5 Best Creative Coding Courses Online for Creative, Logical Minds

Looking to merge your interests in art and technology? Here are the best creative coding courses online to teach you this exciting, in-demand skill.

5 Best Creative Coding Courses Online for Creatively Logical Minds

Who said programmers can’t be creative?

Whoever said so obviously hadn’t heard of creative coding…

Here are 5 of the best creative coding courses online for anyone who wants to learn how to write software that expresses ideas in an aesthetically appealing way.

Creative coding is currently a specialized skill that relatively few people possess, so companies looking to push the boundaries of design and innovation are eager to hire (and pay well) for people with these skills.

Whether you’re an artist who’s interested in exploring technology, or you’re a programmer and you're looking to apply your knowledge more creatively, these courses will teach you some fun, practical skills.

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What are the Best Creative Coding Courses?

Here are the best creative courses online for logically-inclined creatives (yes it’s a thing):

1. Creative Coding: Making Visuals with JavaScript (Domestika)

Creative coding offers endless applications that involve new ways of thinking and experimenting.

For creative coder Bruno Imbrizi, this specialization is an opportunity to merge his interests with motion graphics and visuals with programming.

In this popular creative coding course on Domestika, Bruno teaches the fundamentals of programming and shows you how to develop, draw, and animate visuals and text with JavaScript code.

Bruno has worked for both small agencies and well-known brands including Dell, Adidas, and Universal Music.

He begins the course by talking through his early career as a graphic designer and how his passion for graphic design aligns with his interest in coding. Then, he discusses the platforms he likes to use and why, along with the people who have influenced his work.

Next, Bruno dives into the fundamentals of coding, presenting an overview of programming concepts such as variables, functions, arrays, and loops.

He then shows you how to create a new digital sketch using different canvas transformations, how to scale your sketches, and how to design an animated sketch with agents that move on the canvas.

You'll learn how to work with text in your compositions, read color values, and add finishing touches to your final sketch to make it even more engaging.

At the end of the course, you'll have created a series of creative visual compositions that can be implemented on a web browser using code.

Basic math skills are recommended for this course. You will also need a computer with Node.js, as well as access to a web browser, and text editor.

Key course features:

21 lessons (2h 42m)
39 additional resources (5 files)
Online and at your own pace
Available on the app
Audio: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
Level: Beginner
Unlimited access forever

=> Enroll in "Creative Coding: Making Visuals with JavaScript" here.

2. Learn Creative Coding with Vanilla JavaScript (Udemy)

As front end developer and Udemy instructor Frank Dvorak explains, creative coding is a human/machine collaboration.

You are the artist and HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is the machine.

In this highly-rated online course, Frank teaches you how to build a generative art project from scratch.

Generative art refers to art that in whole or in part has been created with the use of an autonomous system, i.e a using algorithms to generate new ideas, forms, shapes, colors or patterns.

In this course, you'll go from drawing a single line all the way to complex randomized fractal shapes - using just plain HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript, no frameworks and no libraries.

You'll complete the course with a unique piece of art - a particle system with a 'fractal rain' effect.

Course topics include:

Object oriented programming - Classes, constructors, encapsulation, abstraction

HTML canvas - changing state with translate, scale, rotate, drawing shapes, web animation

Deep learning with vanilla JavaScript

Please note that this class is not for complete beginners - a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript is recommended to be able to get the most out of the material.

The instructor's teaching style is a major reason why many students love this course. Frank explains every line of code in detail as you go along, to make sure that you fully understand how everything works.

Key course features:

1 hour on-demand video
1 downloadable resource
Full lifetime access
Access on mobile and TV
Certificate of completion

=> Enroll in "Learn Creative Coding with Vanilla JavaScript" here.

3. Creative Coding: Immersive Art with openFrameworks (Domestika)

In this creative coding class, you'll learn the basics of C++ programming and creative coding to animate striking shapes and loops for immersive artistic installations.

The course instructor is Paul Ferragut, a multimedia artist and technologist who has created immersive art installations with organizations like Aquarium of the Pacific in California and collaborated with companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Intel.

