I've had both the subscription based tutorials and the more in-depth ones over on Schoolism, so I kinda know the lay of the land.
Subscriptions
Pros:
- What I can say for sure is I think the subscription based system is
incredibly useful, I personally find it completely worth the money as
long as you put the time in.
- You get to see the other work that lectured artists have completed,
and so you get a handle on what kind of mistakes others make and can
check for these yourself
- You can do them at your own pace
- Relatively cheap
Cons:
- Because you have no interaction with the tutor you could be making
mistakes you're unaware of and replicating them without any feedback
Lectured
(For reference, I took Terryl Whitlatch's course on Creature Anatomy)
Pros:
- You get an honest critique on your work, feedback as you improve that
helps you learn more than you could on your own.
- You have a limited time to do the work in, and so you really can't
procrastinate your schedule, *(As I often do, so this could be a con
for others)*
- You can build a rapport with the artist you're taking a class from (I now contact Terryl from time to time with my new work and she is often very happy to reply and encourage me further even after the course has completed. Which is frankly amazing)
Cons:
- SO expensive
- The feedback can sometimes be a bit limiting for the time you're
allowed, (10 minutes - 1 hour for a weeks work)
- The schedules can be rather demanding if you're not prepared *(I did
mine alongside a full-time art job, resulting in some torn ligaments
after 12-16 hour drawing days)*
So all in all I'd say that I found the Subscription service to be a very easy to use, rewarding system that gives back what you put in. with only some slight limitations on your growth, but has no connection to the artists teaching.
The lectured services are fantastic, but on their price points I only recommend them if you have enough disposable income and feel the slight push and connection to your favourite artists is worth it. (I'd suggest seeing their courses through the subscription system first to judge if it's for you.
It's also worth noting that the courses are completely dependent on the tutors. Some are harder than others for sure, for example, Intro to digital painting was roughly 3 hours of work a week. Whilst Terryls was easily on the 15-20+ hours side. so it's luck of the draw until they make an estimated time system.