Master Your Skills: With 15 Free Online Drawing Courses & Classes

Drawing and creativity are great ways of personal expression and human communication.They help you improve in any profession by developing mnemonic techniques, such as visualization, semantic elaboration, tracing to-be-remembered information, and writing, ultimately helping you boost your performance.

Drawing skills are especially valuable because they improve your hand-eye coordination as well as give you better observational skills. In fact, a cognitive research study by the University of Waterloo says that drawing can enhance memory retention in older adults and helps delay age-related memory issues.

Learning and working on these skills just got easier and better this 2023. Check out these 15 Online drawing courses for free and explore your inner Picasso.

1. Learn how To Draw: Foundational Techniques [Udemy]

This course, Learn How to Draw: Foundational Techniques on Udemy, is great for beginners. It is broken down into three main elements focusing on proportion, angle, and tone.

Taught by watercolor artist Shizue Takahashi, this course explains the key principles of drawing through a photograph. First, you will learn about proportion, which is simply learning to identify different objects based on their relative sizes in the picture. This will help you draw the picture you want with more accuracy. Next, you get to learn about angles to help you build a perspective.

Finally, you will learn about the tone of drawing and shading. You will learn about how light falls on different objects in the picture and how to play with the space. It is a 1-hour long course that comes with 8 lectures and is perfect for anyone looking to understand the art right from the basics. This course will clear all your foundational techniques of drawing.

2. How To Free Hand Draw with Square Drawing Grids [Udemy]

You can also check out another online drawing course for free on Udemy. How To Free Hand Draw with Square Drawing Grids is provided by Colin Bradley School of Art. It is taught by Colin Brady, who has been a professional artist since 1982 and has been teaching for 35 years.

Through this course, you will learn how to effectively use the square drawing system and draw accurate & precise art using grids. You will only have to spend about an hour to complete the course. The course is divided into 5 sections and 7 lectures.

The first section of this course is the introduction. The second section teaches you about drawing a portrait. Next, you understand how to use square grids to make a portrait. After this, you learn to draw animals in a similar fashion along with Landscapes. The course ends with a summary where you look back to everything you have learned so far. 

3. Drawing for Beginners: How to Draw 25 Cartoons Step by Step [Udemy]

This ‘follow me as you learn’ course by Udemy is a great resource for anyone who is looking to learn cartoon drawing. This is a 1-hour 56-minute course that takes you through every crucial detail of cartoon drawing.

By the end of this course, you will learn to make 25+ cartoons and be able to create masterpieces on your own. Suitable for all ages, this step-by-step method makes learning easier. The course is taught by Em Winn, who takes pride in creating dynamic, meaningful, and engaging art lessons that are relaxing and joyful. 

4. Figure Drawing From Life Using The Reilly Technique [Udemy]

If you are looking to learn drawing and illustration with technical input, you can look into this course. Taught by Donelli DiMaria, this free tutorial will give you in-depth knowledge of figure drawing using the Reily Technique. Any beginner can also learn with this course as it starts with easy tutorials like the gesture figure approach. This technique helps you draw figures from life in less than 45 minutes.

The course starts with line action figures and large abstract shapes and then proceeds to small shapes, negative space, value, perspective, foreshortening, edge, lines, face, hands, and feet details, along with drapery on figures.

The final lecture summarizes the techniques and gives two examples to complete the course. By the end of this course, you will learn everything you need to know about figure drawings in real life.

5. Drawing Foundations: Fundamentals [LinkedIn]

This beginner-level course on LinkedIn Learning is a foundational course that covers all the core topics when drawing. The course is divided into 8 chapters, and every chapter focuses on three principles, namely shape, simplicity, and structure. Combining drawing theory with practical examples and worksheets.

6. Drawing Foundations: Figure [LinkedIn]

Bring your human figure forms to life on paper with this Drawing Foundations: Figure by Amy Wynne on LinkedIn Learning.

Through this course, you will learn figure drawing basics and techniques. Tutor Amy Wynne breaks down the figure drawing into simple steps, including capturing gestures and motion, making you understand the common points of the body, proportionally making parts of it, and adding volume.

The course also takes you through capturing different models and using different materials. Therefore, it is ideal for beginners, and you will get to work with different exercises and practice sheets.

7. The 21-Day Drawing Challenge [LinkedIn]

This 21-Day Drawing challenge is a great way to hone your creativity and skills while making it all fun. Developed by tutor Van Glitschka, as the name suggests, the course offers you 21 Day drawing challenge where you can take your time to finish each challenge.

