Hi there!
So, if you are anything like me, you are sucked into buying or looking into resources that feel like they’ll truly help, which I think in most cases they could. However, I had (past tense, I’ve been strict on myself!!) the tendency of buying & buying and not applying. Big no, no in my book. Other than it was a waste of money, I wasn’t really diving into all the great content that was being offered and looking at the next launch deal I could snag my hands on! Finally, I took a step back and looked at all the things I bought and went through what would be helpful for me. There are others I have on my list but for now, I think these are the best — please note, these are mostly stationery & calligraphy related.
Pen to Press - HELLO JENNA RAINEY! I love her work and if I could buy all of her classes, I would! This is an excellent class by Jenna who provides SO much info that I probably didn’t need to purchase a few one-off things I did since her course included it. As I mentioned before, I had a tendency to purchase and not apply. I finally got around to just starting the Pen to Press course (almost a year later) and was WOW’d at the fact that she provided Instagram & Marketing techniques that I didn’t look at when I initially bought it. To make this course even better, she recently updated it again with some more fresh material which I have yet to go through. If you are looking to dive into stationery design then I suggest this one, especially if you want to know the ins & outs. She also has a podcast, The Jenna Rainey Show, and to be honest there are a lot of actionable things you can do simply by listening and applying. 100% recommend this course & checking out her podcast.
Modern Calligraphy 201 by Crooked Calligraphy - When I first started taking calligraphy classes, I was more interested in hands-on calligraphy workshops. I wanted them to be learn in-person, which I think when you are first beginning is super valuable for feedback & tweaks. Once I wanted to advance my skills and learn more about flourishing, bounce & all variations of styles, I wanted to take a course that I could manage at my own pace. I had been eyeing this class for some time and when it finally was open I went ahead and purchased it. There are TONS of online classes for calligraphy and Shinah from Crooked Calligraphy is very honest, relatable and real when it came to talking about her course. Her course is thorough and she does provide a lot of techniques and feedback on how to achieve these techniques into your style, not hers! If you are one that likes to go at your own pace and have time restrictions to your schedule then I recommend an online course and this is the one.
Luxury Lettering - Ah yes! The little gem I found and will be going back to. When I first started my calligraphy journey, I was pretty siloed in thinking I could only work in weddings, hence why I bought so many stationery courses. Fast forward to this year, I realized that’s not the case. I knew weddings wouldn’t be the only thing I could work on, but it was the one area I constantly saw and wasn’t too sure what else I could do. Sylvia (viacalligraphy) and Jodi (SomedayArtco) shed some light into the world of Luxury Lettering, which is basically on-site calligraphy for high-end clients. Hello! Coming from the event world, I knew that I still wanted to partake in them just not the way I use to (on-site from the very beginning to the end, literally) If you are like me and want to expand your services, then I do recommend this online class. They guide you through the tools & materials to use for certain surfaces to what you should wear on-site! It is not a how-to course though - so I do suggest you have calligraphy skills that you want to apply to other surfaces besides paper.
For smaller bundles, I really love Design by Laney (such as The Invitation Design Guide) and Carley from TwoCan Co (Etsy & Pinterest Guides)— they both have really great content, resources and are always coming out with new courses to help the creative business owner.
Those are my top 3 online classes that I really loved & know I will go back to. They are packed with lots of valuable information and can always be referenced if you need a refresher - plus you have lifetime access to them. If you have any questions or want to see if I heard of a course, let me know! I probably have thought about purchasing it or I have it. These are ones that worth a bit more of an investment ~ $300+
Hope this helps in navigating the online world of classes!
Johana