Over 350 Free Creative Tutorials to Keep Learning in 2023

Build new skills for the new year, with tutorials in crafting, illustration, photography, and more

Picking up a new hobby can be intimidating, as can setting out to learn a new craft professionally. You want to learn and connect with the materials and tools, but you don’t want to get in over your head (that’s how New Year’s resolutions fall apart!). We think a great place to start is watching demos and learning from the pros. That way, you get the buzz of inspiration, and a true understanding of what’s involved.

Since the Domestika blog began, we’ve been collecting a huge array of creative tutorials from our amazing teachers, so we thought we’d bring them all together. In these short but informative videos, you can immerse yourself in the techniques and secrets of Domestika experts, to get your creativity flowing in 2023.

In this article you’ll find twenty-two tutorials from eleven different creative fields, to get you started. Then, if you scroll to the bottom of this post, you can access the full archive of over 350!

Without further ado, discover below the tutorials from craft, illustration, photography, animation, and more. You can watch each video and then find written instructions by clicking on the title in red.

Craft

​​Ceramics Tutorial: How to Create a Simple Clay Vase

This easy clay vase technique, taught by imaginative ceramic artist Sandra Apperloo (@thepotteryparade), doesn’t require specialist equipment like a potter’s wheel. Using only newspaper and clay with some basic tools, you can create a tall, slim vase design ready for decorating.

DIY Tutorial: How to Make a Spotted Wool Pom-Pom

Christine Leech (@sewyeah) is an author and maker who specializes in amazing pom-pom crafts. In this tutorial, she demonstrates how to wrap your yarn to make a pom-pom with a large spot in a contrast color. All you need is two differently-colored yarns and a pom-pom maker, which you can even make yourself with cardboard.

Illustration

Drawing Tutorial: Posca Pen Techniques for Beginners

Posca pens, also known as paint markers, are often associated with graffiti but are super versatile, essentially "painting" on pigment but in a more controlled way. James Chapman (@jameschapman) is a digital artist who built a following with Posca pen illustrations, and in this tutorial, he shares some of the methods you can use to get started, too.

Watercolor Tutorial: How to Create Shadow Using Color Theory

Sarah Stokes (@sarah_stokes) is a watercolor wildlife artist who teaches courses on portraits, watercolor, and charcoal techniques. In this painting tutorial, Sarah explains how to use a color wheel to find the complementary color to your base, and mix them together to create a darker base shade. This is a great way to add realistic and atmospheric shadow to your paintings.

Painting Tutorial: A Basic Guide to Acrylics for Beginners

You might have used acrylics at school or at home before, but many people don’t know how to use these paints to their fullest potential. Adolfo Serra @adolfoserra is a Spanish illustrator, specializing in books for young readers. In this tutorial (English subtitles included), he offers a basic guide to get the most out of acrylics, including brush types, gestures, and color considerations.

Writing

Copywriting Tutorial: Dos & Don'ts of Copywriting for Social Media

If you have created a product that you want to launch next year, you’re going to need to communicate effectively with your audience to catch their attention. Award-winning copywriter Paul Anglin (@paulanglin) has over 20 years of experience working with brands like Apple, Nike, and Microsoft. In this tutorial, he introduces some dos and don’ts that will help you craft sharp and engaging copy, including your tone and language choices.

Writing Tutorial: How to Create a Character Profile

Human beings are complicated: full of inconsistency, deep beliefs, and motivations. Communicating this through your writing is essential to craft a compelling article or profile. Multi-award-winning Mexican journalist and author Eileen Truax (@eileentruax) is an expert at combining facts with storytelling techniques. In this tutorial, Eileen explains how to turn a person into a "character" in order to tell their story authentically.

Photography

Photography Tutorial: Tips for Portrait Photography

Many people feel uncomfortable in front of a camera, so connecting deeply with them is essential to capturing their emotions and personality. Emilia Brandão (@emiliabrandao) has photographed for Vogue, GQ, Elle, and Glamour. In this tutorial, she suggests ways to make your sitter comfortable and create the best environment. Using empathy and validation, you can guide the conversation in order to gently draw out the expressions you are looking for.

Photoshop Tutorial: 5 Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photo Editing

Photo editor Mikael Eliasson (@mikael_eliasson) runs a photography school in East London and has exhibited work across Europe. Here, he shares five essential shortcuts for editing great photos, including shortcuts to zoom, alter brushes, and transform elements.

Typography, Calligraphy & Lettering

Lettering Tutorial: Ideas To Improve Your Hand-Lettered Fonts

Annie Weir (@a_journal_by_annie) is a bullet journalist who combines floral imagery and delicate lines to create mindful yet practical journals. In her tutorial, she shares some basic tips on how to improve your hand-lettered fonts, using pens and brushes of varying weights and types.

