When it comes to design, learning can be fun. But it can also be expensive and time consuming. So if you're looking to expand your creative and technical mind, but not your wallet, then you'll be after some high-quality free tutorials.
There are plenty of great tutorials on this very site, of course - head to our Tutorial channel or visit the Web design, Graphic design and 3D channels to find content for your specific discipline - but if you're looking for something and can't find it on Creative Bloq, then take a look at this roundup of sites, which all contain some superb free tutorials...
01. Drawspace
Whether you want to draw a cartoon animal, a realistic nature scene, or Dudley the Dragon, Drawspace is the place to go. While the site itself may not be all that hi-tech, it's a great resource for everyone from beginners to experts, offering a huge library of free drawing tutorials. The site also offers interactive classrooms where you can recieve professional guidance from internationally acclaimed art educators.
02. Blender.org
Looking for a primer on creating 2D and 3D content? Blender is an open source, community supported, cross-platform 3D graphics application, so you can download it here for free, and there are plenty of free tutorials to get started with too.
03. Tuts+ Network
The folks at Tuts+ Network want you to have it all. With 13 different network affiliates, including the self-explanatory mobiletuts+, psdtuts+, webdesigntuts+ and vectortuts+, the Tuts+ Network is one of the heaviest bags of tricks I carry in my arsenal of online learning.
A community supported network, Tuts+ Network offers tutorials on just about everything imaginable when it comes to design. Their mobiletuts+ site is the one I frequent the most, but their psdtuts+ and webdesigntuts+ are also must-bookmark resources for anyone in creative design.
04. Ray Wenderlich
Ray Wenderlich's site is an excellent community-based tutorial resource for iOS developers. Its primary focus is on providing high quality programming tutorials that are fun and easy to learn. In addition, there's an active community forum where users can interact and help one another. If you're looking for a great place to learn Objective-C and iOS, this is the place to go.
05. Cartoon Smart
My personal favourite! Cartoon Smart, started by the talented Justin Dike back in 2004, offers a mix of free and paid-for tutorials. Whether you're looking to improve your artistic side or your technical side, Cartoon Smart has you covered, with a high quality training video library covering iOS development, Flash, HTML5, illustration, drawing, animation, and more. There's also a nice selection of templates, royalty free art, and starter kits.
Cartoon Smart is where I ended up learning how to draw with Flash. Yes, you read that correctly - draw with Flash. It's an experience I'd recommend, and one that helped me when I was illustrating Happy Birthday Puppy. If you like the freebies and are interested in one of the paid tutorials at Cartoon Smart, then use this special discount code for Creative Bloq readers: 0QX7EE9T.
Have we missed your favourite resource for free tutorials? Let us know in the comments below!
Words: Tammy Coron
Tammy Coron is an iOS developer, backend developer, web developer, writer, and illustrator. She blogs at Just Write Code.
