10 Free Online Tutorials to Help Reinvent Your Creative Career

por Lauren du Plessis @lauren.duplessis

Get motivated to explore fresh ideas in any creative career path, with these video tutorials on planning and promoting your projects

Is your professional creativity feeling stagnant? As the vacation season ends and new opportunities await, it’s a great time to pivot into new roles, launch new projects, or simply update your portfolio.

Whatever your objective, you’ll need to reflect on your skillset, explore new approaches, and promote your results so you can grow professionally. Need a pep talk to get moving? Watch the 10 free tutorials below from experts in organization, maximizing creativity, and promoting your work. From making a moodboard to presenting ideas confidently, they’ll take you step-by-step through the process of embarking on any creative adventure.

Illustrations by Nicholas Blechman, an art director who advises on self-promotion and networking below.

To access the full content of each tutorial, simply click on the link in red.

Tutorials to help you start a professional creative project

To make an effective change, your plan needs to be realistic to your skills and goals. These four tutorials will help you find your “what” and “why”, take control of your career, and choose the best path forwards.

1. Free tutorial: work out your strengths using practical exercises

Business consultant Mònica Rodríguez Limia (@rodriguezmon) helps creators and creatives achieve profitable businesses that are full of personality while prioritizing quality of life.

If you are looking for new options and paths for your creative career, take a look at her tutorial. She will show you how to discover your main strengths by applying simple but effective personal reflection exercises.

2. Free tutorial: get inspired with a digital moodboard

A mood board can include images, photos, textures, patterns, colors, text, typography, and more. Use one to explore inspirational projects, or to help you visualize your dream career.

Linus Lohoff (@linus_lohoff) is an art director and photographer who has worked for creative agencies such as Saatchi&Saatchi. Here, you’ll learn how to make your moodboard by generating keywords, finding visual references, and organizing your information.

3. Free tutorial: open your mind and unlock your creative thinking

Ideas don’t come out of nowhere: to plan interesting career options, you need to practice creative thinking that helps you stay refreshed.

Copywriter and creative director Andreia Ribeiro (@andreia_v_ribeiro) works for major clients including Mercedes-Benz and McDonald’s. In her tutorial, you’ll learn to release judgment, use vertical and lateral idea generation, and unlock your creative thinking.

4. Free tutorial: get organized with bullet journaling

Nowadays, life is so busy it’s easy to get distracted from what we want. Journalist and designer Little Hannah (@littlehannah) uses art-filled bullet journals to organize her life and stay on track.

In this bullet journal tutorial, learn how to set up daily planning, and how to incorporate different media to make it visually appealing and motivating, so you always feel excited to progress your plans.

Tutorials to help you promote your work and yourself!

So, now you have an idea of what you’re going to do to revive your professional creativity—be it a personal project or finding a new job—you need to get comfortable talking about it with people who can support you.

5. Free tutorial: how to start self-promoting

This is one for the freelancers and solopreneurs: now you’ve honed your craft, you need to get it in front of the decision makers. Perhaps someone like art director, illustrator and designer Nicholas Blechman (@nicholas_blechman), current creative director of The New Yorker.

In his tutorial on how to self-promote your work, he shares advice for getting the right people’s attention. Learn how to use social media, showcase your work with a website, tips for networking, and creating solo projects.

6. Free tutorial: how to launch your Instagram profile

In this tutorial, Sandra López, founder member of agency Pencil Ilustradores (@pencil), answers your questions on how to create an Instagram profile that serves as a portfolio and as a promoting platform.

Discover her tips on starting your Instagram account, such as whether to use your personal profile or open a new one dedicated exclusively to your professional side.

7. Free tutorial: photograph products and projects for social media

However wonderful a product or project is, if you don’t know how to promote it, it could get buried! And great product photos are essential to effective communication.

Beatriz Tormenta (@beatriztormenta) is an Instagram product photographer and content creator for diverse brands. In her tutorial on photography for social media, she covers light, composition, perspective, and more, to help your work stand out.

8. Free tutorial: make a digital portfolio

If you’re looking for new employment, freelance, or consulting work in order to refocus your career, you’ll need an equally focused portfolio that attracts the right people.

Mark Brooks (@mbrooksnyc) is a graphic designer and art director. In his tutorial he covers the basic principles for creating a digital portfolio, including aiming for quality and relevancy.

9. Free tutorial: six tips to find clients

Graphic designer Martina Flor (@martinaflor) is a lettering expert who often does international commissions. In her tutorial, she shares six proven ways for growing your client base.

Among her tips, you'll find ways to reach out to your close circle of friends, create gifts for potential employers, and visit a co-working site. All of these will create fresh spaces to communicate with like-minded people.

10. Free tutorial: pitch your new ideas confidently

Nick Eagleton (@nick.e), who also goes by the name Playful Saboteur, has over 20 years’ experience in branding and design, which means a lot of meetings, discussions, and pitches.

His tutorial explains how to pitch your ideas: focusing on storytelling, avoiding boredom in your listener, and adding visual appeal to your work.