After you are done with the challenge, you get to watch a video where Van Glitschka provides his own hand-drawn solutions.

Each challenge includes a different artist like Kate Bingaman Burt, Mattias Adolfsson, and many more. In 21 days, you will be able to not only develop a new habit but also become more creative.

8. SketchBook Pro: Drawing One-Point Perspective [LinkedIn]

Learn drawing but in a modern way. This drawing course helps you learn the craft on a digital medium with SketchBook Pro 7. Taught by artist Victor Osaka, it talks about one-point perspective, who uses it, how to use it, and how to get to know about it all at once.

As you go through the tutorials, you will get to know everything using a photographic guide where the tutor will tell you all about the detailing, color, shading, and textures to enhance your sense of perspective.

By the end of the course, artist Victor Osaka will create a series of “speed paintings” that will show you how to work with layers.

9. Getting Started With Drawing [Drawspace]

Another online drawing course to check out is this- Getting started with Drawing course. This free drawing course clears all the basics for you.

When we say basics, it literally tells you every basic technique, including how to correctly hold your pencils and choose drawing supplies.

You will get step-by-step illustrated projects that will show you how to start drawing and building your portfolio eventually. You will be able to sketch your favorite subjects by the end of this course. It is taught by Brenda Hoddinott, who is an award-winning artist and an internationally-published author of art instruction books. Since she is an art educator, it is a great course to start your artist journey.

10. Introduction to Traditional Drawing [Drawspace]

You will be able to develop basic drawing techniques with this course on Drawspace.

This 5-week free course talks about the basics of traditional drawing and gives special emphasis on shading techniques. By the end of it, you will know everything about outlining and shading.

This is a great course for anyone who is looking to start another hobby. This course is also taught by Brenda Hoddinottand takes your drawing tuition to the next level.

11. Getting Started With Drawing [Skillshare]

Offered by Skillshare, this Basic Skills course provides you with great insight into the drawing process and gives you some clear drawing instructions.

These online illustrations help you learn new techniques and are one of the best courses if you are starting from scratch.

You get to learn concepts like shading and perspective drawing by the end of it. Taught by Brent Eviston, this is a 4-hour 21 minutes course and needs minimal resources to start with.

12. Learn To Draw: Daily Practices To Improve Your Drawing Skills[Skillshare]

Improve your drawing skills with this course by Skillshare. This course will help you improve the fundamental skills that will help you become a better artist.

Through this course, you’ll learn how to see and place your subjects on paper. You will also get some measuring tricks that will help you draw accurately.

The course comes with daily exercises that help you practice and enhance your creativity.

13. Daily Observations: Drawing Objects From Life [Creativebug]

You can start your drawing practice by taking inspiration from your day-to-day supplies, like items from nature and home-office supplies.

In this course, Designer and Faber-Castell creative Mou Saha help you understand the basics of sketching, painting and finishing your illustration while making observations on your day-to-day still-life elements.

With Mou’s guidance and thoughtful attention to detail, you will be able to build both confidence and skill. 

14. How To Draw (Drawing Tutorial For Beginners) By Jesse J. Jones[Youtube]

This tutorial talks about everything that helped Jesse J. Jones to learn the craft of drawing. Through this course, you get to learn the basics of drawing, and then you go to more advanced techniques like advanced figure drawing.

The tutorial is designed for everybody who wants to learn to draw. The tutor, Jesse J. Jones goes over their experience and how it has helped them hone their skills.

These drawings will help you exercise, and even if you do not have the best skills, you will learn something here. 

15. How to Draw And Shade The Human Torso [YouTube]

The last course on our list is this course by Proko which talks about how to work with Human Torso. Taught by Stan Prokopenko, these tutorials will teach you how to construct torso anatomy and shade it. You will start with learning to make stick drawings, and then you will progress to making full-blown anatomy. This long course takes you through all the details you need to know to make human anatomy.

This course comes with 122 lessons where you move progressively. You get to learn to make every part of the body, one video at a time.

Conclusion

Learning to draw is easy and very helpful not just professionally but also in your personal life. It is a skill that you can master at any age.

As you develop drawing skills, it helps you to calm down while honing your creative skills.

Given that now you can learn online drawing courses for free at your ease, It has become easy and accessible to learn such new skills. So, why wait to add another jewel to your skill list? Get started today.