Art · Beginner · 5 lessons · 80 min

Art Fundamentals for Digital Creators

The color, composition and value skills art school teaches, for digital and AI art.

A free beginner course in art fundamentals for digital and AI creators: color theory, composition, value, art movements and how to critique your own work.

What you'll learn

  • Build palettes with color harmonies, proportion and temperature
  • Compose images that lead the eye to a clear focal point
  • Diagnose and fix flat images using value and contrast
  • Describe major art movements precisely in prompts and critique your own work

Lessons

  1. Color theory basics: the color wheel, harmonies and temperature (free): Learn color theory basics: hue, saturation and value, the color wheel, five color harmonies, the 60-30-10 rule and how warm and cool colors change mood.
  2. Composition and visual hierarchy: guiding the viewer's eye: Guide the viewer's eye with a clear focal point, the rule of thirds, balance, leading lines, framing and negative space, plus how to describe them in prompts.
  3. Value and contrast: why your image looks flat: Why images look flat and how to fix them: grayscale and squint tests, three-value grouping, how light builds form, and contrast at the focal point.
  4. Art styles and movements every creator should know, and how to prompt them: Ukiyo-e, impressionism, Art Nouveau, cubism, Bauhaus, Art Deco and pop art: key dates, artists and visual traits, plus the words to describe each in a prompt.
  5. Giving and taking critique: how to judge and improve your own work: A critique process for digital and AI art: get distance, describe before judging, check big to small, give specific feedback and change one thing at a time.

Lesson 1 is open to everyone. A free account unlocks the rest.