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This holiday season, you may already be looking ahead to the year ahead and considering learning a new skill or brushing up on an old one. But an online art class just might be the perfect gift for a creative friend or family member. Below, check out our list of some of the best online courses for artists.

On June 2, 2021, a landmark event took place in the world of online education. That day, LinkedIn completed the integration of online educational content and thousands upon thousands of video courses that were part of the Lynda.com website. Lynda.com was one of the first and most successful online education websites. Now all of this content will appear on LinkedIn Learning.

The move comes more than six years after LinkedIn bought the online education company from its founders, Lynda Weinman and her husband, Bruce Heavin, who launched the website in 1995. The price: $1.5 billion .

In addition to being an author and entrepreneur, Lynda Weinman is also an artist. At Lynda.com, students of all types (including artists) can learn how to crop a selfie in Photoshop, produce a fun animated GIF for their grandparents, or edit a graduation video for family and loved ones.

Today, LinkedIn Learning is one of the best educational services online, but it’s not the only one artists can use to learn skills in digital photography, video, audio, animation, or even more practical skills. like how to use Microsoft Office or create a PDF. Here are four web platforms (including LinkedIn Learning) that can help you expand your artistic horizons.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning requires you to have a monthly subscription to access all content on the website. Its extensive library has over 16,300 courses in seven languages ​​across creative, technical and business categories. Since LinkedIn took over Lynda.com, it has continued to add features. For example, you can now access content in different languages.

There are also many features that help you track your learning. For example, the website tells you how much of a particular video you need to watch to complete it. It will say “COURSE 1h 45m 51s remaining”, which means you have just under two hours of video to watch to complete the course. Additionally, if you are using the web version of a course, you can access the transcript and follow the speaker; text is highlighted in bold, in real time, as the instructor in the video speaks.

LinkedIn Learning offers a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. After a free trial month, you can pay for your subscription monthly ($29.99 per month) or for an entire year in advance (for $19.99 per month). You can also pay for the lessons individually. There is also free content on the website, and students and educators should check with their schools to see if they can access the service at no cost or through a team plan.

Youtube

It will come as no surprise to many that another great educational resource for artists is YouTube, where you can find how-to videos on just about anything, including lesser-known art techniques such as hand drawing. silver point or rubbing. One of the great appeals of using YouTube is that it’s free. But the downside is that unlike LinkedIn Learning, which manages content, anyone can create YouTube content and upload it. The quality of videos varies a lot, so you’re not always sure that the creator of a YouTube video is actually an expert in their field. You can download YouTube mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

Skills sharing

Suitable for creative types, Skillshare combines a curator model (like LinkedIn Learning) with an anyone can be a teacher model (like YouTube). Courses deemed most worthy by Skillshare are boosted on the site’s promo pages; featured recent content included introductions to nature painting, DSLR photography and hand lettering. There’s also a wide selection of courses for kids, ranging from step-by-step tutorials on how to draw jungle animals to kid-friendly watercolor projects. To access all of Skillshare’s content, you need a Premium subscription: pay an annual fee of $168 (that’s $13.99 per month) or in monthly installments of $32 each. iOS and Android mobile apps are available for each of these platforms. Right now, you’ll get a 30% discount on the subscription if you pay annually instead of monthly. However, if you sign up monthly, you’ll still get the first month free.

Coursera

Coursera is primarily a free service that works with many universities, distributing content in conjunction with the courses offered by those universities. It offers a wide range of courses and also allows you to audit courses taught by outstanding teachers at top-notch schools for free. However, if you want to earn credits for taking the courses, or getting a certificate or diploma, that’s when you’ll have to pay.

Under Arts & Humanities, you’ll find introductory courses in contemporary art (from the Museum of Modern Art), graphic design (from the California Institute of the Arts), and music production (from Berklee College of Music), for n to name a few. . Tired of being a starving artist? Go for an MBA from the University of Illinois or a Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan.

Coursera’s prices vary depending on whether you’re paying for a premium version of one of their courses, a specialization pack, a certificate, or a diploma. Right now, the annual website subscription is $359.10 with 10% off. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android devices.

Master class

You’ve most likely seen one of the ads for MasterClass, the online education subscription service that lets celebrities record tutorials on a wide range of topics from cooking to science to philosophy. Instructors include musician Alicia Keys, chef Gordon Ramsay, editor and fashion icon Anna Wintour, comedian and actor Steve Martin and other luminaries. One ad even features well-known artist Jeff Koons, but other artists also teach classes, including photographer Annie Leibovitz (photography), street artist Futura (spray painting and abstract art), Tyler Mitchell ( storytelling and portrait photography), Es Devlin (turning ideas into art) and Jimmy Chin (adventure photography), with more and more additions.

Drawing on the power of the stars, classes can be both entertaining and helpful, but it comes at a price. So how do you know if MasterClass is for you? You can watch free videos or chapters for many courses without signing up for the service. The cheapest annual fee is $180 or “$15 (billed annually)”. For a limited time, you can purchase a MasterClass annual subscription and get an additional annual subscription free. Visit this page to learn more about the offer.