I can review it and give feedback live, in the next class. After week 6, we schedule your 1:1 — 45 minutes on your specific strategy and what's next.
The 6 weeks:
The 5 Archetypes of Art Accounts — find the path that actually fits your voice and your "brand" of art
Content formats that win in 2026 — carousels, reels, stories, lives, and how to adapt trends to your particular corner of art
The Angle Finder Framework — my formula for shareable posts, built around your Archetype
Content Planning — Instagram's native insight tools, third-party apps, and how to plan without the overwhelm
After You Post — captions, comments, story strategy, and cross-posting so your content lives past 24 hours (repurposing for blogs, Substack, Pinterest, Bluesky, etc.)
Beyond Socials — monetising past Instagram through Patreon, courses, and brand deals. Including the exact research process, outreach emails and media kit template that made social media a third of my income during maternity leave.
Refund Policy
By purchasing, I confirm that I understand I can get a full refund within 14 days of purchase, but that this right ends once the course starts on 14th September 2026 — even if my 14 days aren't up yet by then.
