Adobe Photoshop is considered by many worldwide as the industry standard, it’s used in photo manipulation and in creating bitmap graphics (raster) for web development or any other creative art project. There are many iterations for the standard Photoshop version; Photoshop elements and Photoshop extended are two of the well-known iterations.

There are many free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, and Gimp is one of the most widely known and used of these alternatives. Learning Adobe Photoshop can help you in many ways; you can enhance and edit your photos with it, you can create bitmap graphics that can be used on websites, games or any other creative project, finally you can use your talent and Photoshop skills to find a job on sites like shutterstock and 99 designs.

The aim of this post is to present and compare between various free online outlets that beginners can rely on to start learning Adobe Photoshop; you should note that the sources stated in this article are full-structured and organized courses that beginners can start from and follow along, so you won’t find a link to a group of unrelated tutorials, or a link to a single video. You won’t also find 2000+ sources to learn Photoshop as that’s even more distracting for beginners. The sources that will be discussed here are suitable for both photographers and graphics designers. Finally, this article covers Adobe Photoshop CS6 and CC.

Start Learning Adobe Photoshop from Scratch for Free

Floqq

Floqq is the first fee outlet where you can learn Adobe Photoshop through video tutorials, you’ll need to register in order to have access to the course. You can learn many things on Floqq apart from Adobe Photoshop, you just register there and type the subject you’re interested in learning in the search bar (Adobe Photoshop in our case) the available courses will appear in the search results (of course you should choose the free one). At the time of writing this article only the “Learning Adobe Photoshop in 30 Days” course was present, which is a good one for beginners.

Structure: the course is divided into 32 video tutorials, each video tutorial covers a group of topics in Photoshop, the course is well-structured and organized for beginners and it’s suitable for both photographers and graphics designers.

Interface: The interface is very simple as seen below; the lessons are arranged in a well-organized playlist that can help beginners follow along.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

Free. The course is well-organized and structured for beginners. The course is suitable for both photographers and graphics designers.

Cons

The course doesn’t cover intermediate or advanced topics, though that won’t be a problem for beginners.

Verdict: This is the best place for any Photoshop beginner to start learning.

Adobe TV

Adobe TV is the second free online source where beginners can learn Adobe Photoshop through video tutorials. You don’t need to register to have access to the course, just go to the website and you’re ready to go. The course covers the majority of the topics that a beginner should be familiarized with in order to use Adobe Photoshop; it also covers some of the intermediate and advanced topics.

Structure: the course is divided into 20 sections; each section is divided into lessons, the lesson is a video tutorial that covers certain topics in Adobe Photoshop.

Interface: The interface is very simple as seen below, the lessons are listed under each other, you click on the lesson you’re interested in and you’re ready to go.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

Free. The course is well-structured for beginners. The course covers some of the intermediate and advanced topics in Adobe Photoshop.

Cons

The only thing that prevented this source from being the first outlet is the organization of the topics and the inconsistency throughout the lessons.

Verdict: This outlet would be an excellent asset for any Photoshop user, but it’s not suitable for total beginners who want to be familiarized with the interface and menus first before using the software.

Udemy

Udemy is one of the third outlets where you can learn Adobe Photoshop through video tutorials; you can learn literally anything on Udemy for free or for a fee (depending on the course provider). To join Udemy just register using your email. Go to the search bar and type what you want to learn (Photoshop in our case); of course you should choose the free courses and at the time of writing this post the following courses were present:

You can choose one of these courses and start it. Each course is divided into lessons (depending on the instructor). Of course if you want to proceed with more levels in Photoshop for instance you’ll have to pay or just search for another course that’s free, but after all it’ll be inconvenient as there would be no consistency in your learning curve. The following are the pros and cons of Udemy.

Pros

There is some good material for beginners. Some instructors provide great discounts for their paid courses after finishing the free course.

Cons

You’ll have to pay per course to proceed with your studies. It’s a trial and error process for both the free and paid courses as it depends on the instructor (stars aren’t that convenient as the instructor might be new that’s why he/she has no stars).

Verdict: It’s a trial and error experience; so it’s better to try other free outlet from the sources stated in this post.

Alison

Alison is the fourth outlet where you can learn Adobe Photoshop for free; you need to register in order to have access to the course. Alison is similar to Floqq and Udemy as you can learn many things not only Adobe Photoshop.

Structure: The course is divided into two modules, the first module is divided into 8 lessons, and each lesson covers certain topics in Photoshop, while the second module is an assessment module. The course is well-structured and organized for beginners.

Interface: The interface is very simple, the lessons are arranged one after another, after you finish a lesson just click on go to the next lesson and you’ll be directed to it.

Now, the pros and cons:

Pros

Free. The course is well-structured and organized for beginners. you can get a certificate at the end of the course after passing the assessment, but I should warn you that you’ll have to pay for the certificate.

Cons

The course only covers the very basics of Photoshop, so you can’t rely only on it as a beginner.

Verdict: This outlet is suitable for someone who just wants to get a general idea about Photoshop.

Bottom Line

The recipe for learning Adobe Photoshop:

Floqq should be your starting point. Adobe TV is an excellent source to escalate with your skills.

Remember that the first step is always the toughest step, and the aim of this post is to provide you with resources that will help you take your first step in Adobe Photoshop.

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