When did you stop thinking of yourself as an artist? 

Maybe you’re still an artist, and this doesn’t apply to you. That’s spectacular. 

It’s also rarer than it should be. We recently surveyed 2,572 people in the US, UK, Germany, South Africa, and India to find out about their creative pursuits and interests, and the results were eye-opening. 

It turns out that the pandemic was a turning point for many, with 56% of people saying they took up a new creative hobby during lockdown. More than half of respondents (53%) indicated that while they were not professional designers, they would love to learn new creative skills. The desire is there. The problem: life is in the way. The young child who loved to draw, grew up, and hasn’t created art in decades. The teenager who couldn’t imagine doing anything with their life other than design abandoned that passion for what they deemed to be a more practical pursuit. There are so many stories like this. 

Respondents cited a myriad of barriers to pursuing creative skills, notably including lack of time (26%) and lack of training (22%). 

We’re here to change that. At Corel, we’re all about democratizing design. We think creative expression should be for everyone. Not everyone has to make a career out of it (though we’re heartily cheering on those who do) but everyone should be able to access it. We think art and design have the power to heal, unite, enrich, and enliven the world in which we live. No one should be too scared to try it because they lack training. No one should think they’re not “good enough” to create. 

That’s why we’ve created the CorelDRAW^® Academy. Whether you’re a design novice or a creative pro looking for fresh inspiration, the CorelDRAW Academy provides an e-learning experience designed to broaden your knowledge and capabilities to unlock your creative potential. CorelDRAW Academy is designed by creative professionals and is free for all CorelDRAW Graphics Suite active subscribers or maintenance customers.  

We made the sessions easy to follow and accessible from wherever you are so you can fit them in to your busy day. (Who wouldn’t benefit from a design break?) Pop into the Academy on your own schedule when you‘re looking to level up your skills or when you want to stimulate your brain in a different way.  

Whether you’re doing it to perfect your skills for your job or to honor the passion of that inner child who loves to draw, we want to remove barriers to being creative and help make your life a little more beautiful.  

Interested in learning more about CorelDRAW Academy? Click here. 

To subscribe to CorelDRAW^® Graphics Suite and open up a whole new world of creative possibilities, click here. 

See the full results from our Creative Skills survey below.