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223 Best + Free Drawing Courses & Certificates [2026]
Ranked by Michael Kuhlman, CourseDuck's founder, from student reviews across every provider. How we rank
Our top picks
- The Ultimate Drawing Course - Beginner to Advanced [Udemy]
- Character Art School: Complete Character Drawing [Udemy]
- Drawing and Painting on the iPad with Procreate [Udemy]
- The Ultimate Digital Painting Course - Beginner to Advanced [Udemy]
- Drawing for Kids: How to Draw 25 Easy Cartoons Step-by-Step [Udemy]
- The Art & Science of Drawing / BASIC SKILLS [Udemy]Best Paid Course
- The Ultimate Character Design Course [Udemy]
- Anatomy for Figure Drawing: Mastering the Human Figure [Udemy]
- How to Draw Cute Cartoon Characters [Udemy]
- Manga Art School: The Complete Anime & Manga Drawing Course [Udemy]
About the best Drawing courses
Frequently asked questions
The most-reviewed Drawing course in this category is The Ultimate Drawing Course - Beginner to Advanced by Jaysen Batchelor, with about 126,000 reviews at 4.5 as of October 2026.
Drawing is the art of making images with lines, shading and shapes, using pencils, pens or digital tools. It is the base skill for illustration, animation, design and painting. Courses here cover drawing for beginners, figure drawing and anatomy, character design, perspective and manga.
- Average
- $46,457 a year
- Middle half earn
- $31,500 to $53,000 25th to 75th percentile
- Full range
- $18,500 to $84,500
Share of US job postings in each pay band; the dark bar holds the average, the striped bars the 25th and 75th percentiles. Source: ZipRecruiter salary data collected in 2020-21, when this FAQ was first written; pay has moved since, so treat it as a rough guide.
Paid Udemy video courses include a certificate of completion when you finish; free courses and practice-test-only courses do not. It shows you did the work, but it is not an accredited qualification. edX usually charges for a certificate, issued with the university or company that made the course.
1
The Ultimate Drawing Course - Beginner to Advanced (2022)
A pencil-and-paper fundamentals course from illustrator Jaysen Batchelor that has taken over half a million students from line and shading through perspective to the face and figure.
Best for: Complete beginners with paper and a pencil who want a structured path through the fundamentals before drawing people.
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- Builds from line and value up through perspective, still life, face and figure in a logical order
- Homework and worksheets after sections, so students practice instead of just watching
- Around 11 hours in 64 short lectures, realistic to finish in a few weeks
- Active Facebook group of students fills the gap left by a quiet Q&A
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- First drawing lesson is a photo-realistic eye, which one beginner found discouraging
- Reference photos the instructor draws from are not supplied to students
- Last updated March 2022 and the Q&A gets few replies from the instructors now
2
Character Art School: Complete Character Drawing (2026)
Scott Harris's theory-first character drawing course, 28 hours across 10 modules, with around 318,000 students and a 4.6 rating from nearly 67,000 reviews.
Best for: Self-directed beginners who want the theory behind drawing characters from imagination and will do the assignments alone.
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- Explanations are clear and concise; even a three-star reviewer says he was never confused.
- Module 10 alone is nearly 13 hours of full character drawing demos, start to finish.
- Refreshed in August 2026 and comes with 7GB of extra videos, brushes and workflow files.
- Students can send their work to the instructor for feedback, according to reviews.
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- The first two modules are mostly talking, with little drawing on screen.
- Theory first: practice happens in assignments done alone, which one reviewer says can take months.
- One beginner says she got lost once 3D forms started, with no gentle ramp up; another calls it unstructured for beginners.
3
Drawing and Painting on the iPad with Procreate (2021)
A 5-hour, hands-on Procreate walkthrough from illustrator Brad Colbow that gets iPad owners comfortable with the app fast, though it hasn't been updated since 2021.
Best for: iPad owners who want to learn Procreate's tools by making a comic strip and a painting rather than sitting through a feature list.
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- Easy to follow; reviewers with zero Procreate experience say they felt comfortable by the end
- Learn by making things: a full comic strip section and a final painting, not just a tool tour
- Colbow's delivery and pleasant voice get repeated praise in the reviews
- Short at about 5 hours, with captions in 15 languages
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- Last updated December 2021, so Procreate features added since then are missing
- A couple of students found sections hard to connect and the teaching not systematic enough
- Little guidance on picking canvas sizes for print versus web
4
The Ultimate Digital Painting Course - Beginner to Advanced (2022)
A 27 hour, fundamentals first path from the brush tool to photorealistic painting and character design, with an early drawn eye that keeps beginners moving before the theory lands.
Best for: Complete beginners with a tablet and Photoshop who want drawing theory and digital painting taught in one place.
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- Opens with drawing an eye, so beginners get a real result early on before the theory starts
- Fundamentals sections on perspective, light and color, and color theory come before full paintings
- Students say the two instructors explain key concepts clearly at a pace that is neither too hard nor too easy
- 27 hours across 18 sections reach people, environments, character design and a photorealistic style
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- Exercise files are Photoshop documents, so a reviewer on another app says most assignments are off limits
- Some later sections are painting time lapses with little explanation, according to lower-star reviews
- Unnamed layers and unfixed resource files frustrate followers, and the last update was March 2022
5
Drawing for Kids: How to Draw 25 Easy Cartoons Step-by-Step (2026)
A free, two-hour set of 25 follow-along cartoon animal drawings from an elementary art teacher, built for kids and nervous adult beginners who want quick wins.
