Kickstart Your Creativity with Procreate: Fun Objects from Coursera

Explore playful objects and level up your Procreate skills with creative challenges and expressive designs.

In this final course of the Kickstart Creativity series, Lisa Bardot invites you to illustrate everyday objects with personality and flair. You’ll draw five fun items—from socks and ukuleles to alarm clocks and art supplies—using techniques that help you add dimension, texture, and storytelling to your work. With each mini-tutorial, you’ll gain more fluency in Procreate features and discover new ways to bring ordinary things to life on screen.

This week is all about creative play and pulling together everything you’ve learned so far. You’ll continue using your Progress Tracker to stay on course and reflect on how far you’ve come. Whether you’re a beginner or rediscovering your love for art, you’ll wrap up the series with a full portfolio of joyful digital drawings and a creative routine you’ll want to keep.

Instructor bio:

Lisa Bardot is an illustrator, teacher, and creative adventurer based in California. Using the iPad and Procreate as her main tools, she creates digital brushes, tutorials, and resources that help artists of all levels find joy in making art. Through her company Bardot Brush, Lisa designs widely loved Procreate tools, and through Making Art Everyday, she inspires thousands of people with daily prompts and challenges to build confidence and consistency in their creative practice. She also leads Art Maker’s Club, a vibrant community and learning hub for digital artists.

Known for her clear, fun, and encouraging teaching style, Lisa has taught millions of learners worldwide, empowering them to overcome creative blocks and embrace art-making as a joyful habit.

What's inside

Syllabus

Introduction to Drawing Objects

Get ready to bring everyday objects to life through digital illustration. In this module, you’ll set up your Procreate workspace and personal Progress Tracker to stay organized throughout the course. You’ll also explore how common items like clocks or socks can carry personality, mood, and storytelling potential. By reviewing the course structure and creative goals, you’ll be fully prepared to begin this final chapter of the series.

Career center

Learners who complete Kickstart Your Creativity with Procreate: Fun Objects will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Digital Illustrator

A Digital Illustrator brings ideas to life visually using software and digital tools, often creating images for books, advertising, or online content. This course is exceptionally well-suited for aspiring Digital Illustrators, as it focuses entirely on illustrating everyday objects with personality and flair using Procreate. Learners will practice adding dimension, texture, and storytelling to their work, skills vital for creating engaging digital art. By completing the course, participants build a full portfolio of joyful digital drawings and establish a creative routine, directly preparing them for success in this dynamic field.

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Childrens Book Illustrator

A Childrens Book Illustrator creates engaging visuals that accompany stories for young readers, where objects often play a significant role in conveying narrative. This course is an excellent starting point for this career path, focusing on bringing everyday objects to life with personality, mood, and storytelling potential using Procreate. Learners develop skills in adding dimension and expressive styling to transform static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations, which is crucial for captivating a young audience. The course helps in building a portfolio of joyful digital drawings, ideal for showcasing talent to publishers.

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Textile Designer

A Textile Designer conceptualizes and creates patterns and prints for fabrics and other materials, used in fashion, home decor, and various consumer goods. This course is highly relevant for a Textile Designer, as it emphasizes illustrating playful, personality-rich objects and practicing consistency and style across a cohesive collection. Learners acquire skills in expressive styling, color, and dimension using Procreate, which are directly applicable to developing unique and appealing design motifs. The ability to bring ordinary items to life with flair is invaluable for creating marketable and distinctive textile designs.

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Surface Pattern Designer

A Surface Pattern Designer creates repeating designs for products like textiles, wallpaper, and stationery, focusing on aesthetics and functionality. This course prepares individuals for a career as a Surface Pattern Designer by teaching how to illustrate playful objects with personality and expressive styling. The module on illustrating five personality-rich objects, practicing consistency and style across a cohesive collection, directly mimics the process of developing design motifs. Learners will gain fluency in Procreate features and cultivate skills in bringing ordinary items to life, essential for creating appealing and marketable patterns.

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UI Icon Designer

A UI Icon Designer specializes in crafting small, intuitive graphical elements for user interfaces found in applications, websites, and operating systems. This course offers practical skills for a UI Icon Designer through its detailed approach to illustrating everyday objects with personality, dimension, and expressive styling using Procreate. Learners will practice transforming static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations, which is essential for designing clear, engaging, and functionally effective UI icons that enhance user experience and guide navigation within digital products.

