Top 7 Best Free Online Affinity Designer Courses
If you’re looking for some of the best online Affinity Designer courses, you’re in the right place!
In the guide, I have gathered some of the top Affinity Designer classes that will allow you to master new technical and creative skills, including all the basics of illustration using this versatile tool.
I have also included plenty of hands-on courses in this guide, along with certificates of completion to share your newly acquired skills with your network. So, let’s get started!
Top 7 Best Free Online Affinity Designer Courses & Classes 2024
1. Affinity Designer: Vectors, Textures, and Patterns (Skillshare)
First on my list is a comprehensive online Affinity Designer course targeted towards iPad users who want to master surface design and make stunning patterns. This intermediate-level online course on Skillshare has been taken by more than 6,000 students, and now you can be one of them!
Your instructor for this course will be Liz Kohler Brown, an artist, and designer who holds an MFA degree in art and has been honing her artistic skills from a young age. Liz has also earned a ‘Top Teacher’ badge on Skillshare, having amassed over 24,000 followers, making her a popular and highly-rated tutor!
In this 2 ¾ hours long class, students will go through 23 bite-sized lessons that will get you started with utilizing Affinity Designer on the iPad to practice surface design.
Students will also learn the difference between raster and vector, get comfortable with the gallery and settings, use tools like the drawing pen, pencil tools, brush tools, basic elements, and much more!
The best part about this online Affinity Designer course is that you won’t be learning alone. Instead, you’ll be a part of a large student community that regularly helps each other out and shares ideas and projects!
- Intermediate level
- 2 ¾ hours long
- Taught by Top Teacher on Skillshare
- Free 1 month trial of Skillshare Premium
- Large and interactive student community
Activate FREE Skillshare Trial
2. Affinity Designer on the iPad volume 1 (Skillshare)
Digital art and design keep advancing and gaining popularity in our modern world, so if you’re an iPad user looking to get stuck into your own artistic practice, this introductory course would be great for you!
As for your instructor, you will be guided by Jeremy Hazel, a designer, and artist who is the founder of ‘7th Season Studios’, an online training and education company. Jeremy offers courses to creative individuals on a variety of Affinity-based design software including Affinity Designer.
In this beginner-level 1 hour-long course, students will start from the very basics of Affinity Designer by learning topics like opening their first document, navigating the interface, setting up layers, using useful iPad gestures, and applying these new learnings to making their own smiley face emoji as an individual project.
With a free 1-month trial of Skillshare Premium, you can complete this online course and gain access to hundreds of other courses that will help you take your craft to the next level!
- Beginner level
- 1 hour long
- Taught by founder of 7th Season Studios
- Free 1-month trial of Skillshare Premium
- Thriving student community and portfolio of projects
Activate FREE Skillshare Trial
3. Affinity Designer Essential Training (LinkedIn Learning)
If you’ve been using Adobe Illustrator and are looking to switch up your skill, or if you’re new to vector design entirely, this beginner-level online Affinity Designer course could be just what you need!
Ronnie McBride, an artist, and designer with multiple awards to his name will be teaching you in this online Affinity Designer course. Ronnie also has a degree in industrial design and has more than 15 years of experience working as an illustrator, so you are in great hands!
Through 3 ¼ hours of video lessons, Ronnie will teach students everything they need to know to start making beautiful designs using Affinity Designer, including creating documents, using tools like vector lines, pen, and brush, scale and rotate objects, manage color ranges, and much more!
After completing this online course, you will receive a certificate of completion from LinkedIn which you can share with your network and build your credibility around Affinity Designer!
- Beginner level
- 3 ¼ hours long
- Taught by artist with 15 years of experience
- Free access for new LinkedIn users
- Certificate of completion
4. The complete guide to Affinity Designer 1.7 (Skillshare)
Are you a budding graphic designer or illustrator looking for a complete guide to the skills you need to get started? If so, this comprehensive beginner Affinity Designer course offering short, bite-sized lessons could be a great fit!
Jeremy Hazel, an artist who is passionate about education, is back again to teach you in this online course. Jeremy is the founder of 7th Season Studios, an education company that seeks to equip creative individuals with the skills needed to produce stunning art.
Over a course of 2 ½ hours, students will understand the difference between pixel and vector-based art, get comfortable with the interface, work with shapes to duplicate, resize, and manipulate them, and complete 3 hands-on projects to put their skills to the test.
You will also have access to a thriving student community through which you can draw inspiration, solve your problems, or simply discuss your ideas. All of this can be done for free through a 1-month free trial of Skillshare Premium!
- Beginner level
- 2 ½ hours long
- Taught by the founder of 7th Season Studios
- Free 1-month trial of Skillshare Premium
- Benefit of a thriving student community
Activate FREE Skillshare Trial
5. Vector Drawing on the iPad with Affinity Designer (Udemy)
Next on my list is a fun and light-hearted online Affinity Designer course for iPad users that will teach you the skills needed to make stunning illustrations in a methodical, bit-by-bit manner. More than 5,000 students have taken this online Udemy course, giving it an average rating of 4.6 stars.
Your instructor for this online Affinity Designer course will be Brad Colbow, a professional illustrator and graphics designer who has published 9 courses on Udemy. Brad has also taught more than 50,000 students and earned an average instructor rating of 4.7 stars so he comes highly recommended!
Spanning 4 ½ hours of online lessons, Brad will teach students how to break a good poster down into smaller chunks, build each chunk separately, and then put everything together to get a poster that will amaze viewers.
With Udemy, you will get a certificate of completion along with full lifetime access to this online course so that you can come back and review concepts whenever they get a little rusty! Overall, one of the best online Affinity Designer courses on this list!
- Beginner level
- 4 ½ hours long
- Taught by professional illustrator
- Full lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
6. Affinity Designer for UX Design (LinkedIn Learning)
Are you a UX designer looking to level up your skills and learn some new tricks? If so, this online Affinity Designer course might be the perfect fit for you!
Ronnie McBride is back as your instructor who is a designer and artist that has more than 15 years of professional experience and runs his own digital design and strategy company, Mixmediasalad Design.
Through 2 hours of video lessons, Ronnie will take students through Affinity Designer through the perspective of UX Design, including how to set up a workspace, create new documents, manage artboards, select fonts, build mockups and wireframes, collect UI assets, and much more.
If you are a new LinkedIn user, you can gain access to this course for free, along with a certificate of completion at the end to share with your network! All in all, a fantastic course for UX designers using Affinity Designer to keep building their skills!
- Intermediate level
- 2 hours long
- Taught by award-winning artist and designer
- Free access for new LinkedIn users
- Certificate of completion
7. The Affinity Designer Crash Course (Udemy)
The final entry on my list is an online Affinity Designer crash course that is perfect for those who are complete amateurs in the world of digital art. This beginner-level class will turn you into a designer who can make professional-looking and stunning visual illustrations and designs.
Brad Colbow, a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, is back again as your instructor for this online course. Brad has taught more than 50,000 students and runs his own YouTube Channel where he talks about illustration and technology, his favorite subjects.
In this 3 ½ hours long online Affinity Designer course, Brad teaches students all the core topics including how to build and manipulate shapes, use the text tool, switch on snapping on the grid, use geometry tools, work with gradients, use color swatches, then put their skills to the test by making a haunted house as an individual project.
This is one of the highest value courses on my list because not only do you get a certificate of completion at the end, you also have full lifetime access to this online course. You can come back and review the course material even when you’re 70 years old!
- Beginner level
- 3 ½ hours long
- Taught by freelance graphic designer
- Full lifetime access
- Certificate of completion
