Arek Dvornechcuck
Branding Expert
The desire to improve your illustration and drawing skills is always a good sign that points toward success—I’m here to help you with that.
How to learn illustration online?
As with most things today, you can learn and acquire illustration skills online.
Master different styles of illustration and drawing techniques, from using traditional materials to the different types of digital platforms available today.
With the number of illustration courses available online, you are sure to find at least a handful of them that best fit your skill level and art style.
You can spend several hours through these platforms where creatives gather and learn from one another.
Udemy, Domestika, CreativeLive, and SkillShare are just some of the most prominent learning hubs today.
If you want to get started right away, I’ve come up with some of the best online illustration courses that are readily available today.
Each comes with short overviews, so you can make your decision to enroll right away.
Illustration is another variant of expression and communication. To be better at it, you need to find your style and work on it.
But, it’s not only you and your style that changes and grows, illustration and drawing also takes on different forms.
My list below is a combination of courses that teaches both traditional and digital types. Let’s explore each one!
Jaysen and Quinton Batchelor, experienced illustrator and photographer respectively, are heading this drawing and painting illustration course that appeals to learners with varying skill levels.
Drawing and painting is not a talent. It’s a learned skill that anyone can have.
This course promises to provide the skills necessary for making show-stopping and profitable illustrations. Dare we say, this is one of the best online illustration courses available today.
This illustration course by Jaysen focuses on drawing using traditional art materials, such as graphite, watercolor, and colored pencils.
You’ll be introduced and be reintroduced to the fundamentals of illustration that will make elevate your piece—adding in the illustrative flare.
This online illustration course also has more than 20 art practice tests that gradually become more advanced as it progresses.
Apart from learning and gaining illustration skills, you will also get to determine which among the traditional art materials suit your style best.
High-quality downloadable resources are also readily available to guide your learning long after the classes end.
With its promise of providing your current illustration skills, the Batchelor brothers promise 100% money back guarantee if they can’t deliver as promised.
Learn to elevate your illustration skills and showcase that illustrative flare in any medium!
Find the unique voice of your illustration pieces with Adolfo Sierra in his second full-pledged class with Domestika.
The illustrator is an explorer of blank pages.
This 16-part illustration course focus on techniques, experiments, and processes that best fit with children’s book illustration.
Painter and illustrator, Adolfo Sierra, will share his expertise and years of experience with you all the way from Madrid, Spain.
In this course, he will share how to build a compelling portfolio that will showcase the full-range of your illustration techniques.
To learn the extent of his lessons, you must be willing to get your hands dirty as you’ll be dealing with several art mediums, such as watercolor pencils, waxes, markers, and painting with natural pigments.
And by natural pigments, we mean those similar with walnut ink, caobina, and turmeric. So, if this piques your interest, why don’t you try to learn more?
By the end of this course, you’ll finally get the answers to boggling questions, such as, “Can I use these mediums together?”, “Will this technique do justice to my chosen medium?”.
No prior skill is necessary to start this course. The only thing you need to possess is the desire and willingness to create and experiment.
From professional illustrators to everyday lovers of art, this online illustration course is perfect.
Drawing academy teaches drawing like a double-wielded sword. It teaches both portrait and technical drawing.
Drawing is a language of communication and is much more powerful than what you have been told.
Led by one of Udemy’s best-selling instructor, Andres Brachetta, this online drawing course focuses on the fundamentals of illustration that are the cornerstones in the mastery of drawing.
Andres emphasizes that this course will approach drawing as a much broader subject as he considers it as a language of communication among illustrators, designers, and all those who work with form and space.
As such, this online drawing course is open to all learners even without prior knowledge and experience.
Learn and sharpen your drawing skills to create elaborate landscapes, faces, and new products that you are developing.
Eight hours of learning may not be enough to master a craft, but this course provides lifetime access so you can get back to it anytime you want.
Learn your basics with Andres Brachetta in Drawing Academy today!
Scott Harris, art school director and author, leads the Character Art School in teaching the fundamental and advanced techniques in character design.
Art is about doing, so let’s get started!
This entire art course runs for a total of 26.5 hours with 25 downloadable resources that serves as a guide to drawing your characters professionally.
One great thing about this illustration course is that it bridges established art theory and practice.
Constant repetition of fundamental techniques are also scattered through out the lessons to emphasize their importance.
More importantly, Scott’s course doesn’t choose learners. Even if you’re a complete beginner or someone who’s already in the field, there always something to learn more about character illustration.
Master how to draw each component of the face step-by-step and with careful guidance.
This online illustration course is presented in a modular chronological approach that you can easily get back into when you want to refresh your basics.
As what Scott promises, learn quickly and without fear with this drawing course.
Award-winning children’s book illustrator, Mary Jane Begin, shares her professional know-hows in this high-rated class in CreativeLive.
This will help solve the issue of the blank page when it comes to narrative and storytelling.
Mary Jane ties story-telling and illustrating in her lessons. As an author herself, she emphasizes the importance of characterization of simple illustrations especially when targeted to children.
Her 14-part video lessons in CreativeLive starts with creating a story for your character and to give it personality.
More than giving them personality, she also gives out pointers on how to develop these characters along with the story’s progression.
