Best Online Art Courses of 2023
Learn to draw with the best online art courses and art schools around.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist looking to improve in a specific area, the best online art courses are a convenient way to hone your skills. You can access them anywhere and usually start anytime.
We’ve put together a top-pick list for different mediums, levels, and budgets, including free online art courses, so you can start learning right away. These include premium lessons on creating art with pencils, paints, and pixels, all taught by top professionals.
Our top pick for the best online art course is Glenn Vilppu’s Drawing Fundamentals, which we think is a great guide to the basics all artists need to know, but we’ve also picked options for specific needs.
20 Best Online Art Courses of 2023 :-
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Learn the Essentials of Drawing with Glenn Vilppu
“Best Online Art Lessons Sketching of People in the Forest“
Glenn Vilppu is a well-known name in arts education, and for good reason. His six-week drawing class is the best
Glenn Vilppu is one of the world’s most renowned art teachers, instructing animation, game and film studios as well as professionals at universities, art schools and private art academies around the world. One problem he often encounters is that many students walk into the classroom without understanding the basics, such as how to properly hold a pencil.
Therefore, this six-week course attempts to fill these knowledge gaps, and is aimed not only at beginners, but at any artist who has never formally studied it, even professionals.
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$800 isn’t cheap, but keep in mind that you won’t just be passively watching video lectures. The aim is to replicate the experience of taking a real-life art class; this way your work will be critiqued weekly, accompanied by group discussions and the chance to get answers directly from Vilppu. You can also see critiques of other students, just like what happens in regular live classes.
Once complete, Vilppu also offers some world-class figure drawing lessons on his website. He strongly recommends that you don’t skip ahead and take the class first, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are.
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Drawing and Sketching for Beginners by Robin Slee
Best Online Art Courses with Pencils
Robin Slee’s introductory course is a great way to get you started.
Just at the start of your journey and wondering what all these works of art really are? The entry-level course on Udemy is a good place to start, and at $54.99, it’s not a huge financial commitment.
Instructor Robin Slee is a self-taught freelance digital artist and illustrator. During the course, Seeley taught the basics of how to hold a pencil properly and how to make marks. This may sound basic, but it’s actually not something intuitive (as we mentioned in a previous article, even seasoned artists can get it wrong), so it’s very useful to identify them at an early stage. Slee’s instructions are clear, simple, jargon-free and easy to follow.
The course consists of over three hours of video content divided into 25 modules with practical exercises for you to download. There is also a dedicated Q&A section where you can post questions, ask for feedback or share the results of your courses.
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Joseph Patrick Daniels
Best Online Art Courses Joseph Patrick Daniels
Udemy offers a variety of online art courses taught by professionals, Joseph Patric Daniels’ course is also a good choice. How to Draw from Beginner to Master, How to Draw from Beginner to Master – Acrylic Painting, How to Draw from Beginner to Master, and Draw from Beginner to Master are all great places to start.
Lessons feature comprehensive step-by-step instruction, ranging in length from 2 to 21 hours, and are suitable for all levels. Course fees range from $84.99 to $119.99, but are currently on sale for as low as $16.99. Install the bargain.
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Smart School
Best Online Art Courses Space Character Drawing
These online art courses are a little different. SmART School, founded by Rebecca Guay, offers live figure drawing classes for small groups. These interactive online courses are delivered by industry professional artists such as Donato Giancola and Scott Fischer, as well as editors, directors, dealers and gallerists. They use GoToMeeting to provide each student with assignment critiques, guidance, Photoshop drawing practice, and Q&A.
Smart School prices range from $495 to $2765.
05. Ctrl+draw
Best Online Art Courses for Drawing Fruit
Each small video on Ctrl+Paint covers a different concept in manageable increments.
Many free online art courses are of questionable usefulness or tend to focus on a very specific task, but not so with founder Matt Cole’s pre-recorded digital painting videos, which are organized like school lessons. Ctrl+Paint also offers advanced video courses starting at $10 that walk you through basic foundational art skills.
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Tucson Online Art Academy
Best Online Art Courses to Draw Horses and Trees
All Tucson Art Institute online content is curated by renowned fine artists who believe that craft precedes art. This artwork was created by Phil Starke
Tucson Art Institute offers online pre-recorded video lessons on pastels, oils, acrylics and watercolors by renowned traditional artists Laura Robb, Ken Auster and Sandy Taught by Sandy Scott, you have 365-day access to these courses.
You’ll get this through self-study ($395). If you choose the online tutoring option ($595), you can ask your tutor questions.
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New Master Academy
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The New Masters Academy website features over 850 hours of content delivered by over 20 instructors, all of whom are leading experts in their fields. This painting is the work of teacher Juliet Aristides
New Master Academy offers online art courses for fine artists. Mentors include Steve Huston, Charles Hu and Kamille Corry. A standard subscription of $36 per month gets you over 5,500 hours of pre-recorded video lectures; a premium version of $59 per month gives you access to an online 3D reference library, a live course DVR, and over 50,000 reference images. Then there’s the upper tier, which adds interactive live classes and two weekly group coaching sessions for $149. These prices are billed annually at $49/$79/$149 per month.
