Sketch is the original design choice before Figma was cool. But even as new contenders have risen, Sketch has held its ground. This native MacOS app for designers now has web-tools built on top for sharing work, getting feedback, testing prototypes and handing off to developers in any browser.

Sketch was built with designers first in mind with full offline capabilities, while Figma is a web-app that focuses on the collaboration between designers and developers. If you want to know more, check out this in-depth comparison on Sketch vs Figma highlighting Sketch’s advantages.

For newcomers, a sound starting point is Sketch’s own free offerings: Sketch 101: Create your first designs and Sketch 102: Supercharge your designs. Pair these with their official documentation for a solid foundation.

However, it doesn’t stop there. Considering the variety of learning styles and levels of expertise, we’ve included a range of options from the Class Central catalog of Sketch courses. Additionally, we’ve added offerings from popular course providers like Skillshare and Udemy, and incorporated recommendations from online learners for a well-rounded learning experience.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

• Top Picks
• What is Sketch?
• Why You Should Trust Us
• Courses Overview
• How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Here are our top picks

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What is Sketch?

Before getting to our top picks, let’s briefly understand what Sketch is all about.

Sketch, a native macOS vector graphics editor and prototyping tool, is ideal for designing wireframes and web & mobile interfaces, and facilitating collaboration with other designers and developers. It employs the same principles of popular design software like Adobe XD, Figma, and InVision, offering an intuitive workflow for designers.

New users can take advantage of Sketch’s limited 30-day free account which may be useful for learning and testing if this application is the best fit for your needs. Despite its constraints, this free plan offers sufficient room for learning and testing the software.

With its versatility and array of features—such as UI/UX mockup creation, wireframing, vector art, prototyping, Dark mode, customizable toolbars, RTL support, built-in spell check, local document editing, and offline access—Sketch proves to be a powerful design tool.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

Courses Overview

• 2 courses are free and 5 are paid
• The Sketch subject is followed by 6.2K learners on Class Central
• Courses in this guide have more than 72.9K enrollments and views
• The most featured providers are Udemy and Skillshare with 3 courses each.

Best Course for Beginners (by Sketch)

If you are a total beginner in Sketch Sketch 101: Create your first designs and Sketch 102: Supercharge your designs are the perfect first step. They’re free and available directly on the Sketch website.

The course instructor is Joseph Todaro, who works at Sketch and teaches design at Laguna College of Art and Design.

Sketch 101 will show you how to use Sketch. It covers setup, basic design, and how to work with others on your projects. Sketch 102 goes deeper: you’ll learn to design faster, create interactive designs, and get your work ready for developers so they can turn your pixels into code.

Each course provides about 90 minutes of content and all the files you need to follow the lessons

Best Design System Crash Course (Udemy)

Looking to speed up your design work without losing consistency or quality? Then the free course, UI UX Design Essentials: Create a Design System in Sketch on Udemy, is a must-take for you.

In this course, you will learn how to build and use pre-made components and elements, speeding up your design process. You’ll find your work becoming more efficient, scalable, and consistently high in quality.

Your instructor is UI/UX Designer specialist Pierluigi Giglio, who will guide you through creating a Design System from scratch. If you’re familiar with the basics of Sketch and have a handle on design principles, advancing to design systems is a logical next step.

“Great course and I loved the plugins that saved time. This course made it easy to build from scratch.” – Yolanda J., learner

Best Sketch Course for App Designers (Udemy)

If mobile app design piques your interest, then the top-rated Sketch course on Udemy, Sketch from A to Z (2022): Become an app designer, is the way to go.

Joseph Angelo Todaro, a Sketch expert and a teacher at the Laguna College of Art and Design, leads this course. You’ll start from the basics to mastering app design using Sketch. You’ll learn to quicken your design process with advanced techniques, gain an understanding of UI and UX best practices, and ensure your designs are ready for a seamless transition from conception to application.