In this class, he teaches you the fundamentals of openFrameworks, so you can create your own experiential art.

First, you'll learn about Paul's creative background and how it led him into a profession that combines art with technology.

Then you'll get introduced to the concepts related to creative coding and openFrameworks. To see how it's possible to combine these disciplines, you'll write your first application with simple geometrical shapes and colors.

Next, you'll get into the basics of programming with topics such as variables, functions, conditions, classes and arrays.

For the final project in the course, you'll develop a visual particle system that interacts with a webcam, to produce an art installation with projection.

No prior experience is required for this course. All you need is a computer and a webcam. A video projector is used in the final project, but it is optional.

Key course features:

17 lessons (2h 57m)
19 additional resources (1 files)
Online and at your own pace
Available on the app
Audio: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
Level: Beginner
Unlimited access forever

=> Enroll in the Creative Coding with openFrameworks course here.

4. Creative Advanced CSS Animations - Create 100 Projects!

Have you ever wanted to create a web animation but thought it was complex and far beyond your skills?

Think again...

This bestselling CSS creative coding course is taught by Ahmed Sadek, a full stack web developer and freelancer with more than 7 years of experience.

In the course, Ahmed shows you how to master css animations, transitions, and transforms. You'll work with many examples and gain lots of inspiration to help you create even complex animations!

You'll start by looking at the CSS transition property, learning what it is and how it can give life to HTML elements.

Then you'll learn about CSS transforms, including how to move elements around a page and how to scale and rotate them. You'll also discover the transform functions that can be used in 2D and 3D environments.

Next, you'll put what you've learned into practice by creating button and image hover effects, then exploring the world of CSS animations and keyframes.

By the end of the course, you'll be able to understand how any web animation works, and you’ll have created more than 100 different projects to build up your web development portfolio.

Overall, this course is perfect for web designers and developers who want to improve their CSS skills and be able to bring their ideas for creative animations to life.

The requirements for this course are a basic understanding of HTML and CSS and access to any code editor of your choice.

Key course features:

13 hours on-demand video
1 article
113 downloadable resources
Full lifetime access
Access on mobile and TV
Certificate of completion

=> Enroll in the Creative Advanced CSS Animations course here.

5. Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design

Expressions are snippets of code in JavaScript that allow you to create animations that would be impossible to design manually, and they're one of the most efficient motion design tools in Adobe After Effects.

In this course, Motion Designer Desmond Du teaches you how to code expressions to create complex animation rigs with style and ease.

You'll begin the course by learning about Desmond's creative journey that led him into the world of motion design, including his experience collaborating with the NBA, Turner Classic Movies, Adobe, and Cartoon Network.

Desmond then introduces you to the basics of coding expressions and animation techniques.

Next, you'll learn about procedural design, including a step repetition technique for creating interesting patterns. You'll learn how to simplify the animation process with minimal keyframes, and implement fractal noise textures in your pieces.

Then you'll explore working with 3D space, loops, and abstract compositions based on mathematical equations and randomization.

For this course's final project, you'll animate a 25-second title sequence for a fictional documentary. You'll learn to add type animation using expression selector, and enhance its scenes with a consistent look.

This creative coding course is aimed at intermediate to advanced After Effects users with basic knowledge of expressions who want to bring coding, math, and science to their creative pieces.

You will need a computer with access to After Effects, and previous experience with the software.

Key course features:

20 lessons (4h 7m)
24 additional resources (4 files)
Online and at your own pace
Available on the app
Audio: English
Portuguese, English, Spanish, Polish, Dutch, German, French, Italian
Level: Beginner
Unlimited access forever

=> Enroll in "Advanced After Effects: Coding for Motion Design" here.

Final Thoughts

One of the most exciting ways to learn creative coding is to design and implement your own creative programs.

The creative coding courses above all include practical exercises and activities that test your knowledge of what the instructor has demonstrated and give you an opportunity to make it your own.

Once you learn the basics and start experimenting with simple graphics and animations, you'll grow your skills, and before you know it, you'll be able to move on to more complex, adventurous projects.

Happy learning!