30 resources · 30 free
Illustration & Digital Art
Digital drawing and illustration — Procreate, Photoshop, and visual art skills.
Krita
Professional-grade free and open-source painting program built by artists, with a focus on illustration and concept art. Includes 100+ brushes, color management, assistant tools, and a full 2D animation module. The default free choice for digital painting on Windows, macOS and Linux. 100% free; donations support development.
Krita Documentation (User Manual)
The official Krita user manual covering brushes, layers, color, selection tools and the animation timeline. Includes step-by-step tutorials like 'Krita for Beginners' and painting tool deep-dives. The definitive reference for getting the most out of Krita's brush engine. Free, open, and community-maintained.
GIMP
The free and open-source image editor — the classic alternative to Photoshop for raster illustration and photo work. Full layer system, brushes, paths, filters and tablet support for digital drawing. Mature ecosystem of tutorials, plugins and community resources. 100% free (GPL), cross-platform.
Inkscape
Free and open-source vector graphics editor — the standard free tool for vector illustration and flat design. Full node editing, bezier tools, SVG support and live path effects for logos, icons and illustration. Large community with tutorials and extension ecosystem. 100% free, cross-platform.
MediBang Paint
Free digital painting and manga creation software with 180+ brushes, 1000+ screentones and comic panel tools. Works across desktop, iPad and smartphone with cloud sync between devices. Popular for manga, anime-style illustration and quick concept sketches. Core software free on all platforms; optional premium cloud features.
Sketchbook
Professional sketching and painting app with a clean, unobtrusive interface and natural-feeling brushes. Available on desktop, iOS and Android; famous for its realistic pencil, marker and ink tools. Core app free to download and use on all platforms. Free; a paid bundle of extra brushes and features is optional.
Photopea
Full-featured Photoshop-compatible editor that runs entirely in the browser — no install needed. Supports PSD files, layers, masks, brushes and tablet input for digital painting on any machine. A lifesaver for illustrators on Chromebooks or school computers. Free with ads; ad-free premium tier optional.
ibisPaint
Mobile-first drawing app downloaded 500M+ times, with 100,000+ brushes, filters, screentones and rulers. Records drawing process videos and hosts a social feed where artists share technique breakdowns. Great entry point for illustration practice on phones and tablets. Free version with ads; premium membership unlocks cloud, vector tools and extra assets.
Ctrl+Paint
Free digital painting library by Matt Kohr — short, focused video lessons on the fundamentals of digital art. Structured learning path: brush control, value, color, edges, then full painting demonstrations. Designed like a college curriculum for self-taught digital painters. Core library free; premium packs and toolkit paid.
Proko — YouTube
One of the best art education channels: figure drawing, anatomy, portrait and gesture with clear demonstrations. Free YouTube content is extensive; premium courses on proko.com go deeper with assignments and critiques. Features guests like Stan Prokopenko, Marco Bucci, and David Finch. YouTube content free; site courses paid.
Sinix Design — YouTube
Deep-dive channel on digital painting technique: brushes, edge control, anatomy and stylized rendering. Famous 'Anatomy Quick Tips' series and painting critique streams beloved by concept artists. Explains the mechanics of painting software with precision. All videos free on YouTube.
Marco Bucci — YouTube
Professional illustrator and art director whose free channel demystifies color, light, value and painting fundamentals. Signature '10 Minutes to Better Painting' series is a must-watch for digital painters. Clear, visual teaching style that connects theory to practical demos. Free on YouTube; paid Color Survival Guide course on Proko.
