1. Design & Illustration

Design & Illustration Learning Guides

Discover our selections of the best free design tutorials on a range of topics, all in one place. If you want to brush up your Photoshop skills or learn a new piece of software like Adobe XD, you’ll find learning guides here to help you do that. Or maybe you want something more specialised, like learning how to draw textures or how to paint hair. We’ve got guides to help you with that too.

Just browse through the list and click on a topic that interests you to discover more and to find links to our hand-picked selection of free tutorials, designed to teach you that new skill or software as easily and enjoyably as possible.

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    1. How to Draw Animals

      34 Posts
      Get into drawing animals with our resident animal drawing expert, Monika Zagrobelna. With the assistance of diagrams on each animals anatomy, from skeleton to muscle structure and even the odd animation, you'll learn how easy it is to draw your favourite animals. Keep checking back to see the latest in this on going series of how to draw animals.
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    2. 24 Gorgeous DIY Christmas Decorations

      24 Posts
      If you've always wanted to try your hand at making your own things, Christmas is the perfect time. From handmade baubles for the Christmas tree to DIY crackers for your Christmas table, the festive season lends itself perfectly for a touch of crafty cheer. So grab a pair of scissors and a pot of glue and take inspiration from our amazing Christmas projects.
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    3. Create a Cartoon Plesiosaur with Maya & ZBrush

      2 Posts
      In this two part series, you'll learn how to model, sculpt, UVMap and texture a cartoon Plesiosaur using Maya, ZBrush, NEX, Roadkill and V-Ray. Part one includes creating a base mesh in Maya from concept art, sculpting and detailing in ZBrush and Re-topology in Maya using Nex. Part two covers texturing, baking polypaint data using xNormal and shader creation in Maya.
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    5. Easy Character Design

      31 Posts
      If you're new to vector, one of the first projects you may wish to take on is creating a cute, character from scratch. These types of projects introduce you to fundamental drawing concepts of building characters from basic shapes, as well as the odd trick here and there, which you can bring into more advanced projects as you progress.
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    6. Create a Cool Disco-Themed Animated Intro

      2 Posts
      In this series you'll learn how to create a cool, music video inspired, disco-themed animation using 3ds Max, Cinema 4D and After Effects. You'll begin by modeling the virtual set in 3ds Max before moving into Cinema 4D, where you'll utilize it's tight integration with After Effects to create textures for the scene. You'll also animate the shots and composite everything in After Effects.
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