10 Sites to Find Free Graphic Design Courses Online

10 Sites to Find Free Graphic Design Courses Online

You don't need a degree to become a graphic designer, but a little bit of training won't hurt. Read on to find out where you can get graphic design lessons and tutorials free of charge.

1. Sessions Online School of Design - DesignMentor Training (sessions.edu)

• Illustrator CS2 Live Trace Tutorial
• Color Correction Tutorial
• Adobe Bridge Tutorial

The Sessions Online School of Design recently started offering free graphic design tutorials written by class instructors. The online tutorials can be accessed from the site without registration and include step-by-step instructions, screen shots and more.

2. Designer Today Magazine (designertoday.com)

• Paint Shop Pro Colorizing Tutorial
• After Effects CS3 Tutorial
• Flash Button Tutorial

Designer Today Magazine offers a number of free graphic design tutorials online to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Tutorials include step-by-step instructions, project files and images. There are up to 30 new tutorials published every month, so finding a topic of interest shouldn't be a problem.

3. Adobe Online Training (adobe.com)

• Free Adobe Sample Courses

Adobe offers a number of sample courses for graphic designers that can be tried out for free online. Course options include Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and Adobe Premiere Elements. Registration is required.

4. QuarkEd (quark.com)

• QuarkEd Training Course

QuarkEd offers QuarkXpress training for beginners and old hands. Training is broken down into individual lessons that can be downloaded one file at a time. Registration is not required, but you will need QuarkXPress 7 to complete the modules.

5. Planet Photoshop (planetphotoshop.com)

• Animated Transitions Tutorial
• Pen Tool Tutorial
• Color Theory 101

Published by KW Media, Planet Photoshop is a huge website dedicated to everything Photoshop. There are hundreds of tutorials, videos, reviews and resources. You'll also find a blog and a forum for graphic designers who want to exchange ideas and information.

6. Tutorial Man (tutorialman.com)

• Rain Effect Tutorial
• Coloring Artwork Tutorial
• Color Balancing Tutorial

TutorialMan.com is a wonderful resource for free Photoshop tutorials. The site includes a searchable database, as well as links to other sites with free graphic design courses and online tutorials.

7. QoolSqool (qoolsqool.com)

• Graphic Design Courses

Qoolsqool is an open educational resource that is free for everyone. The site provides links to the websites of universities and other educators who offer free graphic design courses and tutorials. All of the links are submitted by educators and QoolSqool members.

8. About Graphic Design (about.com)

• Basic Graphic Design Course
• Business Card Design Tutorial

About.com provides an endless supply of graphic design courses, tutorials and how-to's. Many of them are accessible straight from the site, but there are a few that are delivered weekly via email.

9. Web Design From Scratch (webdesignfromscratch.com)

• 3D effects in Graphic Design
• Logo Design
• Web Page Layout

Web Design From Scratch was started by web consultant Ben Hunt and is published using the shareware principal (meaning it is free of charge). As the name suggests, the site focuses on graphic design for the web. There are hundreds of tutorials available; all can be accessed directly from the site.

10. Absolute Cross (absolutecross.com)

• Photoshop Tutorial: Audio Interface
• Flash Tutorial: Revolving Text
• Paint Shop Pro Tutorial: Transparent GIFs

Absolute Cross bills itself as a one stop resource for graphic designers. The site provides free tutorials, graphics and website templates. You'll also find a ton of free downloads and links to other helpful sites.