The Drawing Database (Northern Kentucky University)
A complete free college-level drawing curriculum by Marc Leone, posted as a public service from NKU's School of the Arts. Hundreds of hours of active-learning lessons: perspective, gesture, figure drawing, value and anatomy. Essentially a free atelier — draw along with real models and assignments. 100% free, no sign-up required.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
New Masters Academy
Art school-grade streaming academy with figure drawing, anatomy, portrait and painting courses from top instructors. Huge free YouTube library complements the subscription site, which adds assignments, critiques and reference packs. Known for structured fundamentals programs like 'Drawing Basics'. Freemium: substantial free content; full academy subscription paid.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Schoolism
Online art school founded by Bobby Chiu with courses by industry legends (Nathan Fowkes, Wouter Tulp, Terryl Whitlatch). Free tips, interviews and sample lessons are available on the site and YouTube. Full courses with homework feedback and critiques are subscription-based. Freemium: free sample content; courses paid.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
The Art of Aaron Blaise
Former Disney animator (The Lion King, Brother Bear, Mulan) teaching animation and digital painting. Free tutorials on his YouTube channel plus paid in-depth courses on character design, animal drawing and the 12 principles. His free content is a masterclass in expressive, organic drawing. Freemium: free YouTube lessons; paid course library.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
ArtStation Learning
ArtStation's streaming education platform with hundreds of free video tutorials from industry professionals. Covers illustration, concept art, color & light, character design, 3D and game art workflows. Free for all users with an ArtStation account — a rare fully-free professional resource. Free; courses by studios like Epic Games and Dekogon.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Procreate Beginners Series (Free Tutorials)
Official free video-and-workbook series for learning Procreate on iPad: brushes, colors, layers, editing tools and Animation Assist. Four practical lessons walk beginners from a blank canvas to finished digital artwork. Perfect companion to the paid Procreate app itself. Tutorials free on the web and in the app.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Procreate Handbook (Official Documentation)
The official Procreate user handbook — the complete reference for every brush, gesture and feature in the app. Beautifully illustrated docs cover painting, selections, adjustments, animation assist and exporting. The authoritative answer source for Procreate questions. Free to read online; Procreate app itself is a paid one-time purchase.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Quickposes
Free gesture drawing practice tool: pick pose categories and a time limit, and draw from a rotating image library. Timed practice modes (30s/60s/2min) build speed, plus random gestures and 20-image challenge sessions. Also offers poses for hands, feet, animals and expressions. Free in browser; optional paid desktop app.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Line of Action
Free figure drawing practice tool with timed sessions for gesture, hands & feet, faces, and scenes. Includes a 15-minute interactive 'learn to draw' tutorial and community practice tracking. Class-mode and reference tools used by university drawing courses worldwide. Core tool free; optional paid photo bundles and subscriber features.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Posemaniacs
Free 3D pose reference site with hundreds of rotating muscle-man figure poses and hand poses. Each pose rotates 360° so you can study anatomy and foreshortening from any angle. Popular for quick anatomy and gesture studies in illustration practice. 100% free.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Muddy Colors
A collective blog of 20+ professional illustrators and painters with daily articles on craft and career. Deep-dive posts on value, color, composition, traditional media and the business of art. One of the largest free educational sites dedicated to the fantastic arts. Free; also runs the popular Illustration Master Class.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Character Design References (CDR)
The internet's largest character design community hub, showcasing curated art, tutorials and artist interviews. Visual library of poses, expressions and anatomy references plus 'Art of Animation' spotlights. Excellent daily inspiration source for illustrators and animators. Free; community of 1M+ artists.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
r/ArtFundamentals — Reddit Community
The official Drawabox community where students post homework for critique and track their fundamentals progress. Structured lesson progression with community and mentor feedback on every exercise. One of the most disciplined free drawing communities on the internet. Free to join and participate.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
r/learnart — Reddit Community
Reddit's supportive learning-art community with constructive critique for beginners and intermediates. Daily threads for quick questions, weekly critique posts and resource recommendations. Great place to get honest, useful feedback on studies and finished pieces. Free; sidebar is a goldmine of curated learning resources.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Inktober
The world-famous month-long ink drawing challenge created by Jake Parker: one ink drawing every day of October. Official prompt list released each year; participants post with #inktober for global visibility. Builds daily drawing habits and connects you with thousands of artists. 100% free.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
FZD School (Feng Zhu Design Cinema)
The free YouTube channel of FZD School, founded by concept artist Feng Zhu, offering hundreds of hours of character and environment design education. Design Cinema episodes demonstrate full concept art workflows from thumbnail to final paint, covering shape language, silhouette, composition, value, and color. Studio tours, student reviews, and industry insights reveal how professional concept art is made. Entirely free, though the paid school itself requires tuition.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Gurney Journey
The long-running free blog of James Gurney, author of Color and Light and Dinotopia, sharing daily posts on painting, color theory, and observation. Articles demonstrate how light behaves, how to mix colors convincingly, and how masters solved design problems, illustrated with Gurney's own sketches and paintings. Topics range from plein-air techniques to digital painting and art history. A free ongoing masterclass from one of the most respected living illustrators. Essential reading for artists.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
Handprint (Color Theory for Artists)
A legendary free reference site by Bruce MacEvoy containing the deepest color-theory material available online for artists. The color pages explain the physics and psychology of color perception, color mixing models, and how to build effective palettes, while the watercolor sections analyze pigments in exhaustive technical detail. Charts and interactive comparisons let artists study how pigments actually behave in mixtures.
Prove your interest
Unlock this bonus resource by showing you are serious.
18 more resources in Illustration & Digital Art
MMIC members see the full catalog — every resource, no limits.