I’ve always believed you should never stop learning new skills, techniques, theories, and practices in your field. I’ve had the privilege of becoming a self-taught artist during one of the greatest moments in time where we have the ability to access courses and educational content wherever we may be in the world. As connected as we are today, there’s really no excuse when it comes to educating yourself.
I started my journey as an artist almost 7 years ago. It all began with a practice of meditative doodling and gel pens while I was pregnant with my first child.
Instagram was still relatively new and I would post some of my work there because I was so intrigued a social media platform existed to display works of art. The more I followed other artists whom I admired on Instagram, the more I wanted to learn.
I slowly began buying new art books to teach myself new techniques, but the books alone weren’t cutting it. At the time, new platforms were being launched with educational content, many of which offered classes as short as 20 minutes that could be done during my lunch break. Over the years, I’ve tested the waters with many of these platforms and thought I would cover some of the very best in today’s post. Here they are:
Creativebug
Creativebug is an online platform that offers over 1,000 online arts and crafts videos with workshops and techniques taught by artisans that bring a lifetime of experience using tried-and-true teaching methods. The instructors articulate every step of how to knit, stitch, paint and create interesting and unique projects while showing each step of the process through video. Creativebug offers a free 7-day trial for new subscribers, and incredibly affordable memberships starting at $7.95 a month.
From the Sketchbook Explorations Class offered on Creativebug, taught by artist Lisa Congdon.
Andy Warhol Inspired Monoprint class taught by Courtney Cerruti on Creativebug.
Skillshare
Skillshare is an online platform that offers educational videos through various subscription options. The site offers over 29,000 courses, some of which include graphic design, illustration, and creative writing. Skillshare has taken the course offering a bit further than Creativebug, including business courses like how to use like Excel, amplifying your social media strategy, classes on leadership, and more. You can try the site for one month for free, at which point you then pay for a premium plan to access all courses. There is also a Skillshare app available which is an added bonus for those of us interested in learning on the go.
LinkedIn Learning
This year, I stumbled upon LinkedIn Learning, a subsidiary of LinkedIn that offers courses from industry professionals in software, creative, business skills, and more. I have really enjoyed LinkedIn Learning courses as they are mostly taught by seasoned professionals with extensive backgrounds in their respective fields. The content is high quality and there are many courses that offer the latest and greatest on any given topic in business. LinkedIn Learning is also great because it can be accessed through the LinkedIn Learning app.
Adobe Tutorials
This year I finally decided that my license for Photoshop 9 wasn’t cutting it so I caved and purchased the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. It was definitely one of the better decisions I’ve made as an emerging artist and designer. With the suite, Adobe offers complimentary tutorials that are much more advanced than what they used to be. They tutorials are well planned out, starting with the very basics of using the control panel and toolbar and each course gets progressively deeper into the tools.
YouTube
This post wouldn’t be inclusive if I didn’t mention the value of YouTube learning. YouTube offers millions of free tutorials on pretty much anything you can imagine. All you have to do is type in “watercolor tutorial” and thousands of videos will pop up, from beginner-level to more advanced courses. As a self-taught artist I would definitely urge others to invest in at least one of the programs above because of the specificity and quality of the content, but millions of people go to YouTube each day to learn new things in their own field, so don’t forget about this option for easy access to learning new skills.
Is there anything I’ve missed that you’ve found beneficial in your creative journey? If so, leave a comment below!