Great Courses For 2D and 3D Artists

Getting into the world of 3D art can be a bit intimidating since there are so many approaches, techniques, styles, and brushes that you can use during production. Recently, we talked to Vitaliy Strokachev, a 3D artist, who shared his top favorite CG-courses.

This list includes schools and courses that cover different art categories, such as stylized art, concept art, character art,  and some of them are more focused on brushes techniques. The courses vary in the difficulty level, so you can find the one that suits you. If you are a beginner, or you want to enhance your skills or to learn some new stuff, this list might be really helpful for you. 

1. Proko. Anatomy for Artists

Some things aren’t obvious from the first side, but after a while, it got easier, and you could feel the progress. The channel offers you lots of free studies, and also has a wide course that you can purchase. This channel will work best if you want to get into details.

2. Concept Art School by Klushkin.

Dmitry Klyushkin is a concept artist who has worked in various companies, including Ubisoft and Applibot. It offers a full pipeline of the character production, from the concept to coloring stages. The course will teach how to think as a concept artist and will help you simplify the brainstorming process. Please, note that the course is in Russian.

3. The Best Course on Perspectives by Scott Robertson.

I haven’t seen a more in-depth and easy explanation of kakih to perspectives at the same time. The course is mostly based on the sci-fi tech artworks. There are also 2 books with video courses: one on modeling/sculpting/dunno, the other one will let you dive into rendering. Video courses concentrate on pencil and digital drawing.

4. Marc Brunet.

Marc worked in Blizzard for 8 years, after that, he founded the Cubebrush school and his own platform, where you can purchase other artists' tutorials and packs. I have taken his character concept art course, where he showed his full pipeline and gave plenty of good recommendations. He also created a huge program that dives into detail and covers all topics, from the easiest to the hardest. Probably, he studies these topics himself and shares the knowledge at the same time. He definitely nails the character art, and his lessons on related topics are awesome. There are also ZBrush tutorials if someone is interested. Overall, this guy is awesome. 

5. CG Art Smirnov School

Also, I want to take Smirnov School courses, but haven’t yet, so I can’t say anything specific about it. Please, note that the courses at the school are in Russian.

6.Element Edition by Mark Kolobaev

He is a pro when it comes to cinematic and game environments. He has a really wide course from the very beginning that gives you tons of practice. Cool pros from the additional video content are often guests of the course. He not only teaches how to draw but also how to choose the right aim on the course and how to plan your studies in general, recommends essential and useful software and apps. He goes beyond drawing and shared his actual industry experience.

7. XYZ School.

These are cool guys who know all about the 3D concept. They have very strong mentors in the team and the educational process is built in the most efficient way with the full pipeline for 3D artists. Their teaching approach is interesting but easy and understandable at the same time. Please, note that this school offers courses in Russian.

8. Loish.

Not pricey 30-minute long tutorial for 10 bucks. The tutorial has tons of useful information on stylized characters from A to Z.

Vitaly Strokachev, Concept Artist