In this course, you will build a sample UI for an iPhone music player app. Included Sketch documents allow you to pick up at any point in the project. The course platform provides a built-in discussion forum, and you’ll get a certificate upon completion of the course.

“I was looking for a course to quickly give me a comprehensive overview of Sketch and this is perfect for just that. Very well presented and comprehensive.” – Jorike L., learner

The instructor also has other free courses on YouTube with introductory material for this course: UI Design Deep Dives and Sketch from A to Z.

Also Great: Design Apps & Websites with Sketch (Udemy)

Looking for a comprehensive course with practical examples to learn UI/UX design using Sketch? Then, The Complete Sketch 5 Course – Design Apps & Websites on Udemy, taught by Rob Percival and Andrew Eddy, might be your go-to option. However, keep in mind that this course was last updated in April 2020, which means some of the plugins referred to are now outdated. Despite this, learners have found the course valuable.

In this beginner level course, you’ll learn how to wireframe and design mobile apps, websites, web apps, and more. You’ll also create a clickable prototype and build a style guide for brand consistency. By the end of this course, you will have a complete Design System.

“This course needs to be updated and the sketch app used in this course is old, however, this does not limit anyone and I feel like this is by far an amazing course.” – Montell G., learner

Best Project-based Course for Beginners (Skillshare)

Are you a total beginner looking for a project-based Sketch course? Then, the Skillshare course Sketch App Basics: How to Design and Prototype Using Sketch is perfect for you. In less than an hour, you’ll learn the basics of Sketch and complete a simple design and prototype from scratch.

Course instructor Anna Avetisyan will guide you through designing various pages for an app, like the cover or splash page, sign-up pages, and the main page seen after sign-up. You’ll then create a prototype using Sketch. The course also includes two additional app cover page designs for you to get creative. Upon completion, you can submit your project for feedback and explore others’ projects for inspiration.

“Absolutely amazing! After taking two other classes – this was the first one that gets right into it without confusing the beginner! She’s terrific – especially liked that she gave a tour of the tools and workspace before launching into the project!” – Richard Smiraldi, learner

Best Landing Pages Design with Sketch Course (Skillshare)

If you’re a beginner or intermediate designer looking to learn how to design high-converting landing pages, then How to Design High Converting Landing Pages in Sketch for Beginners on Skillshare is for you. The course, taught by Daniel Korpai, combines design and business thinking to teach you how to design effective landing pages for both mobile and web.

By the end of this course, you’ll have your very own landing page as your final project. You can see others’ projects for inspiration and receive feedback on yours. You’ll also get a downloadable resource with all class materials.

“This is the exact kind of tutorial I’ve been looking for. It’s extraordinary because Daniel doesn’t design arbitrarily, he does so intentionally. I liked the fact that he mentioned the dimensions, distances and sizes of elements as he designs them relative to one another. This tutorial is worth much more than many others here.” – Shamsudeen Badamasi, learner

Also Great: User Interface Design Course for Beginners (Skillshare)

Starting your journey as a UI/UX designer? Begin with the Complete User Interface Design Bootcamp – Sketch UI/UX on Skillshare. This course, taught by Arash Ahadzadeh, a seasoned UI/UX designer, covers everything from the basics of design to real-world projects.

By the end of this course, you’ll have developed UI and UX designs and mastered the Sketch app. Plus, you’ll be able to showcase your work and receive feedback on it. The course also provides downloadable resources for all class materials.

“I’ve started with no knowledge about Sketch, and now I can create my own apps. Moreover he gave a lot of examples and extra resources and tips that are absolutely necessary and helpful. It was an amazing course.” – Alberto Massa, learner.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. I extracted information from course syllabi and reviews, and compiled their ratings, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider ratings. I watched some course videos to sample courses I hadn’t already taken.

Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A Sketch course can cover various topics. I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields: Fundamentals, Design System, UI UX Design, and mobile and web Design.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will serve as an excellent learning path to master Sketch.