You might be bored of hearing how this is the perfect time to pick up a new skill or brush up an old one, your kids might be craving to. During this pandemic, while most of the kids are logging on to Zoom for their school classes. Meanwhile, school kids are bored, still not able to attend many of their old extracurricular activities like drawing, painting or pottery classes on the weekends. With the absence of creative activity classes, online art classes are becoming a new normal and can teach the same skills in-person art classes can. Your kids can also learn to draw their favorite animated characters from Disney with these online art classes. Online art classes aren’t only a perfect replacement for art classes in person, these art classes for kids will still help your kid get creative again. During this pandemic, numbers of skilled artists and instructors are providing online art classes for kids who are stuck at home.
These classes cater to kids of diverse age groups and provide instruction on everything from simple craft projects and beginner drawings to standard activities like watercolor painting and portraits. Some of the classes provide downloadable content and class sheets while others provide high-quality instructional videos. These online classes provide kids with an opportunity to brush up their art skills and knowledge. Here, then, are ten of the best online art courses for kids.
1. Skillshare
From doodling, coloring to sketching, Skillshare provides a broad range of art courses that are tailored for kids. With exercises on drawing different shapes, including animal cartoons, landscape paintings, simple structures with lines, etc. your kids can learn and grow their creative expertise. You can check the courses to see the right fit for your kid as per age and interest. For example, the art Course by well-known illustrator and comic artist Gabriel Picolo covers all aspects of character illustration. This is a 60-minute drawing class that contains 12 lessons. Currently, over 70,476 students have enrolled in this online illustration class. This online art course is perfect for beginners as well as intermediate level illustrators, who can all benefit from Gabriel’s thoughtful, easy-to-follow, and precise art styles. After finishing this illustration class, students will be able to create their own characters and to communicate stories, emotions, and movement with ease. Skillshare provides both free and paid online classes that include videos and written tutorials. Premium services cost between $2 and $ 8 per month depending on whether you pay monthly or for a year.
2. Creativebug
Creativebug is an online learning platform that offers your kids a repository of more than 1,000 award-winning high-quality on-demand videos and classes in the field of art and craft for all levels. Launched in 2014 by two cousins who aimed to bring arts and crafts to the world, their appealing videos have galleries attached to them where users can upload the artwork they created by following the tutorial. Once you create an account on Creativebug, you get unlimited access to all the online art and craft courses and interesting features such as My Library, My Watchlist, and My Gallery. Creativebug’s unlimited membership comes at a nominal price of $7.95 a month, with a free 7-day trial. The online learning platform offers a great line of online classes in drawing and illustration themes. The platform is currently available on laptops, desktops, tablets, and mobile phones via the Creativebug app or web browser and their app is available via the Google Play and App Store. With the help of the app, you can download your class and take it on the go.
3. Sparketh
Sparketh is an online learning platform that provides online art courses for kids in the age group 6-18. With the help of hand-picked art instructors, reliable content, high-quality videos, on-screen graphics, and innovative course structure Sparketh’s award-winning platform provides a level of accelerated creative learning for young students. Sparketh’s aim is to optimize creative learning online through technology innovation and engagement in the creative tribes. Kids will get a chance to take up nature drawing classes, animal drawing classes, learn how to draw portraits. They can also upload their art into a central portfolio on Sparketh and even create a student artist’s profile to track their progress. There is a diverse range of art courses available on Sparketh, so any kid could find just about anything they want to create. The courses also include one-on-one art mentorship for feedback and guidance. The cost of the plan is $250 annually and you can also try their 30 days free trial and access up to 1,000 classes for free.
4. CreativeLive
CreativeLive is the go-to site for creative kids with more than 1,500 classes taught by 650+ industry-leading experts covering topics such as art, crafts, design, music, and so on. The online learning platform includes over 10 million students and each class falls under one of five categories: photo and video, art and maker, or money and life. Eventually, the courses are centered around making creativity a habit, be it for personal or professional practice. CreativeLive lets your kids watch on-air broadcasts for free on five channels for 24-hours a day, or you can also buy a class and own it for life with the option to watch, rewind and access bonus materials anytime. The online learning platform allows you to purchase a Creator Pass for $39 a month or $149 annually. This lets you access features like the site’s entire library of over 1,500 classes and ways to track your goals with learning paths. You can also create an account and purchase classes individually. For example, other art courses cost around $20 while CreativeLive often runs a sale. Otherwise, it costs $29.
5. Disney and Pixar
Disney and Pixar are providing online classes to teach kids how to sketch out their favorite characters, from Frozen’s Anna to a vintage 1920s Mickey. Through Disney Parks Blog, you can bring the Disney magic alive in your house now. Disney has recently released a list of free drawing/doodling classes for kids and adults. All of these online classes are conducted by well known Disney character artists, so you have the chance to learn from the best hands while sitting in the comfort of your house. The online tutorials can last anytime between 10 and 20 minutes, and your kid only requires a sketchbook, a pencil, and an eraser for this online learning. While your kid can use the time productively, you can do with a bit of school-time nostalgia. Apart from this, Disney will also teach your kids how to bring to life its famous princesses. From Jasmine to Rapunzel and Snow White, you will find these online tutorials on YouTube. So, which Disney character will you be making your kid draw today?