Once she dives into the illustration process, expect segmented lessons that zoom into particular facial features that make the process more intuitive than usual.
At the end of the course, you’ll end up with a character who is an extension of your imagination and personality. Isn’t that something to look forward to?
More than pure art skills, Mary Jane’s class also dives into the reception of certain animated characters and how to drive their stories.
Are you excited to bring your original characters to life?
Discover Procreate and take advantage of its full features with Oscar Llorens in his Digital Illustration with Procreate class.
Procreate is a wonderful tool: easy to use, intuitive, and it allows you to carry out work from start to finish.
This class is ideal for illustrators and digital artists who want to specialize in using Apple’s Procreate app. It’s open for beginners, Oscar will teach everything from scratch!
Procreate is climbing the ranks as one of the most preferred digital illustration apps today.
In Oscar’s class, you will learn the nitty-gritty processes in the app that will make your art pieces even better.
More than that, Oscar will, of course, start with the basics of illustration which includes adding in lights, shadows, and depth.
Also, he didn’t forget about dealing with mistakes. If there’s one thing we all love about digital illustration, it’s the easy correction process, right?
If you’re new to the whole illustration business, or transitioning from traditional to digital drawing, you might want to learn a few tricks of the trade from Oscar.
Get creative with Procreate!
Learn to work with a thoughtful approach as you design your graphic illustrations with famed illustrator, Olimpia Zagnoli.
As illustration is getting more and more popular, it’s essential to know where you are coming from.
This graphic illustration class will be an exploration of inspirations, techniques, and resources to create eye-catching graphic designs.
This online illustration course will cover all the bases on how to communicate through illustrations effectively.
From learning the power of simple shapes, dealing with bold and intimidating colors, and polishing designs, this online course has everything covered.
With that, you’ll get to add more tools under your stylistic repertoire!
Learn how to transform your traditional sketches into bright and colorful illustrations!
Level up your graphic design skills starting from the initial sketches down to refining the minute details.
As one of Apple’s best-selling apps, Procreate is topping the charts for good reason. Learn drawing and painting using the app with Brad Colbow.
The iPad is a fantastic little studio you can easily take anywhere.
As a professional graphic designer and illustrator, Brad immediately wanted an iPad the moment he laid his eyes on them. And, obviously, it’s for good reason—it’s now his carry-on art studio!
Naturally, you’d need an iPad with Procreate for this course. An Apple pencil is a luxury, but a convenient tool.
It also helps to have prior understanding as to how the hardware works as the lessons start with getting familiar with the tool and the app.
Once the hurdle of knowing the app is over and done with, the drawing lessons are a breeze to follow.
Brad’s process of teaching involves a lot of reinforcements, so running out of motivation and steam won’t be an issue.
The goal of this illustration course is to maximize the potential of the app for digital illustration. It’s come a long way, but it still has a lot to go.
These lessons are open for everyone who wants to start drawing digitally!
Learn how to break through the dense social media population using your art style with Ely Ely Ilustra.
To develop your own style is crucial to stand out.
Heritage, nature, and outlook. These are the elements the Ely Ely used in creating her trademark illustrations that landed her big time projects with prominent brands, such as Maybelline and Kipling.
This 16-part course focuses on vectorial illustration using Adobe Illustrator. You can use other tools, but Ely recommends this tool for the class.
Similar to how Ely Ely acquired her style, the lessons start with conceptualization process by weaving stories and narratives.
These narratives will be an integral element on how to present them to gain traction.
Overall, the goal of this course is to develop a distinct art style and portray it in different formats perfectly fit for different social media platforms.
Take note that this course will be in Spanish, but don’t worry, close captions in English and other languages are available.
Appreciate and practice the art of vectoral design for a low price!
Lettering is most often seen as a hobby and not as a money-making skill. Learn how to earn from this skill with Dina Rodriguez!
I’ve created this name for myself, and I want to be able to do the same thing for you.
This illustration class by Dina is much more than a simple illustration course, it tackles about generating money and career from doing what you love.
Dina Rodriguez started as a freelance hand lettering artist and is now running her own art studio. A lot of people relate to her journey, while others wish to have hers.
In this course, Dina will share her know-hows on how she turned her hobby into a lifetime career. She’ll discuss about the different ways to earn from a hobby, particularly from hand lettering.
She’ll also talk about the struggles and the nasty trial-and-errors so that you won’t have to experience them.
From honing your craft down to nailing each client project, it’s safe to say that Dina’s got your back.
This course introduces the technical side of the artistic business. It talks about losses and wins that every aspiring artist will go through.
Skip the mistakes, learn from those before you, and build your own brand of illustration business now.
Drawing and illustration might seem to be natural talents you need to be born with, but they are actually skills that takes years and years of practice.
Drawing is vision on paper—Andrew Loomis
These 10 online illustration courses will either start your years of practice or serve as another stepping stone towards excellence.
Do yourself a favor and pick 2 or 3 courses that you think resonate with what you need most as of now.
If you find yourself in a slump or moments of demotivation, what you need might just be a push or encouragement from a mentor whose been there and done that!
Also, if are leaning more towards brand strategy and brand storytelling, then you can find what you’re looking for on my shop.
Do check out these other online courses to keep that artistic fire burning!
Did I miss something?—Leave a comment below.
