Free Online Resources to Boost Your Art Knowledge and Know-How

Choose the area of art self-study at Painting-Course.com

Don't put up with amateurish art tutorials you find in Google. These resources to build your art-making skills are the real deal.

As we saw in the first post of this series of Artists Back to School, there are all sorts of areas in our Art/Creative lives that can benefit from study including creative expression, art-biz know-how, and tech skills.

But there’s no better place to begin than with the cornerstones of art technique and art history.

Otis studio class demos in iTunes

Improve Your Painting and Drawing Techniques

• Painting-Course.com offers comprehensive lessons from basic drawing techniques to colour theory and composition. Ideal whether you’re just starting out or want to brush up your core drawing and painting skills.
• Otis College of Art and Design has linked up with iTunes U to provide live studio demos of various techniques such as gesture drawing, value scales and dry brush work. 

​UPDATE! These modules are no longer available from Otis but they do have all sorts of interesting videos on their YouTube channel.

For a massive library of hands-on demos and interviews with artists in all sorts of genres, try KQED on iTunes U instead.
​

Get the iTunes U models either via the desktop iTunes program - free for Macintosh and Windows. (Make sure iTunes U is selected in Preferences) 
or the iTunes U app on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

• No access to working with a live model? This virtual life-drawing class has the answer.

Select the kind of simulated life-drawing session you want - standard or class mode, nude or clothed - for a changing slideshow of quality photographs from which to draw. Class mode includes quick gesture drawing warm ups and breaks.

​Great for improving your sketching reflexes!

Art history lesson plans from Concordia University of Chicago

• Concordia University of Chicago’s comprehensive lesson plans, aimed at art teachers of early teens and featuring varied artists from Casper David Friedrich to Susanne Valardon, are free to download and make great study themes for adult artists wanting to learn more about art history.

UPDATE! From the Concordia University website:"For many years, the Concordia University Chicago website has hosted Artists and Their Art: Sharing Visual Stories, a free education tool to promote visual literacy through artwork. This content was loving created by, and remains the intellectual property of Professor Emeritus Deb Herman, MFA.
Coinciding with Professor Herman's recent retirement, the downloadable art lesson plans have been moved to her personal website where they are available for purchase at $5 per lesson."

Cover detail from Louise Bourgeois Tate Teacher Pack

For the Tate art packs, read the description of each pack carefully to find the best ones. Hint: look for bigger files.

​​

• ​Tate Britain also has hidden treasure when it comes to resources for expanding your understanding of art. Aimed at teachers but free for anyone to download without special credentials, their packs are beautifully-presented and brimming with information and insight about a whole array of different artists and styles. ​

Explaining European Paintings, 1400 to 1800 - free online course from Class Central

Stimulating Ways to Learn Art History

• Class Central aggregates free online courses from institutions across the world. A broad spectrum of courses focuses on everything from creativity techniques to art history with teaching primarily done through short, pre-recorded video lectures that you watch on weekly at your convenience.

​Some courses also have student discussion forums, homework/assignments, and online quizzes or exams.
​

(To register for a Class Central course, click on “Go to Class” button on the course page. This will take you to the providers website where you can register for the course.)

Self-Study Art Foundation Course

• Art 10: Introduction to Visual Studies - If you’ve always wanted to go to art college, now’s your chance to do it for free!
  

Pennsylvania State University offers this fantastic 15 week multi-media course via iTunes U.

​Similar to an art foundation course, it has both art history and practical components and is great for would-be artists as NO artistic background is necessary.

Art 10 introduces various art movements, cultural influences, artistic genres and work of individual artists as well as teaching hands-on studio arts techniques with the end result of building a portfolio of artworks.

Example of PDF from Pennsylvania State U's Art 10 Foundation Course

Free, short art and design courses

With all these great, free resources, you really have NO excuses not to get on and expand your art education. Make this year the year you expand your learning and understanding as an artist!

You might also like:

Fresh, Affordable, and Really Instructive Online Drawing Lessons

​