Are we addicted to illustration courses? Choosing your next fix

What makes a good short course?

Hi, I’m Libby. I’m trying to find my feet in the world of illustration. I’ve done a load of research and I’m sharing it here, along with my progress on how my illustration journey is going. I’m so glad you could join me on this bumpy ride!

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Are we addicted to illustration courses?

I’m talking about those short courses advertised on social media ‘that’ll give us the edge.’

Those short courses ‘that’ll solve all our illustration career struggles.’

In my quest to transition into illustration, I’ve had LOTS of conversations about illustration courses with fellow new and experienced illustrators.

Many of us self-identify as course addicts, but are we just addicted or are illustration courses pushing us forward?

It’s the golden egg of a question we need to ask ourselves.

And from my many conversations, I’ve realised there are different reasons why we choose to take an illustration course.

Should I take the course?

Before booking your next illustration course, it’s worth asking yourself some of the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve from taking this course?

• Is this course aligned with my career/personal goals?

  (If you haven’t set any goals yet, this might be the time to think about doing so.)

• Do I have time for this course? Live courses often provide recorded sessions so they fit around your schedule but will you take the time to go back and watch them?

• Can I afford this course?

• Do I feel this course is good value for money?

• Could this course distract me from other key illustration business goals?

Not just learning

Depending on the format, an illustration course may offer more than educational content.

You might be looking for additional things like:

• Community:

  Is there a space within the course environment where you can interact with other course participants?

• Accountability:

  Is there a buddy/ group system built into the course?

  If not, could you set one up with other participants?

• Critique:

  Do you receive personal feedback from course tutors (or participants) about your work?

  How honest will that feedback be?

These elements could help build confidence if you’ve been holding yourself back.

They could also serve as a distraction from other tasks.

Seek recommendations

One way to find out if a course is right for you is to ask people who’ve taken it in the past.

• Do you know any past participants of the course?

• If not, could you seek out past participants?

  You could do this by searching the course name on LinkedIn, social media or Google.

I’ve received many messages about the courses I’ve written about here on Substack and I’m always happy to answer questions.

Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask.

Which Course?

There are now thousands of illustration courses available, many offered by experienced illustrators sharing their knowledge and skills with others.

In my eyes, short courses are anything shorter than a degree. They can range from a few hours, a few weeks, a term, 6 months or even a year.

Types of Courses

From what I’ve experienced, I’d put most illustrations short courses into 4 different buckets:

Illustration/art practice

• To help you develop a regular practice or develop your style. This might be ‘learn to draw portraits’ for example.

Illustration/art practice (industry-specific)

• To help you develop your practice and style for a specific illustration industry. This might be a ‘character design for children’s books’ for example.

The business of illustration

• To provide you with an overview of the illustration industry or to help you consider diversifying into other illustration industries/sectors. This might be ‘ways to make money from your art.’

The business of illustration (industry-specific)

• To provide you with more targeted learning about making money in a specific illustration industry. This might be ‘everything you need to know to become a successful children’s book illustrator’ for example.

Sometimes courses are a mix of practice and business but I find that they generally fit into these four buckets.

I think about where the courses I’ve been on in the past fit within these buckets and where I need the most help right now, depending on my goals.

Course Formats

Usually, courses are either self-paced, where you receive videos you can watch in your own time or cohort-based, with live sessions you can join and learn alongside other participants. Sometimes courses are a blend of both.

Online self-paced

These are some platforms I’ve come across. Have you used others you’d recommend?

• 21-draw

• Domestika

• Skillshare

• The AOI - Inside Illustration (included in the AOI membership)

• Creative Live

• Goodtype

• Udemy

Here are some artists offering self-paced courses that I’ve enjoyed or been recommended. Do you have a favourite I could add to this list?

• Peggy Dean

• Tom Froese

• Weronika Salach

• Sarah Van Dongen

Artists either run courses on the above course platforms, on their website or a combination of both. Some offer cohort-based courses too.

It’s worth checking out your favourite illustrators’ websites because there’s a chance they have a course offering.

When considering a self-paced course it’s worth considering:

• Are there practical exercises associated with the learning content?

• How long will I be able to access the course content?

• How will I record my learning?

  You might want to dedicate a sketchbook or a digital document for note-taking.

Online cohort-based

There are many cohort-based programmes and these courses tend to be more expensive due to the interactivity with the course facilitator.

A facilitator might present all the course content or invite speakers to provide multiple perspectives on a topic.

Here are some cohort-based courses I’ve taken or heard about from fellow illustrators.

• Getting Paid to Draw - by Mike Lowery

  I’ve talked about this one a lot on The New Illustrator. It was my first insight into the illustration industry. The course includes self-paced modules alongside a live community forum, live masterclasses and sketch sessions. It’s predominantly a ‘business of illustration’ course. Mike has a fantastic roster of facilitators for different sessions which really makes this course stand out. The course currently runs in the Spring for around 8 weeks.

