Online Graphic Design Courses

When you study graphic design online you are studying a multi-faceted industry that touches on many tastes, interests and talents. It is no surprise then, that online graphic design courses are divergent in ways that allow you to focus in on a single area of the industry to hone your skills to a very fine point. If you wish to cross-learn several skills that is an option as well, but you might miss out on some of the more complex technicalities of the specialties available.

2D Graphic Design

The oldest form of graphic design is 2D graphic art. From the earliest drawings on cave walls to the Coke symbol, 2D art has come a long way in refining its capabilities to inspire, impress and interest people in a product. 2D graphic art is available in all media forms still but in some areas it is slowly becoming obsolete in favor of 3D art, as the technology for 3D rendering becomes less expensive and more widely available. Even in situations where 2D artwork is sufficient, sometimes 3D artwork is created "just in case" a 3D model is needed in the future.

Using inks and pens, paint and Photoshop, creating 2D art is done by drawing on on a flat surface or creating a digital image for viewing at a single angle. No matter how you look at a 2D image, it is exactly the same, though cunning techniques are often employed to give the illusion of a 3D perspective (shading and highlights). Taking 2D online graphic design courses will involve instruction in color, perspective, shading, distance, the difference between web and print colors and application of various advanced techniques. Some photography work may be required as well.

3D Graphic Design

To design in 3D is to design an image or scene in such a way that it can be manipulated to be seen from any angle and still make sense. An example of the difference between 2D art and 3D art are Disney's The Little Mermaid and Toy Story characters. While the Little Mermaid was made digital during filming, if you ever took one of the original drawings on a screen and flipped it around, you would get a precise reverse image of what you were looking at - not the other side. In Toy Story, however, if you took an image of the main character Woody and flipped it around, you would see his backside. Even in scenes where his back was not visible, it was actually there. That is because in 2D art you have to draw your characters again and again from different perspectives as needed in the movie. 3D characters are drawn and rendered basically once. From there they can be shot at any angle and brought to life - using the single drawing.

3D Graphic design is done using complicated computer programs - some of the more popular ones are Maya and 3D Studio Max. In these programs you use basic geometric shapes which you can color, shade, twist and manipulate in various ways until you get the image that you want. You can also adjust the lighting as it falls on your image. Then the image is rendered, or processed by the computer to enable it to function in a fully 3D environment. 3D Graphic design is used in every industry except print media, and online classes will focus on the same core concepts as the 2D courses would including those points specific to 3D art that deal with objects in real-space.

Animation

Online graphic design courses that deal with 2D or 3D art are further split into the arena of print, web, media (movies/television) and gaming. All but the print area also focus somewhat on animation. Animation of a graphic can be as simple as a spinning logo for a news station (such as you see on Fox or CNN), to something as complex as Disney's Up movie or Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft game, both of which use 3D animation exclusively.

Whichever area of graphic design suits you, you can find an online graphic design course to propel you toward your goal of working professionally in the industry, whether it be for a major studio, or a television station, or a large print manufacturer, a small company, or just to show off your own artistic talents.