6. Private Picassos
Brooklyn-based Private Picassos offers Online Art Classes on several art techniques to bring the art experience virtually to your home. Their online art course follows a specific lesson plan, designed by trained art educators and the price of the courses starts from $64 per class. Their exercises include observational drawing, self-portraiture, relief printmaking, bookmaking, clay modeling, acrylic on canvas, assemblages, and watercolor exploration. The course curriculum is customized as per the age, interests, skill levels, and goals of each student and tailor their projects specifically to them. All of the Private Picassos’ art teachers have broad experience teaching art to students of all age groups. Kids also receive a Progress Report, AKA Young Artists‘ Journal for younger students, periodically throughout the semester. The private art lesson is from 45 minutes to 1 hour and contains personalized art activities for your child. With 14+ years of experience teaching classes to over 15,000 kids, their goal is to keep your child engaged on the right path.
7. LinkedIn Learning
You must have heard of LinkedIn by now. It’s a popular platform for professional networking. LinkedIn Learning is the network’s platform for online courses, launched to help LinkedIn members educate themselves and level up their skills. LinkedIn Learning offers various online art classes for kids to improve their drawing skills. This online course comprises 10 drawing courses that span over 26 hours of video lessons. The courses provide ways in which kids can refine, enhance, and enrich their creativity. It contains courses that cover topics from sketching techniques to working with perspective, factoring for light, rendering shadows, and so on. Kids can pick one or more courses or the entire bundle of courses. Kids who complete all courses earn a badge of completion from LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning requires a premium membership, which costs just $29.99 per month. You can also sign up for a 7-days free trial of unlimited classes so you can see if the features it offers are right for your kid. The premium subscription is also ad-free and allows you to download classes to your mobile device and watch offline.
8. Outschool
Founded by Amir Nathoo in 2015, Outschool has been described as the “Netflix of learning. Since its launch, Outschool offers over 10,000 live online classes for young kids between the ages of 3 and 18. The online learning platform offers a wide range of interesting courses in arts and drawing and combines learning with engaging activities. Outschool courses start at $5 and the exact price of the courses is based on the type of course, the teacher’s level of experience, and the time the teacher will spend developing the course. The major goal of Outschool is to provide a learner-directed solution for school kids. The students take classes through Zoom, a teleconferencing tool, and other online technologies. This allows kids to interact directly with instructors and share their passion with the teacher and the rest of the students. The online learning platform has world-class teachers to share their knowledge and passions, and they are publicly rated by participants, offering transparency and responsibility.
9. Udemy
Art always helps bring out the creative elements in your kid. Udemy provides a wide variety of art and drawing classes for Kids. For instance, in one, step-by-step, 2h 25m course, teacher, art instructor, and artist Em Winn help kids learn the fundamental techniques for drawing and painting. From grasping the basics of how to hold a pencil, to the types of colors and shading, your kid will learn to enjoy drawing and painting! This art course is particularly designed with beginners and kids above 5 in mind. The price of the online course is ₹455, needing no previous skills, and making it super easy to grasp. With a total of 11 unusual drawing and watercolor painting projects, your kid will get a chance to learn the secrets for creating masterpieces. The online course involves creating shapes and lines together until a recognizable outcome is accomplished. Udemy’s online art courses will provide your kids with the confidence they require to start their artistic journey into reflection, creative thinking, and self-expression. After finishing the drawing portion of their project, kids will move onto painting the project where kids will learn basic watercolor techniques and will use these techniques to complete their art projects.
10. Pencil Kings
Started by Canadian artist Mitch Bowler, Pencil Kings is an online learning platform developed by artists for budding artists. Bowler handpicked a talented batch of experts to teach Pencil King’s courses, artists with experience working at studios in the highest echelon of the business like Marvel, Warner Bros., EA, Activision Dreamworks, Sony, and so on. Over 11 basic to advanced courses, Pencil Kings lets kids learn pragmatic art techniques in a simple, tangible, and applicable manner to boost their confidence and skill levels. The art classes progress at a student’s own pace and each is designed around the creation of an actual finished piece of art. A full subscription costs $30/month or $300/year, though they often provide offers on subscription prices.
With online courses like Anatomy for Beginners, Gesture Drawing for Beginner Artists, Figure Drawing with Style Distortion, Painting a Pinup in Photoshop, Wild West Character Design, and more, your kids will be gifted with more than enough knowledge to get hired and let that budding art career take flight.
Conclusion
Work-from-home has become the new normal for adults across the world. at the same time that school shuttering has forced millions of kids inside. Parents are now trying to juggle being teachers, caretakers, and co-workers while also staying balanced. So artists across the world have stepped up to create virtual resources and online classes for kids and anyone else who needs a creative break during this Covid-19 crisis. As we know, Arts is one of our beloved at-home activities with kids, but wouldn’t it be nice to have the pros take over every once in a while.
Thanks to several online art classes, you can have the best art instructors from the best platforms across the countries teaching your kids on everything to do with art, right from the comfort of your own home! From leading them in small projects to teaching them art history, these online learning platforms will fulfill the requirements of any future Picasso, either big or small.
