Instructo Leon Paz teaching an ArtCenter Online car design course

Online Car Design Courses

ArtCenter Online offers a suite of Professional Car Design courses through a remote-first curriculum, all based on our renowned Transportation Design degree program.

Depending on how you prefer to learn, we have two pathways: Personalized Feedback with faculty or Self-Paced lessons. We also offer curated workshops around fundamental topics for “Professional Car Design: The Basics,” that let you take the course in shorter chunks that can be taken out of order to suit your individual areas of interest.

After successfully completing both "Professional Car Design: The Basics |Personalized Feedback" and "Professional Car Design Intermediate |Personalized Feedback," a digital badge will be issued by ArtCenter College of Design through the Credly Credential Network.

Eligibility

For students based in the United States, please visit our State Authorization page to learn more about online course availability in your state.

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Take the first course in our Car Design series for a test drive.

For a limited time, we're offering the first lesson for free.

Professional Car Design: Level 1

The Basics | Personalized Feedback
Get weekly personalized faculty feedback for assignments.

This nine-week course replicates the classroom experience with weekly lessons, live sessions and weekly feedback from ArtCenter faculty under the guidance of our featured instructor, Leon Paz. Your learning journey will take you from sketching and shading, to modifying shapes and speed forms; from practicing basic vehicle construction and proportion, to finally producing professional side view car sketches. This course includes:

  • Live kick-off session with instructor and class
  • Weekly assignment critique from your instructor
  • Project feedback and correspondence with peers
  • All skill workshops in one comprehensive lesson plan
  • Instructional videos by ArtCenter Transportation Design faculty
  • Your own ArtCenter Sketchbook
  • Live wrap-up session with instructor and class
  • Students who complete The Basics, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses will be issued a badge through the Credly Credential Network.

Price: $499 *Special price
Academic Credit: none.
Enrollment: February 13, 2023 - June 1, 2023
Session: May 29 - July 30, 2023

The Basics | Self-Paced
Go at your own pace with video tutorials.

Designed with flexibility in mind, this track allows access to the full "Basics" course without faculty feedback or live instruction to complete on your own schedule over eight weeks. Students practice with pre-recorded video lessons, building proficiency in core concepts and key skills. Lessons cover the fundamentals of sketching and shading, modifying shapes and speed forms, practicing basic vehicle construction and proportion, and finally producing professional side-view vehicle sketches. This course includes:

  • All Basics skills workshops in one comprehensive lesson plan.
  • Instructional videos by ArtCenter Transportation Design faculty.
  • Your own ArtCenter Sketchbook.

Price: $189
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New Sessions start weekly. Take workshops as a bundle and save!

The Basics Workshops | Self-Paced
Try the course a little bit at a time with tailored workshops around fundamental topics.

Free Sketching Primer

Get a taste of what it’s like to become a car designer with this free lesson! Learn more about the field of design, the importance of warming up, and sketch your first car using all of the techniques taught in the lesson.

Price: $0
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: Now

Workshop 1: Intro to Sketching

Here you'll learn the basics of sketching, shading, perspective, and the fundamental geometric forms professional transportation designers use to create the vehicles of the future.

Price: $49
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New Sessions start weekly.

Workshop 2: Modified Shapes & Speed Forms

The second workshop in the series introduces the concept of speed forms, teaching you to create shapes and master the forms used to convey movement.

Price: $69
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New Sessions start weekly.

Workshop 3: Basic Vehicle Construction

In this workshop, you’ll be introduced to the basics of vehicle construction by exploring key differences in car models – from SUVs to luxury sedans. You’ll learn the most common car proportions, how to identify them, and get exposure to industry jargon.

Price: $69
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New Sessions start weekly.

Workshop 4: Professional Side-View Sketches

In this four-week workshop, you'll build upon the fundamentals of car design by learning to sketch five different vehicle types. You will learn the overlay technique to create a foundation and gain the ability to indicate basic details, like DLO, wheels and wheel openings, and headlights/taillights.

Price: $69
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New Sessions start weekly.

Professional Car Design: Level 2

Intermediate | Personalized Feedback
Get weekly personalized faculty feedback for assignments.

Designed to build on the lessons and skills of Professional Car Design: The Basics, this rigorous, structured, 7-week course begins with a live kick-off session; weekly self-paced instructional videos; weekly feedback on assignments from ArtCenter faculty; and a live, final project critique on the last day of class. Students draw upon their experience from Level 1 by advancing shading skills and the understanding of vehicle surfaces. Lessons cover the development of car details through iterative design while exploring various perspective views of the fundamental forms. This course includes:

  • Live kick-off session with instructor and class
  • Weekly assignment from your instructor
  • Project feedback and correspondence with peers
  • Instructional videos by ArtCenter Transportation Design faculty
  • Your own ArtCenter Sketchbook
  • Live wrap-up session with instructor and class
  • Students who complete The Basics, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses will be issued a badge through the Credly Credential Network.

Price: $499 *Special price
Academic Credit: none.
Enrollment: February 13, 2023 - June 13, 2023
Session: June 12 - July 30, 2023

Intermediate | Self-Paced
Go at your own pace with video tutorials.

Designed to build on the lessons and skills of Professional Car Design: The Basics with flexibility in mind, this track allows access to the full "Intermediate" course without faculty feedback or live instruction, to complete on your own schedule over the period of six weeks. Students practice at their own pace with pre-recorded video lessons, drawing upon their experience from Level 1 by advancing shading skills and the understanding of vehicle surfaces. Lessons cover the development of car details through iterative design while exploring various perspective views of the fundamental forms. This course includes:

  • Instructional videos by ArtCenter Transportation Design faculty
  • Your own ArtCenter Sketchbook.

Price: $189
Academic Credit: none.
Availability: New sessions start weekly.

Professional Car Design: Level 3

Advanced | Personalized Feedback
Get weekly personalized feedback for assignments

In this final course of our Professional Car Design series, students will apply all of the knowledge gained from their Basics and Intermediate course experiences. During this 8-week course, students will explore the four main steps of developing a design brief, including researching an automotive company and its customer profiles; ideating concepts; refining concepts and practicing successful presentation skills. This course includes:

  • Live kick-off session with instructor and class
  • Weekly assignment critique from your instructor
  • Project feedback and correspondence with peers
  • Instructional videos by ArtCenter Transportation Design faculty
  • Live wrap-up session with instructor and class
  • Students who complete The Basics, Intermediate, and Advanced Courses will be issued a badge through the Credly Credential Network.

This class ends with a live student showcase (via Zoom) where the instructor and guests provide critiques on students' final presentations.

Price: $499 *Special price
Academic Credit: none.
Enrollment: February 13, 2023 - June 8, 2023
Session: June 5 - July 30, 2023

Instructors and Industry Experts


Dennis Campbell

Instructor, Transportation Design and Product Design

Daniel Jimenez

Senior Designer, Genesis Motor Company

Leon Paz

Featured Instructor, Car Design

Richard Pietruska

Instructor, Transportation Design

Stewart Reed

Department Chair, Transportation Design

Jessie Rubio

Peer Instructor, ArtCenter Online

Kayla Rundle

Peer Instructor, ArtCenter Online

Helen Zhang

Peer Instructor, ArtCenter Online

Contact ArtCenter Online

Feel free to email us, and we will be happy to answer any questions or provide more information.

Email:

online@artcenter.edu

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ArtCenter Online

Behind the Scenes

This is my favorite online course I've ever taken. Everything was so easy to use and self-explanatory — this course was phenomenal.

JoshuaOnline Car Design student
car sketches

Take the first step toward developing new skills in car design.