In the new year, many of us may have set numerous learning goals. This month, I want to share my favourite online courses covering topics such as creating picture books, design, colours, composition, interior decoration, business marketing, product planning, visual art, music production, and more.🥰
On platforms like ★Pinterest and ★Behance , many artists showcase their best works, offering an opportunity for discovery through searches. Learners can explore excellent creations by others, sparking various creative possibilities. It’s a fantastic place for searching reference images and curating your own ‘mood board.’ Free registration and login are available.
★Youtube and ★Instagram , what’s interesting is that you can follow creators from around the world. There’s a wealth of images and videos that stimulate your brain, allowing you to witness their journey from the beginning and observe their growth. The content is rich and exciting, with many professionals sharing their expertise. However, it lacks a systematic and complete teaching environment, as there are too many entertaining videos that can easily distract from learning. Free registration and login are available.
★Skillshare is the online course platform I first started using. The content is quite extensive, creating a beginner-friendly environment. Most instructors are artists from English-speaking countries, including masters, but they also welcome amateurs to teach online. The teaching content varies widely—some are excellent, while others are a bit weak—so choosing a suitable course may take some time. It operates on a monthly or yearly subscription basis, offering unlimited access to courses. Recently, they introduced the first month free, and if you subscribe for a year after the trial, you get a 40% discount.
★Domestika is currently my preferred online course platform. A few years ago, it mainly featured artists from European countries, mostly with Spanish and Italian pronunciations, along with English subtitles. At the beginning, I found it challenging to follow, but now there are more artists from English-speaking countries who have been invited to teach. Over the years, I’ve become more familiar with art-related terms, making learning much easier.
Each instructor on Domestika has a certain reputation and notable works in the industry, qualifying them to teach. The course outlines are comprehensive, providing insights into the background of your favorite artists, understanding which classic works influenced their creations, exploring the tools they use, and guiding you through completing a project. Each course has a short preview trailer, allowing you to explore and find courses that interest you.
This platform primarily offers individual course purchases, but in 2024, they introduced a subscription system. Subscribers can freely access a curated list of courses chosen by the platform’s editors, which changes periodically. Additionally, every month, subscribers receive a credit as a gift, enabling them to purchase their favourite courses and have long-term access. Recently, they also introduced a one-month free subscription offer, so seize the opportunity to give it a try!
★Patreon is a sponsorship platform where, through small contributions, you can support your favorite artists in their creative process. It’s like joining a VIP workshop, allowing you to get up close and personal with the details of an artist’s painting and learn about their creative ideas. This is a fantastic way to follow the artist’s growth, learning from their tutorials or life experiences. It helps you understand the artist’s perspective on observing and interpreting things, as well as how to solve problems. The platform operates on a subscription basis, and you can stop sponsoring at any time.
In addition to a lot of learning and practice, one significant goal for me this year is to carry a sketchbook to observe and record life on the go. ‘Only you can experience your own life,’ so I want to document it well. Although it may sound a bit lonely to say only you can feel your own experiences, there’s great freedom in moments when nobody cares. It makes each of us a unique and one-of-a-kind existence! I hope the websites mentioned in this article can inspire everyone to find new projects to try this year!😊
Hoping for good times ahead,
Susu❤️
–If you like to support me — ❤️ BUY ME A HOT CHOCOLATE❤️