Udemy: The World's Art Supply Store for Online Courses

Udemy is to online art education what Amazon is to art supplies: the largest marketplace available, offering an overwhelming breadth of options at prices that undercut traditional alternatives by enormous margins. With thousands of digital art and illustration courses spanning every conceivable medium, software, technique, and skill level, Udemy provides more art instruction per dollar than any other platform—particularly during its frequent sales, when courses regularly drop to $12.99-$19.99 regardless of their listed price.

The platform's marketplace model means that anyone with expertise can create and sell courses, which creates both Udemy's greatest strength (extraordinary breadth of content) and its greatest challenge (variable quality). The key to using Udemy effectively is understanding how to evaluate courses before purchasing—and the platform provides the tools to do exactly that.

Why Udemy Works for Art Students

Price-to-Content Ratio

Udemy's sale pricing makes it possible to build a comprehensive art education library for the cost of a single traditional workshop. A student can purchase courses on digital painting fundamentals, Procreate techniques, character design, watercolor painting, and perspective drawing for a combined cost of under $100—representing hundreds of hours of instruction from multiple experienced educators.

Lifetime Access

Every Udemy purchase includes lifetime access to the course content, including future updates. This means you can return to lessons as your skills develop, review techniques you've forgotten, and benefit from new content added by the instructor over time. For complex topics like anatomy or color theory that require repeated study, this perpetual access is genuinely valuable.

Best-Selling Art Courses

Several Udemy art courses have achieved best-seller status with tens of thousands of students and consistently high ratings. Courses like "The Ultimate Digital Painting Course" by Jaysen Batchelor, "Character Art School" by Scott Harris, and "Procreate Masterclass" by various instructors have proven track records of delivering effective instruction at accessible prices.

Course Preview and Reviews

Udemy allows free preview of course content before purchasing, and the review system—with detailed ratings, written reviews, and completion statistics—provides reliable quality indicators. Courses with thousands of reviews and ratings above 4.5 are generally reliable choices.

How to Choose Wisely

Check Review Volume and Recency

Courses with thousands of recent reviews and high ratings are the safest choices. Look for reviews from students at your skill level who describe specific improvements in their work.

Preview Before Purchasing

Watch the free preview lectures to evaluate the instructor's teaching style, production quality, and communication clarity before committing.

Wait for Sales

Udemy runs sales almost constantly. Never pay full price for a Udemy course—a sale is always within days. Most courses drop to $12.99-$19.99 during promotions, making even courses listed at $84.99+ extremely affordable.

Art Course Categories on Udemy

Digital Painting and Illustration

Udemy's digital painting courses range from complete beginner introductions to advanced technique courses covering specific subjects, styles, and software workflows. Courses on Photoshop painting, Procreate illustration, Clip Studio Paint techniques, and software-agnostic digital painting fundamentals provide options for every tool preference and skill level.

Traditional Drawing and Painting

Comprehensive courses on pencil drawing, charcoal, watercolor, oil painting, acrylic painting, and mixed media provide structured instruction for traditional artists. Many of these courses include extensive practice exercises, downloadable reference materials, and progressive skill-building curricula that simulate the structured learning of in-person classes.

Character Design and Concept Art

Specialized courses on character design, creature design, environment concept art, and prop design serve aspiring entertainment artists. While these courses generally cannot match the instructor caliber of premium platforms like Schoolism or Brainstorm School, the best-rated options provide solid foundations at dramatically lower prices.

Anatomy for Artists

Multiple anatomy courses provide the structural understanding of the human body that underpins figure drawing, character design, and portraiture. Courses range from simplified gesture-focused approaches to detailed anatomical study, allowing students to choose the depth appropriate to their goals.

The Udemy Learning Experience

Self-Paced Structure

Every Udemy course is completely self-paced, allowing students to progress through material at whatever speed suits their learning style and schedule. Lessons can be paused, rewound, and rewatched as many times as needed—a significant advantage over live instruction for complex technical content that requires multiple viewings to absorb fully.

Q&A and Community

Each course includes a Q&A section where students can ask questions and receive answers from instructors and fellow students. Active instructors who respond promptly to questions significantly enhance the learning experience, and the accumulated Q&A threads often address the exact questions new students encounter.

Completion Certificates

Udemy provides completion certificates for finished courses that can be shared on LinkedIn profiles and professional portfolios. While these certificates don't carry the weight of academic credentials, they demonstrate commitment to professional development and continuous learning.

Building a Comprehensive Art Education

Udemy's greatest strength for art students is the ability to build a customized art education by combining courses from multiple instructors across different subjects. A student might take a drawing fundamentals course from one instructor, a digital painting course from another, an anatomy course from a third, and a business-of-art course from a fourth—assembling a comprehensive education tailored to their specific goals at a fraction of what any single educational institution would charge.

This modular approach allows students to invest more heavily in their primary interests while maintaining breadth across supporting skills. An aspiring character designer might invest in multiple character design courses from different instructors—gaining diverse perspectives on the same discipline—while taking single courses in anatomy, color theory, and portfolio development.

The Bottom Line

Udemy is the most affordable path to comprehensive art education online. Its combination of massive course selection spanning digital and traditional media, lifetime access to all purchased content, frequent deep discounts that make courses remarkably affordable, a reliable review system for quality assessment, self-paced learning flexibility, and the ability to build customized learning paths from multiple instructors makes it an essential resource for self-directed art students at every level.