Procreate Tutorial: How to Create Lettering Textures and Brushes

One of the most inventive ways to create your own custom lettering is to use your own textures and brushes. Jimbo Bernaus (@jimbobernaus) is a graphic designer and lettering artist whose clients include BMW and Carlsberg. Here, he shows you how to create a brush in Procreate, to introduce your personal style into every aspect of your design.

Architecture & Spaces

Illustration Tutorial: How to Draw the Human Body to Scale

Although your focus in designing architecture is the space itself, it’s also essential to know how to locate people within that space to demonstrate its use. Brazilian architect and urban planner, Marcelo Marttins (@marcelomarttins), teaches you how to draw the human body using the scaling technique, step-by-step, showing examples from other architects and offering tips to ensure your drawings work in context (English subtitles included).

Interior Design Tutorial: Learn How to Decorate a Room with Plants

It’s no surprise that bringing the outside in has become popular in interior design recently. If you want to bring your space to life, this tutorial is for you. Landscape Gardener and Content Creator Daniel Virgnio (@danielvirgnio) shares his secrets to allow you to add energy, color, and light to any interior design project (English subtitles included).

Marketing

UX Tutorial: How to Conduct Qualitative User Research

Good User Experience design means that users are given relevant and meaningful experiences when they engage with a product or service. Patricia Reiners (@ux_patricia) is a UX/UI designer based in Berlin who is an Adobe resident and the host of the Future of UX podcast. Here, she explains the basic principles of good research, such as starting with quantitative data, market analytics, and user testing.

TikTok Tutorial: Foolproof Tips for Great Content

Arnulfur Hakonarson (@arnulfur), also known as That Icelandic Guy, is a photographer and content creator on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. In this tutorial, Arnulfur offers his advice on creating quality content for TikTok and how to make your profile stand out. This means creating a narrative that flows throughout your content, and keeping your audience in mind.

Design

Freelance Tutorial: Basic Principles of Creating a Digital Portfolio

If you’ve been creating work for a while, you might think about assembling a portfolio in 2022. Mark Brooks (@mbrooksnyc) is a graphic designer and art director. In this tutorial, Mark gives you his top tips to make your portfolio stand out from the competition, such as focusing on quality not quantity, and being careful not to get too personal in your approach.

Packaging Tutorial: How to Choose Your Materials

In this tutorial, artist and packaging designer Marion Bretagne (@marion_bretagne) shares her tips for finding and selecting the best materials for your packaging. This means forming a relationship with local printers, carrying out research, and getting samples.

3D & Animation

Cinema 4D Tutorial: How to Create a Base Model

Ali Sahba (@alisahba) is a multidisciplinary digital artist who tells stories using photography and computer-generated imagery. In this tutorial, Ali explains a simple way to create a base model on Cinema 4D, from creating a basic shape to adding volume and sweeping up.

Procreate Tutorial: How to Start Animating for Beginners

Caroline Kjellberg is an animator and motion designer who has worked for international names like Beats by Dre and Adobe. She’s on a mission to make the internet a more playful place through innovative animations, and in this tutorial she walks you through simple animation steps in Procreate. Learn about dimensions, background frames, frame duration, and more.

Fashion

Lettering Tutorial: How to Create an Idea Sketchbook

Graphic designer Iván Caíña (@ivan_caina) is passionate about letters and incorporates them into printed clothing designs with his Domestika course. In this video (English subtitles included), Ivan teaches you a few sketchbook calligraphy exercises that overcome creative block and start finding ideas. Get inspired, and work towards designing your own T-shirt with calligraphic elements.

Sewing Tutorial: How to Use a Sewing Machine (beginners guide)

Play designer Maria Mandea (@miculhaos) specializes in creating playful fabric characters. Here, Maria teaches you how to set up a sewing machine effectively, to ensure a quick and easy sewing process. Learn to thread your needle, and deal with that tricky element for any new sewer: bobbins!

Music & Audio

Podcasting Tutorial: A Basic Guide to Preparing Your Gear

Maybe 2022 is the year you start your podcast and share your ideas with the world? David Mulé Rebecchi (@davimulepodcast), is a podcast journalist who has worked on projects for Cadena SER and Podium Podcasts. In this video (English subtitles included), he explains the technology you need to start your own home studio from scratch, including a mixing deck, headphones, and the right microphone and cables.

These twenty-two tutorials have only scratched the surface of all the useful content you can discover in our creativity tutorials section of the blog. In fact, we have over 350 for you to discover, with more being added each week—so you can kickstart 2022 learning something new.

Click here to get access to 350+ tutorials for free

Happy 2022, and happy learning!

You may also like:

- 22 Creative Tips to Improve Your Skills in 2022
- 5 Free Tutorials to Make Crafts at Home with Few Supplies
- Illustrated Sketchbooking in Full Color, course by James Chapman
- Nonfiction Writing: Tell Your Unique Story, course by Eileen Truax
- Creating Ceramics with Character, course by Sandra Apperloo