Phase 1 is where every chalk artist starts. It assumes you've never drawn a chalk talk in your life, never set up an easel, never chosen a palette. By the end, you'll have done all three, and you'll have a small set of working drawings you can present.
The course is built from the same material Matt has taught at live Phase 1 classes for twenty years, and it streams as a structured video course with a downloadable PDF workbook. Go at your own pace, come back to sections as often as you need, and post questions in the Getting Started forum when you get stuck.
Course contents
Phase 1 covers the foundation of gospel chalk art, including:
Set Up
Technique
Palette
Presentation
Drawings
Troubleshooting
The PDF workbook includes reference images, drawing grids, and a notes section for your own iterations.
Can anyone be a chalk artist?
Even if you don't have a lot of natural talent, you can work effectively with chalk art. It's not how much you draw, but how well you draw what you draw. Some of the great chalk artists of the past had only three or four drawings they could perform, but as they mastered those drawings, God greatly used them. We're not trying to create Rembrandts — we're trying to help people reach the lost and encourage believers.
You need to rely on the Lord to become a chalk artist, regardless of your natural ability. Phase 1, whether live or on video, starts at the very beginning and assumes you have no previous experience or training. Completion of Phase 1 will prepare you for our live Phase 2 training, where you'll be mentored with one-on-one instruction and your abilities will greatly increase.
The best chalk artist is one who has a burden for the lost. I've learned that God does not tend to choose the most qualified people. He likes to qualify His own. In the Bible, He used people like Moses, Jeremiah, Saul, and David. They were used by God because they knew they needed Him and could do nothing without Him. They knew that God was behind whatever good they produced.
Never forget that God is a jealous God who will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8). The "little" people in the Bible were made great because they trusted in the Lord. God used them to do things they never would have seen themselves doing. They didn't feel they had the credentials, and in most cases they were right. God developed their lives when they completely yielded to Him. I hope you do the same. The results will have a great, eternal impact.
This isn't to say God won't use you if you were born with great talent. You, too, can become a great chalk artist — but your challenge is to remember who gave you that talent. Don't become self-reliant and draw without dependence on God. Without Him, you can do nothing.
What our world needs is vessels that God can use. There are a lot of vessels, but not many are usable. God looks for clean, empty vessels that are not full of themselves. I'm a firm believer that when we give all of ourselves to God, He will do the most amazing things with us.
I dedicated myself to God fully when I was 17 years old. Ministry work is not what I would have picked for myself at the time, but God picked it for me. Since then, I can't believe where that choice has led me. I would have missed a lot of joy and reward if I hadn't surrendered to Him. It amazes me that I'm doing what I'm today, but I have to say with songwriter Fanny Crosby, "Jesus led me all the way." My decision to start chalk art eventually led me to meet my wife and develop this ministry.
— Matthew Bowman