Ways of Studying Art
- Aug 18
- 7 min read
Here, I've compiled the various ways I know of to study art. I hope it's helpful for those of you who are also studying abroad and want to learn! If there's anything you've missed, please politely add it in the comments. Thank you!
Free Resources for Studying Art
YouTube
From long videos to shorts, YouTube has a number of artists offering free drawing and painting tutorials and various hacks, perfect for beginners or those simply looking to try out a medium.
Other Social Platforms
Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and RedNote also offer a wealth of free tutorials suitable for beginners.
Artstation
Artstation is a social portfolio platform focused on game and film art. In addition to publishing your own portfolio, you can also find jobs and learn art on the platform. The Learning section on Artstation offers a lot of free and professional tutorials, covering everything from 2D to 3D, from environment art to character art, and from Photoshop and Procreate.
Ctrl + Paint
This website focuses on teaching digital painting. It offers a ton of free digital art tutorials, all organized into categories. If you're new to digital art, simply follow their instructions. From drawing fundamentals to digital painting software (Photoshop, of course), to the psychology of creating art, their resources are the most organized among the free resources.
Once you've mastered these free resources and want to delve deeper into concept art, you can purchase their advanced courses.
Individual Artists' Websites
Some artists offer free tutorials on their websites, which are generally suitable for beginners.
Paid Online Resources for Studying Art
Paid Courses from Online Artists
There are many paid courses from popular online artists, such as SamDoesArts, Angrymikko, Tyler Edlin, and Peter Han. They typically use Patreon or Gumroad to distribute their paid content. Some also sell courses on their own websites. Patreon requires a monthly subscription to access the artists' content; Gumroad allows artists to sell courses and other online resources.
Gumroad
The Drawing & Painting category on Gumroad includes a wide variety of courses and brushes. A few are free, while the majority require payment. However, there are quite a lot very affordable options, and I haven't seen any that are particularly expensive.
If you have an artist you're interested in, check to see if they have a Gumroad account; you might be able to find their brushes or courses.
Skillshare
Skillshare is a subscription-based website. Besides art, it also offers a variety of other skills. I find their art classes to be more beginner-oriented.
Domestika
It is a website where you can found tons of paid online courses. The courses are kept to a reasonable length and have a consistent Domestika style. I suspect Domestika invites artists to bring their supplies to their location for filming. They often offer discounts, so much that I can't even remember the original prices. I've seen prices as low as $1.99, $6.99, and $9.99 (Canadian dollars). There are also new user discounts and bundle deals. I find the course content to be more beginner-oriented, and you can hardly find more courses from the same artist. If you want to learn more in-depth, you'll have to see if the artist offers other paid courses.
Udemy
Like Domestika, it's a website for paid online courses. Udemy also offers discounts very often. However, unlike Domestika, the course sellers do the video recording and editing themselves, so the quality of the courses varies greatly. Udemy does have a 30-day refund policy, so if you encounter poor-quality courses, you can request an immediate refund.
New Master Academy (NMA)
If you're looking to learn traditional art, or just want to build a solid foundation in painting, NMA might be a good choice compared to attending a traditional art school. From what I learned online, most NMA students subscribe to NMA monthly (approximately $50 per month) or annual (average $38 per month) plans. Subscribing gives you access to ALL the courses, and the instructors are all world-class masters. It's truly worth the money, and I almost considered subscribing myself.
NMA also offers a Master Mentorship program for $169 per month (which also includes access to ALL the courses). A master mentor provides valuable one-on-one feedback, reviews your portfolio, identifies areas for improvement, and plans your next study plan. I think it's also incredibly valuable.
According to online reviews, those who have studied at NMA agree that it has excellent value, but they also say that some mentors can be quite boring.
Proko
Proko is a fairly large-scale art tutorial website. In addition to the free content on YouTube, they offer a host of courses on their website, all taught by different artists. They cover a wide range of subjects, from traditional art to digital art, from fundamentals to mastery, from beginners to advanced content, they pretty much have it all covered on their website. Most artists teach more than one courses. So if you find an artist you like, you can continue your studies with them. Course fees range from tens to hundreds of dollars.