Best for: Parents who want a calm, step-by-step drawing activity for a child aged roughly four to nine, or an adult who thinks they can't draw.
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- Free, and just under two hours, so a child can finish a whole animal in one short sitting.
- Videos are paced slowly enough to draw along in real time, which reviewers single out.
- 25 different cartoons across ocean, forest, garden, farm and safari animals keep kids interested.
- Refreshed in August 2026, so it is not a forgotten 2015 upload.
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- Aimed at young children; older kids and adults may find the cartoons childish.
- No theory, shading, color guidance or human figures, only outline-style animals.
- No feedback or assignments; one reviewer felt the drawings looked worse than freehand.
6
The Art & Science of Drawing / BASIC SKILLS (2020)
A short, structured start to drawing for total beginners, with six core lessons on shapes and light lines plus three hours of bonus demos.
Best for: Complete beginners who want a calm, practical first step into drawing before moving on to the rest of the series.
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- Starts from the very basics, including how to hold a pencil and draw simple shapes
- Clear, steady pacing; one reviewer says non-native English speakers can follow easily
- About three hours of bonus demos show the skills applied to botanicals and birds
- Habit advice, like repeating a drawing 100 times, keeps beginners practicing
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- Last updated in March 2020, so the course is several years old
- Only six core lessons; most of the 4.3 hours is bonus demonstration
- No quizzes or assignments, so practice and feedback are left to the student
7
The Ultimate Character Design Course (2025)
A 24-hour, beginner-friendly path from basic pencil control to full character design, built around a Q&A community and a start-to-finish demo section.
Best for: Complete beginners who want a structured, ground-up path into character design with feedback.
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- Breaks fundamentals down step by step before tackling full characters
- Q&A community where students post work and get feedback
- Feels personal, almost like a private lesson, reviewers say
- Full start-to-finish character design demo included in section 12
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- First few sections drag for anyone who already knows how to draw
- Pencil-and-paper demos are hard to see and don't translate well to digital
- Instructor team answers Q&A posts less consistently than reviewers would like
8
Anatomy for Figure Drawing: Mastering the Human Figure (2023)
A deep, no-shortcuts anatomy course for artists who want to draw muscles, skeletons, and poses from imagination instead of tracing references.
Best for: Artists with some drawing background who want figures built from real bone and muscle knowledge, not tricks.
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- Muscle origin and insertion points explained clearly enough to draw from imagination
- Dedicated sections on hands, feet, skull, and full-body poses
- Bonus lessons cover breast anatomy and a quick sculpting demo
- Last refreshed in October 2023
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- Nearly 58 hours long, and some lessons feel like unedited, one-take filler
- Leans heavily toward comic-style bodies, muscular men and large busts, not general figure drawing
- A shorter, faster paced version of this same course now exists from the same instructor
9
How to Draw Cute Cartoon Characters (2020)
A short, friendly primer on drawing cute kawaii-style characters, taught by illustrator Ben Colefax in under two and a half hours of video.
Best for: Total beginners who want simple, repeatable steps for cute character faces and bodies.
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- Clear, simple explanations that beginners say make kawaii style click fast
- Short and focused: 27 lectures, about 141 minutes total
- Covers faces, bodies, growing a character, and animal characters
- Works with plain paper and pencil or a drawing tablet
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- Last substantially updated in 2020, so some digital tool tips feel dated
- Very short at 2.4 hours, with just three assignments and no quizzes
- Demos lean digital; at least one reviewer wanted more paper-only guidance
10
Manga Art School: The Complete Anime & Manga Drawing Course (2026)
A beginner manga course built around proportions, faces, hair and line art, with long full-drawing demos, but little on full-body poses or clothes.
Best for: Anime fans who want to learn why manga faces and proportions look the way they do.
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- Proportion rules for heads and bodies are explained clearly, and reviewers say they hold up in practice
- Teaches the theory behind the manga look instead of just 'do this to look more manga'
- Harris talks through his choices during the full demos, which one reviewer calls instructive
- Updated in August 2026, with about 11 hours spread over 54 lectures
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- Little on full bodies in varied poses, clothing or scenery, a gap several reviewers name
- Some find the long demos filler, and one demo appears in both long and short versions
- Audio is quiet for some, and one reviewer got almost no feedback on assignments
11
Introduction to Graphic Illustration (2015)
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- Class is centered around a final project to ensure students develop the practical skills necessary to succeed in graphic illustration.
- Course can be taken for fun, for a certificate or for college credit.
- Course does a great job of teaching what makes a good illustration just as much as the mechanics of crafting the illustration.
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- Considering it is a college course, the lack of instructor participation is alarming. This is largely a self-study course.
- Despite being an introductory course, it assumes proficiency with Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Course does not provide supplemental information for utilizing the tools covered in the material.