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Ink painting techniques of Yuko Shimizu
Best Online Art Courses for Animated Sketch and Color
Yuko Shimizu offers valuable insight into the secrets of ink painting as part of a Skillshare subscription
Yuko Shimizu is a Japanese illustrator living in New York City and a senior lecturer at the School of Visual Arts. In this online art course hosted on the Skillshare platform, she provides a detailed guide to basic ink and drawing techniques.
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Topics covered include the differences between paper and ink types; basic brush, nib, and ink techniques; Asian vs Asian watercolor brushes; and sketching and scanning essentials. In short, this 90-minute course is made up of 15 individual lessons and covers a lot of ground, with something for everyone from the novice to the seasoned inker.
You can’t actually buy courses individually; you need a Skillshare subscription to unlock it. It costs $32 per month ($13.99 per month when billed annually).
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Drawing Online: Art for Beginners by Peter Stanyer
Best Online Drawing Art Courses
Peter Stanyer offers high quality interactive art courses at very affordable prices.
Internationally renowned artist, author and tutor Peter Stanyer has taught art at many different levels in further and higher education for over 20 years. Aimed at complete beginners as well as experienced artists who enjoy drawing casually, his online art courses will teach you the techniques you need to paint with confidence.
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All the basics are covered here, including mark-making, tone, color, shape, composition, perspective, and more. This course requires approximately 30 hours of study and involves extensive assignments consisting of well-designed, hands-on drawing projects. With personal tutoring and Steiner’s feedback, this course costs just £148 for Parts A and B, or $75 for a single part, which is great value.
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How to Paint: Will Kemp’s Acrylic Course for Absolute Beginners
Best Online Art Courses Brushes Painting House
Learn the basics of using acrylic paint in this three and a half hour online art course.
Are you someone who “dreams about being an artist but keeps putting it off until you have more time”? If that’s you, then this relatively short and snappy art course might be just what you need.
In three and a half hours, Will Kemp, an award-winning artist who studied in Italy, runs his own art gallery, and teaches in museums and schools, explains how to use The basics of acrylics, and why they’re the easiest and easiest. The most effective way for beginners to learn to draw.
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You’ll learn about settings and materials, color mixing, paint selection, brush handling and palette knife techniques, as well as gels and mediums. Once this is resolved, we encourage you to complete three paintings (still life, landscape and seascape) using three different color palettes.
The course is divided into seven video lessons that can be played online or downloaded. Kemp recommends that you set aside time for a “drawing week,” taking a different class each day; alternatively, you may prefer to study a class every weekend. He also offers a downloadable reference, and while you won’t get feedback on your work, it’s still cheap at £53.
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Mastering Color with Richard Robinson
Best Online Art Courses for Men Photos
Struggling to get your colors right? Richard Robinson can help
When artist and teacher Richard Robinson asked his students to name the biggest hurdle they faced while drawing, an astonishing 72% said they got the colors right. So, in this two-part art course that you can stream and download, he explains everything you need to know, from how the brain sees and analyzes color, to the key to color relationships. It may have a narrower focus, but it’s still a solid entry on our list of the best online art courses.
The Mastering Color course is divided into two parts, Mastering Color I and Mastering Color II. Right now, you can pick them up for $100 (at the time of writing), or the second part for $55. If you’re still not convinced, you can “try before you buy” by viewing the first chapter for free on the site.
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Activating the Canvas with Nancy Hillis
Nancy Hills Art Lesson
Tired of creating figurative art and want to take a walk on the wild side? This five-module, self-paced art course will guide you through the first steps of abstract painting. You’ll discover how to experiment, relax and unleash a whole new perspective on art as an artist.
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In each module, abstract artist and psychiatrist Nancy Hillis guides you through a systematic process for reflecting on your inner landscape and state of mind. It includes written lessons and three to seven video demonstrations that walk you through the “Active Canvas” approach.
The course costs $247 and has payment plan options. This class is suitable for both beginners and seasoned artists; as this is not really a technique, it’s about unleashing your creativity. In return, Hillis says, “You’ll learn exciting ways to create bold, raw, direct, and vivid paintings by intuitively activating the canvas.” It’s a well-deserved entry on this list of the best online art courses.
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Basics of Graphics Drawing by Stan Proko
Best Online Art Courses People Sketching
Learn about the shape of the body, how it moves, and how to draw it realistically
Historically, art schools have taught a systematic figure drawing process that can be applied to figures of any size, in any pose. This course offers 15 half-hour downloadable videos.
This is one of our favorite best online art courses taught by Stan Prokopenko, an accomplished fine art painter at the Watts Atelier school in California , through free YouTube videos and more importantly paid courses like this one.
Aimed at both beginners and seasoned artists wanting a refresher, this figure drawing course will teach you how to draw figures by breaking down shapes into simple forms. You’ll learn about structure, gesture, balance, exaggeration, proportion, shading, and more. And at only $109, it doesn’t get much fairer.
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Paint a portrait with Mark Card
Best Online Art Courses for Men Photos
Mark Carder has drawn presidents, so he’s perfect for teaching you portraiture.