Artwod
This is a very interesting website. Its service requires a subscription. I subscribed to it a few years ago. Back then, they recycled through three categories each week: organic, hard surface, and figure. There were weekly assignments, but you didn't receive feedback on the assignments you submitted.
Recently, however, I've noticed that they seem to have changed this format. Now, they have a daily workout and a daily puzzle, which are small exercises. Completing the exercises earns experience points (like playing a game). Subscribing also gives you monthly credits, which can be redeemed for lessons.
Artwod aims to encourage busy people to commit to drawing for a few minutes every day, so their exercises are designed to be fun and short. I think Artwod is quite suitable for beginners to intermediate artists. Every day, someone will help you figure out what to draw, preventing you from starring at a blank page for a long time.
CG Master Academy (CGMA)
CGMA is somewhat similar to the websites mentioned above, but also quite different. It's similar in that you can purchase individual courses on CGMA; however, they offer a series of courses tailored to different career paths. Like traditional schools, they have courses run in semesters. You'll submit weekly assignments and receive feedback from the instructor. The instructor also hosts a live Q&A session each week to answer questions. Feedback and live Q&A are not offered commonly on other websites. The average price per course is around $700 USD, which isn't exactly cheap, but it's still significantly cheaper than art school.
(I'm currently taking CGMA courses, and I'll post more notes on CGMA later.)
Online Art Schools
Every major city kind of has this type of art schools nowadays. These aren't traditional art schools; they offer students the choice of 100% online classes or in-person classes. In Vancouver, for example, these schools include VCAD and Vanarts. Their websites resemble those of traditional universities or colleges, with comprehensive program descriptions and course timelines.
Compared to traditional art schools, they focus primarily on digital art. Their programs take approximately one to 1.5 year to complete. Tuition is no cheaper than traditional art schools though, costing local students around $30,000 to $40,000 Canadian dollars to finish a program and get a diploma. Honestly, with this high tuition fees, government student loan might not be able to cover the full amount.
Local Traditional Art Schools
In Vancouver, if you're interested in pursuing a career in the gaming or film industry through your art, Emily Carr and Vancouver Film School are both well-known options.
As far as I know, Emily Carr's tuition is similar to that of a typical university or college, with annual tuition and fees around $6,000 Canadian dollars, or about $24,000 Canadian dollars for a four-year undergraduate degree. After looking at the tuition at VCAD and Vanarts, I think Emily Carr is quite affordable, but it's not easy to get in.
As for Vancouver Film School (VFS), their programs are generally a year and a half long, and tuition seems to be around $10,000 to $20,000 Canadian dollars. Vancouver is actually a popular filming location. Many American films and TV series have chosen to shot in Vancouver. Therefore, one of the VFS's main selling point is that most of its graduates work for Hollywood companies.
Summary
In these days, studying art doesn't necessarily require attending a traditional art school. Depending on your career goals, financial abilities, and skill levels, you can choose to study at different places at different stages.
For high school students who are considering an art career, there are many options. Traditional art schools are a good choice, as are newer art schools focusing on digital art. The key, I think, is the length of the program. Traditional art schools like Emily Carr's offer a bachelor's degree upon graduation, which still requires four years of study. Schools like VFS and VCAD offer diplomas or advanced diplomas, shortening the study time to just one or two years. I understand that for those less inclined to study, the prospect of graduating in just one or two years can be appealing, especially in the art industry, where job offers are often based mostly on portfolios. However, if you don't have clear goals and are still relatively young, a very aggressive, short-term program can be overwhelming. Most importantly, it will deprive you of time to reflect. Not everyone can absorb a large amount of knowledge in a short period of time. It requires a certain level of awareness.
For those who are like me, that have already worked in the workforce, returning to study is a difficult decision. For the average person, shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for full-time study isn't feasible. When you can only study part-time, you might want to consider flexible and affordable study options.
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