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Product Visualizer E commerce

A Product Visualizer E commerce specialist creates appealing digital representations of items for online listings, aiming to attract customers and facilitate sales. This course provides highly relevant skills for a Product Visualizer E commerce professional, especially through its techniques for adding dimension, texture, and expressive styling to transform static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations. Learners will gain fluency in Procreate features, enabling them to bring ordinary things to life on screen, making product visuals more engaging, compelling, and appealing to potential buyers in a competitive digital marketplace.

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Icon Designer

An Icon Designer meticulously crafts small, expressive visual representations used across digital platforms, software, and branding. The course's focus on illustrating everyday objects with dimension, texture, and personality using Procreate provides fundamental skills directly applicable to creating engaging and functional icons. Learners will practice bringing ordinary things to life on screen through expressive styling and color experimentation. This training helps in developing a keen eye for detail and effective visual communication, which are paramount for an Icon Designer to create clear and memorable visual elements.

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Editorial Illustrator

An Editorial Illustrator creates visual content, often for articles, magazines, or online publications, to complement and enhance written narratives. This course is relevant for an Editorial Illustrator, specifically through its focus on illustrating everyday objects with personality, mood, and storytelling potential. Learners develop the ability to transform static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations using Procreate, which is crucial for creating imagery that effectively conveys specific themes or enhances narratives within editorial content, capturing the reader's attention and communicating complex ideas visually.

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Brand Illustrator

A Brand Illustrator develops distinct visual assets that uphold a company's identity and message across various marketing channels. This course aligns well with the demands of a Brand Illustrator, emphasizing the creation of expressive objects with personality and flair. Exploring depth, color, and consistent style across a collection of items, as taught in the course, is directly relevant to developing unique brand imagery. By learning to transform static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations using Procreate, learners can create compelling visual elements that strengthen brand recognition and storytelling.

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Game Asset Artist

A Game Asset Artist designs and creates the visual components within video games, including characters, environments, and most relevantly, props and objects. This course provides foundational skills for an aspiring Game Asset Artist by teaching how to add dimension, texture, and storytelling to digital objects using Procreate. Learners will practice transforming static items into dynamic, eye-catching illustrations, essential for designing engaging game assets that build immersive game worlds. The consistent application of style and personality to a collection of items helps in developing a cohesive game aesthetic.

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Educator Digital Art Focus

An Educator Digital Art Focus teaches concepts and techniques of digital art to students of various skill levels, often using specific software and methodologies. Given the instructor's success and the course's clear, fun teaching style, a learner who masters the principles of this course could aspire to become an Educator Digital Art Focus. The practical experience of building a portfolio of joyful digital drawings and establishing a creative routine within the course provides a strong foundation for inspiring and guiding others. An advanced degree is typically required for formal teaching positions in academia.

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Marketing Artist

A Marketing Artist creates compelling visual content for advertising and promotional campaigns across various platforms, designed to attract and engage audiences. This course may be helpful for an aspiring Marketing Artist by teaching expressive designs and bringing objects to life with personality and flair using Procreate. The skills acquired in adding dimension, texture, and storytelling to digital illustrations can translate into creating eye-catching illustrative elements for campaigns, social media, or product showcases, making marketing materials more engaging and memorable for target consumers.

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Concept Artist

A Concept Artist visualizes and designs characters, environments, and props for games, films, or animations, often informing the overall aesthetic. While the role frequently requires a broader scope, the course's focus on bringing objects to life with personality, mood, and storytelling potential may be useful for developing initial visual ideas for props and specific items within a larger concept. Learners explore dimension and expressive styling using Procreate, which helps build a foundational understanding of visual communication. An advanced degree is typically required for higher-level concept art positions in major studios.

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Visual Development Artist

A Visual Development Artist defines the overall visual style and aesthetic for projects like animated films or video games, encompassing characters, environments, and props. The course's exploration of adding dimension, texture, and storytelling to objects, alongside developing a cohesive style, may be useful for contributing to a project's visual language during its early development stages. Learners gain fluency in Procreate features, which are vital for rapid ideation and presentation. This role often requires an advanced degree or extensive portfolio work to enter major studios.

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Storyboard Artist

A Storyboard Artist visualizes narratives sequentially, creating a graphic outline of scenes for film, animation, or commercials. While the course primarily focuses on static objects, the skills acquired in adding personality, mood, and storytelling potential to everyday items may be useful for a Storyboard Artist. Understanding how to create expressive designs and bring objects to life using Procreate helps ensure that props and background elements contribute effectively to the overall visual narrative in a storyboard, enhancing emotional impact and clarity for the viewer.

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