Decided to learn digital graphics or drawing? To make learning a buzz from the first minute of class, here are 5 tips on how to prepare for courses. In our 7 years of experience training students in the CG industry, we have collected them like treasures.

We are already anticipating the question: “Why do you even need to prepare for a course? You come and learn, what else do you need?”. You could do that. But with just a couple hours of preparation, you’ll feel more confident and get the most out of the course.

So, cherished tips:

Determine goals for training

The global and very interesting challenge is to understand what you want from the course.

If you’re studying 2D graphics – do you want to find work in the games industry or draw illustrations for books later on?

If studying drawing – do you need it for admission or have you mastered CG and want to tighten up the base?

What about 3D graphics – do you want to build a career as a 3D artist or do you want to use 3D for 2D projects?

Mentors get to know the students at the first session and it is important for us to know what your objectives are and what you want to get out of the course. That way we’ll know what to emphasize in your training. For us, “personalized student attention” is not just an advertising ploy.

And yes, the “I just want an interesting hobby” and “painting for myself to unload my brain from work” options are great too.

Trying the tools “hands on” before the course starts.

If you’re coming to the training from scratch, a day or two before the course, open the programs, look at the interface, try using the tools. Of course, our curators will explain everything to you from the very basics, showing you in detail the hotkeys, the tools, and on and on. And if it’s not clear, they’ll explain it again.

But if you take the preparatory steps yourself, you will already feel at ease in the first session and sort out your questions with your mentor, using the time as efficiently as possible.

For example, for those who are studying drawing – you can practice simple exercises or flip through books on academic drawing.

Match learning objectives with course syllabus
Before you go for training, you must be looking at the course syllabus. You can check with our administrators the details of the program, estimate what you will work on, and think in this direction: the theme of the project, the general concept.

For example, students in a 2D graphics BASIC course are drawing a signboard. You can think in advance, for which institution this sign will be intended and even look for references – so directly on the course you will start practicing faster.

Let go of shyness and give yourself permission to be wrong.
At Skills Up School we are all friendly, willing to listen to your questions and work together on your creative growth. There will be no super-strict criticism, reprimands and moralizing here – just teamwork with the curator in the name of skils! So don’t hesitate to ask, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and be brave in showing up.

Have a good rest!
No, we’re serious – if you have the opportunity, give yourself a little vacation so you can dive headfirst into the creative process later. We’ll definitely keep you busy – there will be plenty of practice. VERY much.

We wish everyone a productive school year! See you at Skills Up School!

P.S. The author of the illustrations you see in this article is a student of 2D graphics PRO course, Daria Kravchenko