If you have a budding interest in learning how to paint, then don’t hesitate to enroll in any of the best free online painting courses that will be curated here.
We see paintings every day in our day-to-day lives in different forms. Right from when we were kids, we have at one time or another painted something. It was always fun as toddlers or kindergartens in school to use crayons and bring blank pictures to life and make them look colorful and beautiful too.
Although apart from painting, there are so many other things kids do for fun, and parents have taken it upon themselves to enroll these kids in fun activities such as drawing classes for kids and other fun things they can engage themselves in.
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color, and another medium to a solid surface. The surface is called a matrix or support. The medium is normally applied to the base with a brush. But other implements such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes can be used.
Painting is an important form in the visual arts, bringing in elements such as drawing, composition, gesture, narration, and abstraction. Painting can be naturalistic and representational. There are various types of paintings, some of which are; Figure painting, Illustration painting, Landscape Painting, Portrait Painting, Still life Painting, Veduta Painting, and lots of other types of painting.
With the right instructor or teacher, you can learn any of the types of paintings that I have mentioned here if you are interested in any one of them. These instructors are there to guide you on how to paint and the color combinations to use.
Apart from learning one-on-one with an instructor, opportunities are available for you to learn how to paint in the comfort of your home without paying a dime through the introduction of free online painting courses that are available through different online learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera Alison, edX as well as YouTube Channels which is an online learning platform with video contents.
Most of these painting courses come as videos, which show the process of painting. In other to take free online painting courses, there are a few requirements you will need to start your painting journey. Some of them are;
- An easel to hold your artwork
- Canvas (for acrylic or oil painters) or paper (for watercolor painters)
- A palette for color mixing
- Brushes (suitable for your chosen medium)
- Palette knives
- Paints
- Solvent (if oil painting); and.
- Paper towels (for wiping your brush between strokes).
Since you are learning online, you will also need your phone or laptop and a stable internet connection. Without further ado, let’s delve right into the free online painting courses that are available.

Free online painting courses
The free online painting courses that are available for interested individuals who wish to venture into the world of painting are as follows;
- Kevin Oil Painting
- The Secret to Your Painting’s Success
- Wagara Decorative Painting for Beginners
- The Art Sherpa
- Rock Painting for Beginners
- Proko
- Level 1 Painting Tutorial
- Changing Colors – A Photo to Oil Painting Workshop
- Virtual Instructor
- Drawmixpaint.com
- Guidetooilpainting.com
1. Kevin Oil Painting
Kelvin has been a YouTuber since 2012. He has been posting free painting classes to his over 500,000 subscribers. During his classes, you will learn the basics of painting, and how to sharpen your painting skills through different set forms such as acrylic painting, oil painting as well as scenery painting of mountains and nature.
2. The Secret to Your Painting’s Success
This course is offered by Udemy. It is a free online painting course that teaches you how to finish a painting successfully. It has a duration of 50 minutes with a total of 10 lectures. To start the class, you will need the following materials:
- The primary colors and white (oils or acrylics)
- A canvas or painting panel
- Brushes – #6 bristle
- Medium or white spirits
- Paper towel
- Pencil and A5 sketchbook
- Black marker pen (thick wedge-shaped tip)
To get certified, you will have to pay for the certificate of completion. It isn’t free but the class is free.
3. Wagara Decorative Painting for Beginners
This is a Japanese classic pattern that teaches Wagara Decorative Painting. This Wagara is a commonly used pattern for the Japanese cloth called Kimono. The course is offered by Udemy and it is for anyone who wants to learn the craft and loves oriental designs too. It had a duration of 41 minutes with 9 lectures. It is also a free online painting course.
4. The Art Sherpa
This is an art tutorial YouTube class taught by Cinnamon Cooney. In her class, she gives helpful tips to beginners as well as advanced painters in the field of art and craft.
As one of the best free online painting courses, she gives tips and tricks as well as an everyday online art class to beginners and intermediate-level painters
5. Rock Painting for Beginners
This free online painting course is offered by Udemy. It teaches you how to create beautiful rock paintings with confidence. More than 6000 students have enrolled already in the course and this shows how great the classes are. So if you want to learn the basics of stone and rock decorative painting, then don’t sleep on this! The duration of the class is 40 minutes with a total of 22 lectures.
6. Proko
This is a YouTuber channel class created by a California-based art tutorials teacher and painter Stan Prokopenko. He gives insightful lessons on painting and sketching for beginners and art enthusiasts. He also gives tips and tricks as well. His classes have a very high sense of humor and it is usually a DIY class.
7. Level 1 Painting Tutorial
This is another free online painting course offered by Udemy to beginners who wish to learn the art of acrylic painting and how to paint beautiful pictures of fruits. The course duration is 30 minutes with a total of 6 lectures.
8. Changing colors – A Photo to Oil Painting Workshop
This is also one of the free online painting courses offered by Udemy that teaches you how to convert a picture into an oil painting. During the course, of this class you will learn the following:
- Learn to visualize a painting based on a photo
- Learn to make value sketches and color sketches based on the photo
- Learn to prepare an underpainting.
- Learn the method of painting with oil colors (or any other opaque medium)
The duration of the class is 42 minutes with a total of 6 lectures.
9. Virtual Instructor
The concept of the Virtual Instructor was formulated by Matt Fussell. He teaches art enthusiasts how to paint something as small as an eye to something as big as a tree. He gives students insight on how to create amazing paintings. If you want to begin your journey in the art world, then Matt is the right coach for you. It is also a free online painting course that is available.
10. Drawmixpaint.com
This class is taught by Mark Carder. He teaches intermediate and advanced-level painters the concept of painting portraits that look like real pictures. Therefore if you are looking for realistic portrait painting lessons, then this class is just the one for you.
11. Guidetooilpainting.com
This is a painting tutorial website where you will find everything you need to know about oil painting. As one of the free online painting courses, the website has formulated a technique that involves steps starting with the materials required for painting and then finishing it with some exercises. Although the owner of the website which is Bill Martin is dead, his high lessons live up to his name.
Conclusion
All these free online painting courses are available for you to choose from. So, make your choice and paint away!
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