With over 25 million members, Skillshare has become one of the largest online learning communities for creatives. The platform offers a plethora of courses taught by industry experts on topics ranging from illustration and graphic design to photography and creative writing.
In 2023, Skillshare saw tremendous growth, with course enrollments increasing by over 40 percent year-over-year. As more people turn to online education for upskilling and as a hobby, Skillshare has cemented itself as a go-to destination for quality instructional content.
But with over 30,000 courses to choose from, it can get overwhelming figuring out what to learn first. To help narrow it down, we compiled a list of the 10 most popular Skillshare courses of 2023/4 based on student enrollments and ratings. Whether you’re looking to pick up a new creative skill or add to your professional portfolio, these courses are a great place to start.
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1. The Ultimate Drawing Course — Beginner to Advanced by Robert Marzullo
With close to 200,000 students enrolled, this course tops Skillshare’s list when it comes to popularity. Illustrator and comic book artist Robert Marzullo takes you through a comprehensive curriculum covering everything from foundational drawing techniques to portraiture, landscapes, and anatomy. Perfect for total beginners, the course provides actionable tips and step-by-step guidance to build confidence in your drawing abilities. And with assignments tailored to various levels, it adequately challenges more advanced students too. Students praise Marzullo for his effective teaching methods and enjoyable on-screen presence.
2. DSLR Photography: Take Incredible Photos With Your DSLR Camera by Phil Ebiner
DSLR cameras have long been favored by semi-pro and professional photographers. But getting to grips with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings can have a steep learning curve. That’s where Phil Ebiner’s course comes in.By explaining exposure triangle fundamentals and composition techniques in simple terms, Ebiner helps both beginners and those looking to improve feel more confident with their DSLR. Peppered with useful shoots around California, this class will have you maximizing your DSLR’s capabilities in record time.
3. The Complete Writing Course by Natasha Lester
Authored by bestselling novelist Natasha Lester, this hugely popular class offers an A to Z on crafting novels across genres like romance, thrillers, sci-fi and more. Through insightful lectures and interactive exercises, Lester covers everything from developing compelling characters to plotting gripping story structures guaranteed to captivate readers. Brimming with actionable advice at each step, the course essentially provides a master blueprint to writing your first manuscript. Even experienced writers swear by the invaluable nuggets contained within.
4. Logo Design Masterclass — Learn Lettering & Illustration by Martin Perhiniak
In the world of graphic design and branding, a company’s logo is arguably its most valuable visual asset. This course by design wizard Martin Perhiniak shows you how to craft memorable and impactful logo marks from scratch.Blending video lessons on design theory with fun hands-on projects designing imaginary brands, the class is perfect for polishing your stylistic skills as an illustrator. Perhiniak’s concise teaching style coupled with real-time project feedback makes potentially dense topics like typography easy to absorb too.
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5. Adobe Lightroom Classic CC Masterclass: Beginner to Expert by Phil Ebiner
As any photographer can attest, mastering image post-processing is as crucial as capturing great photographs. And Adobe Lightroom remains the preferred software for the task. In this bestselling course, teacher Phil Ebiner takes you through a step-by-step blueprint to truly leveraging Lightroom’s capabilities. From navigating the interface as a beginner to more advanced techniques like skin retouching and complex photo merges, the class features fun projects and clear instructions even first timers can follow.
6. Realistic Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil: Beginner Level by Lena Danya
Pets occupy a special place in most people’s lives. What better way to celebrate your furry friends than through a hand-drawn colored pencil portrait? In this workshop, celebrated pet portraitist Lena Danya teaches her unique approach to depicting dogs and cats in vibrant, photorealistic style. Her secret lies in breaking down proportions using basic shapes, maintaining correctness and recognizing value shifts. Each video tutorial has Danya producing a beautiful finished piece from start to finish using reference photos from students. Both inspiring as it is instructive.
7. Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography by Phil Ebiner
Ranking among Skillshare’s top-rated photography classes, this comprehensive course leaves no stone unturned when grasping photography fundamentals. Teacher Phil Ebiner packs over 20 hours of content covering everything from operating different camera types to understanding exposure to telling stories through your lens. Using a simple project-based structure, Ebiner makes seemingly intricate topics like flash photography or post-processing completely accessible. The class is a favorite among everyone including beginner iPhone shooters and seasoned photographers looking to strengthen their craft.
8. Character Art School: Complete Character Drawing Course by Scott Harris
Whether it’s movies, comics or video games — a captivating story relies heavily on its cast of characters. This premium course from Disney animator Scott Harris reveals professional techniques to conceive memorable heroes and villains guaranteed to spark readers’ imaginations. With 180 detailed video lessons, Harris examined every facet of character design across popular genres. From expression sheets to turning personas into eye-catching illustrations, consider this your ultimate guide to creating the next beloved protagonist.
9. Animation for Beginners: Create Animated Videos in After Effects by Daniel Boden
Motion graphics and animation remain highly sought after skills in marketing and advertising today. And Adobe After Effect reigns supreme as the industry standard software. In this engaging class, animator Daniel Boden introduces the fundamentals of motion design while showing you how to produce polished After Effect videos. Covering everything from workflows to keyframing methods, the course takes first timers from zero to exporting their own animated sequences in no time. An easy recommendation for anyone looking to explore this creative field.
10. The Ultimate Anatomy Drawing Course by Bryce Cameron Liston
For artists of all types — nailing human anatomy accurately is one of the major keys to mastery. Delivered by gifted scientific illustrator Bryce Cameron, this top-level workshop shares techniques to break the body down into basic shapes to seamlessly sketch figures that appear true to life. Guiding you from essential bones and muscles sketches to full blown life drawing sessions, Liston’s teaching produces remarkable improvements for students within just a few classes. If realistic body proportions still elude you, this course is the ideal remedy.
Level Up Your Creative Skills on Skillshare
Fueled by glowing member feedback and enrollments, this list of courses decisively showcases Skillshare’s instructional design strengths even among rival online learning platforms.
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Taught by practicing industry experts who provide personal guidance and project feedback, the platform’s standout courses manage to condense years of creative insights into consumable video lessons you can enjoy from the comfort of home. Whether its graphic design, photography or even writing, there’s no better way to pick up professional-grade creative techniques in 2024 than logging onto Skillshare. So grab your laptop, build up that portfolio and unleash your inner artist or storyteller this year!
