Illustrator Essential Training vs Master 2D Animation in Procreate Dreams: Basics for Digital Art

Tony Harmer walks through Illustrator's core in a logical sequence — artboards, selection, shapes and line tools, path drawing and transformation, color models, gradients, strokes, brushes, layers and groups, patterns, appearances, transparency, type, image placement and export — and the 2024/2025 editions add a section on generative AI content. Across five released versions the official rating sits at 4.8/5 (2024: 1,148 ratings; 2021: 1,914; 2022: 1,676; 2023: 1,320), an unusually high and stable signal. Reviewers describe the material as dense and thorough; the main critique is that some assignment toolbars don't match the learner's default setup, and that experienced users hit familiar ground before the advanced sections.

Tony Harmer — a certified Adobe Creative Suite Master with 40+ years in the creative industry and close ties to the Illustrator product team — is the standout asset. Reviewers repeatedly single out his delivery as "detailed, easy to follow, and even entertaining," and even a 17-year Illustrator veteran reported learning new tricks. His voice, pacing and articulation draw consistent praise. The only recurring instructor complaint is occasional mismatch between his on-screen toolbars and a fresh install, which can briefly confuse beginners.

LinkedIn Learning is $39.99/month or roughly $19.99/month billed annually, and the course is also bundled with LinkedIn Premium Career and free through many public-library cards. For learners who already hold a LinkedIn subscription or library access, this 5–7 hour course is excellent value and the completion certificate posts straight to a LinkedIn profile. Paying the standalone monthly fee for this one course is less compelling — independent reviewers call the subscription "more on the expensive side" and "expensive if used infrequently," and the certificate is not accredited. The equation flips for prolific learners who tap the 20,000+ course catalogue.

Each lesson ships with downloadable exercise files and the course includes 22 quizzes for self-assessment, so learners practice alongside the instructor rather than just watching. The gap, flagged by multiple reviewers, is open-ended project work: the exercises are instructor-led replications rather than briefs that push learners to design their own piece, and one reviewer asked directly for "more practice sessions or more question examples." There is no portfolio-grade capstone and no instructor feedback on submitted work.

The skills taught — vector paths, transformations, color, type, brushes, patterns and export for print and web — are genuinely foundational and transfer directly to real Illustrator work. Reviewers describe the tool demonstrations as practical and immediately usable, and a decade-lapsed user called it a strong refresher on newer tools like the curvature tool. The certificate carries professional signalling value on LinkedIn but is not an accredited credential, so it complements rather than replaces demonstrated portfolio work.

The 26-lesson curriculum is well-sequenced, moving from the iPad and Procreate Dreams interface through drawing, perform mode, storyboarding and finally a full frame-by-frame animation project. Domestika reviewers repeatedly describe it as "concise, clear, beautiful" (fnannini) and praise that it "gets straight to practice" (ale_chio). The single largest content complaint, raised across multiple reviews, is that the course was filmed on an earlier build of Procreate Dreams; after the Dreams 2 update several reviewers noted the interface "no longer aligns with the current layout."

Brookes Eggleston brings over a decade of professional character design and animation experience plus a large teaching following from his Character Design Forge channel. Reviewers single out his pacing — neocesar wrote that he "explains well, goes step-by-step, it's great" — and one student called it "without a doubt the BEST course on Procreate Dreams found online." The main instructor-side complaint was isolated: juanugalde2003 flagged poor audio in the lessons, a production issue rather than a teaching one.

The course is sold on Domestika's low one-time pricing (frequently discounted to roughly $10–$20) with lifetime access, which reviewers consider strong value for nearly four hours of structured instruction. The bigger value question raised by blog reviewers concerns the app itself rather than the course: David Pike noted Procreate Dreams "for no subscription and all future updates included, isn't too expensive" at $12.99, while The Hiena cautioned "there are other better affordable tools on the market for animating on the iPad."

The course ends with a complete short animation and a unit on portfolio and personal branding, which gives beginners a shareable deliverable. Forum and blog reviewers confirm the skills transfer: the perform-mode and frame-by-frame techniques taught are the genuine Procreate Dreams workflow. The limitation is the app's own ceiling — reviewers like The Hiena flag missing speed graphs and serious animators note that rigging/bones-based pipelines (David Pike) are not covered, so the course prepares you for short 2D pieces rather than studio production.

Domestika courses include a discussion forum and the ability to share project work, which beginners use to get feedback. However, the most pointed criticism in the data is the absence of course updates: jmattcreative directly asked "will this course be updated at all now that there is a complete new update to Procreate Dreams?" and that question appears unanswered across multiple recent reviews. There is no live mentorship, and the perform-mode and gesture-driven workflows that the app hides behind menus are exactly where beginners report needing more hand-holding.