Skillshare is a place where people come to learn from other people. What students love most is learning from creative experts who have developed their own taste and technique within their field. Our classes are taught by humans sharing skills, creative practices, and their own unique point of view, which is what continues to make the Skillshare community so valuable.

In this article:

• What we are looking for
• Categories currently open to new teachers
• Categories not currently open to new teachers
• A note on subcategories

What we are looking for

We are looking for project-based classes where students make something. Classes should be clearly achievable in one sitting, or for longer classes, broken into smaller learning ‘chunks’ a student can complete over time.

Our focus is on Art & Illustration, Design, Photography, Film and Animation. That includes classes on the tools and software used in those fields, such as Procreate, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Blender, Lightroom, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve. We want tool and software classes that serve our core creative categories, not general software training.

As Skillshare evolves, we are focusing our efforts on the creative disciplines where students are most engaged and where we see the strongest opportunities for teachers to build meaningful connections with their audiences. While you may still find classes across a broader range of subjects, our current category strategy is centered on a curated set of creative fields.

Categories currently open to new teachers

To help you create classes that are suitable for the Skillshare catalog, here are examples to follow. We have listed classes that we see demand for, or that fit well, in each category. We have also listed types of classes that are not a fit for each category. This is not an exhaustive list, instead use it as a rule of thumb and an example of the types of classes that are likely to succeed in each category.

Art & Illustration

• Examples of classes that we see demand for: painting, illustration and drawing foundations and practice; painting practices that run over days or weeks; sketchbook practices that run over days or weeks; Procreate classes built around a set of finished drawings; designing a sellable illustrated product such as a calendar.
• Not a fit: art history surveys with no project; critiques of other artists' work; technique discussion where the student never makes anything.

Design

Examples of classes that we see demand for: essentials training in Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and Canva; design principles taught through a layout or composition project; logo design and wordmark classes; branding taken through a full identity; AI tools used for design exploration and concepting.

Not a fit: design theory with no project, or general topics focused on the business side like client management, invoicing and contracts as a standalone topic, or general business software.

Photography

• Examples of classes that we see demand for: photography fundamentals and principles; iPhone and phone photography; editing in Lightroom; finding a consistent personal style; product and food photography; street photography; photographing your own artwork for prints and listings.
• Not a fit: gear reviews and buying guides; classes that are limited to specific gear.

Film & Video

• Examples of classes that we see demand for: storytelling and structure for video creators; editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, and CapCut; color grading; short-form video for Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts; cinematic vlogging; filming professional video on a phone.
• Not a fit: film criticism and analysis.

Animation & 3D

• Examples of classes that work well: Blender modelling from first object to finished character; sculpting in Nomad Sculpt; motion graphics in Adobe After Effects; 2D animation in Procreate Dreams; classical 2D animation fundamentals; explainer and multi-scene animation taken from design through to motion.
• Not a fit: software tours with no finished output; animation history.

Crafts & DIY

• Examples of classes that work well: hand sewing basics; sewing your own clothing from a pattern; crochet and knitting from first stitch to finished piece; bookbinding projects such as a pocket journal, sketchbook or hardcover binding; embroidery samplers; air dry clay projects, make your own jewelry 
• Not a fit: home renovation; gardening; cooking and baking

AI & Innovation

We’re specifically looking for classes from Teachers educating students on how they can leverage AI tooling within their practice. We are not looking for general overviews as tooling and their subsequent instructions  become outdated extremely quickly. 

• Examples of classes that work well: AI for designers and illustrators, covering how the tools work and how to use them for ideation and reference; building a moodboard or concepting workflow; using AI to speed up storyboarding; AI-assisted video and image generation where the student produces a finished creative piece.
• Not a fit: general prompt engineering o high level overviews like ‘How to Use Claude’  

Creative Career

The most popular spaces in this category fall under solopreneurship and small business skills within a creative industry.The classes that do best here connect directly to one of our core creative categories and leave the student with something tangible: a portfolio, a content plan, a shop listing, a priced product.

• Examples of classes that work well: creating video content for social media using xyz tools; developing a personal or business brand as a creative; building an illustration portfolio; selling your work on Etsy, including testing and shop setup; preparing artwork for print and digital sale; speaking confidently on camera; growing a YouTube channel as a creator.
• Not a fit: personal finance and money management; general business skills such as management, operations and leadership; general sales strategy and cold outreach; resume and interview coaching outside creative fields; real estate, trading and dropshipping.

Creativity & Inspiration

Classes that build a creative practice, with a project students can actually complete.

• Examples of classes that work well: short creative challenges such as a 30-day drawing challenge or five days of prompts; weekly prompt series that build a habit; exercises for working through perfectionism and creative block; quick warm-ups for low-energy days; everyday journaling and documentation practices; classes that help a student find their own style through a set of exercises.
• Not a fit: motivational talks with no exercises; life coaching; mindset classes with no creative output; meditation and wellness.

Categories not currently open to new teachers

Additional categories remain available on Skillshare for students to explore, but we are not currently accepting new teachers in those areas. Those categories are:

• Development
• Home & Lifestyle
• Marketing & Business
• Music & Audio
• Personal Development
• Productivity
• Writing & Publishing
• Languages

A note on subcategories

Each top level category includes subcategories that ladder up into it. Subcategories can appear under more than one category when they are relevant to multiple disciplines. Visual Effects, for example, appears under both Film & Video and Animation & 3D.

If you're unsure where your class fits, reach out to our team at teach@skillshare.com. We're happy to help!