Are Free Learning Opportunities Worth Your Time?

I’m a huge supporter of enriching your creative hobbies with online learning, both free and paid, and today I want to talk about my experience with free options. I’ve had some great experiences that include learning how to watercolor and the ins and outs of Procreate.  I’ve had some smarmy experiences as well.  

While I won’t list off the bad classes I’ve taken or the teachers that taught them.  I will say that if your free classes is basically an advertisement to get me to buy the VIP access to the course you’ve done nothing to earn my money. 

Let’s talk about some excellent resources I’ve found and the great people I’ve learned from:

• Very Pink Knits - This is my go to for leaning anything related to knitting, it’s rare that Staci won’t have a tutorial on whatever I’m trying to learn.
• Let’s Make Art - Sarah’s weekly Youtube tutorials taught me how to watercolor without making me feel like I needed fancy supplies.
• Paul Clark - Another MVP in the world of watercolor. 
• Peggy Dean of the Pigeon Letters - One of the MVPs of free workshops with her week long event Summer Creative Retreat.  Lettering, painting, Procreate…the list goes on.
• Tamara LaPort of Willowing Arts - Her Mastering Mixed Media Expos share so much about the many ways you can created mixed media. 
• Jennifer Nichols and Alaina Jensen - These ladies have fantastic procreate youtube channels full of great procreate resources.

The list of classes, workshop and tutorials above are just a few of my faves from my own creative learning journey.  Not all “classes” need to include a sign up form and special platform to be a quality learning experience.  We all know Youtube is loaded with good, and even great, options to learn new skills.

Lady Bug

This Lady Bug was my first watercolor tutorial from Let’s Make Art.  This piece became one of my first sticker designs and is still one of my favorites.  As you can see in the photo I wasn’t even using fancy watercolors, that’s a school grade Prang watercolor palette.  

Ink Rings 

Ink Rings is a piece I created in 2022 when I was first learning procreate.  This was a result of watching Alaina Jensen’s video Ink Circles Mixed Media Digital Art.  This was the beginning of what has now become sort of a sanity saver while I live in a fifth wheel with no studio in site.

These are just a couple examples of the end results from free learning opportunities I’ve taken advantage of.  I could go on for days.  

I’ll also tell you I’m a bit of a free class junkie.  If the subject interest me I will sign up, especially if it’s prerecorded or there is a playback option.  I will watch all of the content and download all the free resources shared.  There are some real rockstars out there sharing some great stuff.  

What about the flip side of the coin?  The free classes that offer little value and are more about the upsell to get to to pay for the “real” class or VIP access?  I just finished one of these, and this kind of experience boils my creative juices.  

If you, as the teacher, feel you need to gate keep the real value of the class in a VIP only section don’t offer a “free” stripped down option.  It comes of as a bit of a false advertising scheme and it’s smarmy.  It’s the miracle diet hack of the creative world.  

Before y’all come at me, hear me out.  I don’t think everyone should give it everything away for free.  I do however, feel you should offer something of quality to show me your teaching skills.  Which, if you’re the right teacher for me, will entice me into paying for your other classes and the resources you offer.  

Here’s a list of I look for in a good or great free offering:

• Teachers that don’t oversell what they’re offering.  If it sounds like the magic is too good to be true, it is.  If I sign up for the class and then receive a daily email telling me what magic I can expect when class starts, this is generally a red flag that I picked the wrong class.
• Skill level information is clear.  This is one I will get on a soapbox for.  Tell me up front that this is a class for a beginner, and I will decide if it’s the right class for me.  The lack of this info can create a situation where a lot of time is wasted signing up and logging in, only to learn you’re beyond or not ready for the level being taught.  Not all teachers do this - be aware of that.
• Clear directions for accessing the class.  Links to the class are always the way to start, whether it’s a youtube tutorial or another platform.  If it’s for a special platform with a login and password set up there should be clear directions for accessing the platform and how to set up your user info.  I really like a link that say something like “for additional instructions on how to access the class click here.”
• Added value in the form of free resources.  The list of things can range from a downloadable cheat sheet to an outline for the sketch to a full procreate brush set or even a free month of membership in their community.  This really depends on the class, but I look for quality resources not just a regurgitation of tidbit someone found in a google search.  Something of value, even if it’s a small value.

I’ll be sharing more details about learning experiences I’ve enjoyed in these series.  My first highlighted experience will be for one of Jennifer Nichols’ free classes.