Mark Carder is a highly regarded artist who has commissioned portraits of two US Presidents and a US Secretary of State, among others. His best online art course demonstrates and explains the process of drawing a portrait using photos as source material.
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Card’s style is straightforward and to-the-point, with zero waffles and pointed advice on how to photograph subjects, draw faces, blend skin tones, use limited color palettes, match colors, and maintain similarities throughout.
Some of the specific techniques Card outlines are a bit unusual, and the course doesn’t cover how to draw portraits from life. But if that doesn’t put you off, the eight hours of downloadable video aimed at intermediate and advanced artists are top-notch, well-structured, and offer great insights from top artists in the profession; all of which isn’t bad for $100 .
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Charcoal drawing with Aaron Blaise
Best Online Art Courses for Bear Drawing
Disney’s Aaron Blaise brings his expertise and experience in charcoal drawing to you.
Aaron Blaise spent 21 years as an animator, working on such films as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Brother Bear. He’s now out of the film industry, but Disney’s loss is the art world’s gain, as he started teaching digital painting. It turns out he’s pretty good at it.
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In this art class, Blaise creates a charcoal drawing of a lioness in real time in 5 hours and 30 minutes. He paints from photographs, and you can download a high-resolution version of the image, print it out, and work on it at home.
Blaise’s comments are insightful, informative and really help you understand what he’s doing. He always hits the right tone: always helpful and never condescending, which makes him a strong entry on this list of the best online art courses.
You’ll need some basic drawing skills to take this course, so it’s not for beginners. But overall, this is a quality course for anyone looking to master charcoal, wildlife drawing, or both. At the time of writing, the course is on a huge sale, down from $45/£40 to just $5.
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School of Computer Graphics Masters
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CGMA has over 90 active, industry-experienced tutors each semester, mostly from large art studios. Instructor Michal Kus created this artwork
Another tried-and-true name on our list of the best online art courses, Computer Graphics Masters Academy focuses on preparing students to work in the animation, games, and VFX industries by offering more than 100 courses on everything from drawing fundamentals to environment design. There are tons of new courses this year, including Animation Fundamentals 101, Concept Art Introduction to Blender, and more.
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The courses are taught by more than 90 professionals, including Mélanie Delon, Patrick J Jones, Armand Serrano, and Aaron Limonick, who provide real-time feedback and one-on-one instruction in a virtual classroom.
With over 900 students worldwide, CGMA offers a vibrant network of discussion and professional development through its virtual classroom community.
Each course costs from $499 to $998.
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Visual Arts Channel
Best Online Art Course Artwork by Katherine Lam
Visual Arts Passage has made our list of the best online art courses because it is a mentoring program for students pursuing a career in the arts industry with live interactive lessons. Online courses are taught by award-winning instructors such as Viviane Kosty, Dale Stephanos, Katherine Lam, Lake Hurwitz, and more. They also invited some of the biggest names in the industry as guest speakers such as Karla Ortiz, Afua Richardson, Thomas Blackshear, Raymond Boney La (Raymond Bonilla) et al.
It offers courses in Foundations, Entertainment and Games Arts, and Illustration, and applicants are eligible for one-on-one portfolio review.
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John English, co-founder of Visual Arts Passage, explains: “Students receive in-depth, one-on-one instruction from experienced artists in small classes. All lessons are taught live and fully interactive. Every student has a front row seat.
“The Visual Arts pathway takes art students on a challenging course taught by working artists. This bridges the gap between art students and professionals. We guide students from building foundational skills all the way to crafting an industry-ready portfolio. Industry map, with training from world-class professionals.”
Course fees range from $499 to $999.
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CG Spectrum
Best Online Art Courses CG Bio Art
CG Spectrum helps students find work through network nurturing and an emphasis on portfolio and demo roll building. This piece was created by student Katinka Thorondor
CG Spectrum offers courses in animation, 3D modeling, concept art, visual effects, compositing, and game design—it’s one of the best online art courses that helps students get the training they need for life in the industry.
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On-site classes are delivered as group lessons or one-on-one tutorials, with professional tutors, including Craig Elliott and Jake Collinge, in touch with students each week of the course.
Group lessons cost $2,895 and one-on-one lessons cost $3,795 or more.
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Otley College
Best Online Art Courses Art Trees
Founder Chris Oatley is a former Disney artist.
Founded by ex-Disney artist Chris Oatley, the Oatley Academy of Visual Storytelling is one of our best online art courses as it is dedicated to artists including Paul Scott Canavan, Live coaching from a host of industry professionals, including Brett Bean, Shaun Bryant, and Jenn Ely..
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Many graduates go on to become animation artists or illustrators, working for companies such as Disney, Marvel Animation and Cartoon Network.
Prices vary depending on the guest tutor. There are also self-paced courses covering topics like visual storytelling – for $19/month or $209/year.
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Sundial
Best Online Art Course CG Art Boy
Gnomon offers online courses for artists seeking training directly from Hollywood, with the convenience of studying at home. This piece was created by student Omar Taher
Gnomon has been called the MIT of visual effects, and its online programs offer the same academic rigor as on-campus courses, making it a strong addition to our list of the best online art programs.
