The best online concept art schools

Class acts Lockdown needn’t stop you learning concept art or extending your skill-set. Tom May presents eight great places to study online

- Tom May

Online courses in concept art have been growing in influence and importance for the past few years now. And in 2020, for obvious reasons, they’ve come into their own. But choosing between them can be tricky. Different concept art schools don’t just specialise in different areas, but also offer very different approaches to learning in general.

Some are similar to YouTube channels, offering prerecorded videos that contain exercises for you to complete after the lesson. This type of course tends to be cheaper and easier to fit into your schedule, but offers less in the way of feedback, and you’ll need to be more disciplined to complete it. Other schools feature live classes that are more like traditional education, with greater interactivity and opportunities to ask questions. These, in turn, tend to be more expensive, and you’ll need to keep to a rigid schedule.

In this article, we’ve selected our eight favourite online schools for concept artists. We’ll explain what each one offers and how they differ, to help you choose the right one for your needs.

Schoolism

www.schoolism.com

Schoolism was set up by concept artist Bobby Chiu, and tutors include wellknown artists such as Craig Mullins, Iris Compiet, Ian McCaig and Nathan Fowkes. It offers two ways of taking its courses in drawing, illustration, sculpting and painting.

The cheaper option is to follow prerecorded videos, which you can watch whenever you like. Alternatively, you can pay more for Critiqued Sessions. These have set start dates, and run from nine to 14 weeks.