  The downside is perhaps the lack of live interaction during the classes as sessions are mostly in webinar format, although there is an opportunity to submit questions to speakers in advance. This course runs annually and Mike offers an alumni discount to return the following year.

  At time of writing this course is $960 / £750

• Inky Goodness: Make Your Mark

  I’m currently on my second round of Make Your Mark. This is also a ‘business of illustration course’ It provides more personalised feedback than any course I’ve come across. Lisa Hassell has an amazing ‘black book’ of illustrator and art director contacts from her time running an agency and the masterclass guests and art directors supplying mock and live briefs are top-notch. The course currently has a 6 months schedule of classes.

  The downside is perhaps the intensity of the course. It’s designed to get you working on real-life illustration projects and to provide you with constructive critique. Depending on what you’ve got going on in your life, you might need to make space for the course to make it worth your while taking.

  The Inky Goodness membership community (which comes with the course) is filled with experienced illustrators and there is often discussion on project pricing, agencies, contacts and other juicy topics. This makes it a unique course that I feel raised the game for me from an illustration business perspective. This course runs around 2 cohorts per year and Lisa offers an alumni discount to repeat.

  At time of writing this course is £700 / $905

[Some of the amazing Make Your Mark participant creative brief submissions from the Summer2024 cohort]

• School of Visual Storytelling

  I came across SVS through their podcast. I’ve heard of well-known illustrators taking their courses. Membership and access to courses is priced on an annual basis. I haven’t heard direct feedback about the courses so would love to hear from anyone who’s taken them. Let me know in the comments!

• Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

  A soon-to-be newly renovated UK illustration hub, the centre is offering a range of online courses around book illustration. It seems as though they are taking a break from courses in 2025 to focus on the centre opening but it’s worth signing up to their newsletter for updates.

  I took the Non-Fiction book planning course run by Owen Davey through the centre and really enjoyed the extremely personalised feedback from Owen and the small cohort setting. The course was 10 weeks long and had a discount for early stage illustrators.

• Make Art That Sells - by Lilla Rogers

  I’ve heard great things about the MATS Children’s Book Illustration course. Lilla, a former illustration agent has a whole suite of courses designed to help build a really strong illustration portfolio. I’ve heard these courses are also intense and require dedicated time to make the most of the illustration briefs.

  Have you taken any of the MATS courses? Let me know what you thought…

  The MATS courses are a mix of self-paced and live, with the flagship Children’s book course currently £400 / $ 516 lasting 5 weeks.

• Good Ship Illustration

  I’ve only heard good things about the Good Ship and half of the illustrators I know have taken one of their courses. There are 3 main courses at time of writing: Fly your freak flag (finding your style), The business course and The picture book course.

  The great thing about Good Ship courses is lifetime access to the course resources and community. I believe this is through a private Facebook group. the Good Ship also seems to have a great roster of illustrators involved in their picture book course.

  I’ve so far had some hesitations due to the lack of personalised feedback from course facilitators as this has been so impactful on the other courses I’ve taken. I am however considering the business course and there may be a live illustration course coming later this year which sounds very interesting…

  The business course is currently advertised for £495 / $640

• Let’s Make Picture Books - Steph Fizer Coleman

  Another picture book course I have heard good things about.

  Have you taken it? What did you like about it?

• Writing & Illustrating a Picture Book - Curtis Brown Creative

  This is a course I don’t know much about but seems unique as it covers both writing and illustrating. It’s run by CBC that has predominantly writing courses so it may be of interest for someone who wants to work on developing these skills.

There are a range of licensing and surface pattern-focused courses which all run for a pricer $2000 and are advertised to share ‘how to become a successful licensed illustrator.’

Here are a few I’ve heard about:

• Art of Collections - Cat Coquillette. A 1-year course/ community membership.

  I am currently a participant!

  This is technically a self-paced course coupled with a cohort community completing monthly business and collection creation tasks. Cat provides personalised feedback and the community is very supportive. I’m yet to get a feel for whether this course is value for money but it’s proving good accountability on specific licensing goals I have this year so I’m optimistic.

• Leverage Your Art - Stacie Bloomfield. An 8-week course.

• Immersion - Bonnie Christine. An 8-week course.

  Have you taken either of these courses? This level of investment needs careful thought. Jenni Macklin recently wrote on Substack about how to decide if Immersion is right for you.

Check out online courses from institutions like these:

• V&A Academy

  The Victoria & Albert Museum run the odd workshop and course in illustration. Most notably: Introduction to Fashion Illustration, a 6-week course.

• University of the Arts London (UAL)

  UAL runs various creative short courses, some online and some on campus.

The list is endless with galleries and colleges now offering online course options.

In-person cohort-based

Colleges and universities all over the world also run short courses in illustration in a classroom environment. Have you looked up your local institution?

Meeting for a course in person can provide a great local community, especially when you’re working as a freelancer.

Which illustration course do YOU recommend?

Have you taken other courses that aren’t listed here that might be useful for other new illustrators? Tell us about them by commenting here or messaging me directly.

I hope this list is helpful for when you need your next illustration course fix…

Thank you for reading!

Libby