Proko

Proko is an online art school that sells video courses in drawing, painting, anatomy, character design and related subjects, taught by working artists. It was founded by Stan Prokopenko, who describes himself on the site as an artist and teacher of drawing, painting and anatomy, and the company behind it is Proko LLC. Its help page sets out the aim: "to create a learning environment to replace or supplement in person art school" and "to bring affordable art education to anyone in the world with a device and a connection to the internet." For a learner, the defining feature is the pricing model. There is no subscription: you buy the courses you want, one at a time or in discounted bundles, and keep them for life.

The course library

The library can be browsed by a long list of subjects, among them drawing fundamentals, digital, anatomy, figure, painting, character design, sketching, portrait and head, illustration, sculpting and 3D, concept design, critiques, perspective, comics, composition, animals and creatures, career, storytelling, environments, caricature, oil, inking, watercolor, drapery, animation and gouache.

The Proko originals form the core. Drawing Basics, by Stan Prokopenko (185 lessons, 82h 2m), is the course the help page recommends beginners start with; it covers "the most important foundational concepts for drawing anything" and is designed to keep you drawing without burning out. Stan also teaches Figure Drawing Fundamentals (57 lessons), Portrait Drawing Fundamentals (35 lessons, with 48M views) and Anatomy of the Human Body (371 lessons), a pro-level course on the bones and muscles of the human body. Steven Michael Hampton teaches The Gesture Course (27 lessons), with techniques like the 16-line method and shape gestures, along with Head Drawing and Construction, Drapery Fundamentals and Introduction to Figure Construction. Marshall Vandruff's The Perspective Course (139 lessons) teaches you to see, imagine and draw in perspective. Digital Painting Fundamentals (104 lessons) covers the painting skills and digital workflows a newcomer to digital art needs.

Guest instructors widen the range. The catalog includes Marvel's The Art of Storytelling, made with Marvel; The Character Concept Art Course by Dave Greco; Develop Your Art Style by Eliza Ivanova; Character Design Monster Lab by Scott Flanders; Portrait Painting in Oil using Sight Size Method by Cornelia Hernes; Art of Caricature by Court Jones; The Ultimate Sketching Course and Practical Perspective by Rembert Montald; Storytelling Portraits and How to Draw Faces Like a Pro by Lucas Peinador; and Painting Light 101 by Jeremy Vickery, a beginners class on light and color. Newer additions reach into 3D and film work: Tribal Female Character for Cinematic UE5 by Antonio Mossucca walks through the full 3D character pipeline in Unreal Engine, and there are courses on environment painting, matte painting and cinematic lighting.

Most courses are recorded, but Proko also runs live workshops. The homepage lists a Practical Perspective Workshop, a 6 week live class with a weekly lesson, critiques and Q&A, and an Anatomy of Style workshop.

What a premium course includes

The help page explains what a paid course adds to Proko's free videos. Premium courses "offer more detailed and in depth look at the concepts and techniques our free videos touch on", and they include extended videos, assignment demos and examples, eBooks, critique videos and 3D models, with features varying from course to course. Premium courses can be downloaded, and the help page promises: "You have access to your courses and tools for life." Most premium videos have English subtitles and downloadable English transcripts, and some courses list captions in further languages.

There is plenty to try first. Proko publishes free videos on its site and YouTube channel, most courses open with free lessons (Drawing Basics has 58), and the Proko Course Sampler is a free selection of premium lessons from popular courses that you can watch without buying anything.

Practice, feedback and community

The homepage describes the learning loop in three steps. Most lessons have suggested assignments and examples to practice with. You can get your drawings evaluated "by peers and pros", since feedback helps you improve quickly. And you can talk with classmates, asking questions, critiquing and discussing the lessons. The help page claims Proko was "the first online educator to integrate the community right into our learning platform"; moderators look after the community, and members report problems through the Help form. For students wondering how to approach their studies, the help page points to the Draftsmen Podcast, where Marshall Vandruff and Stan Prokopenko discuss being an art student, including a series on recreating art school.

Apps and reference packs

Proko builds its own practice tools. Skelly, for iOS and Android, is an anatomically accurate skeleton you can pull, drag and light as a pocket reference. The Timer, on the web, simulates a life-drawing session with random poses from the reference packs you choose, with the number of images and the duration up to you; Proko says it has thousands of photos from professional models and photographers, including free sample packs. Zolly, for iOS, Android and Windows, is for practicing forms in perspective, from simple shapes to vehicles and buildings. The Value Study Tool breaks a reference photo or master painting into a limited number of values, which the site calls "like the Posterize filter on steroids."

The store also sells reference image packs and eBooks. The Costume Reference Picture Bundle from Grafit Studio, for example, holds 4 costume packs including historical costumes and armor; it is listed at $36 and was on sale for $25.20, and the photos can be downloaded for offline personal use and used in the Timer. The 300 Best Of 2025 Free Sample Pack costs $0 and gathers 300 images from 10 best-selling packs, with unexpiring access (it is marked as mature content).

Buying, refunds and payment

The help page is direct about the model: "Proko doesn't operate on a membership basis. All products are available for individual purchase." It compares this with traditional school, where you pay for the classes you want rather than every class on campus. Bundles bring courses together at a discount: the Beginners Drawing Bundle combines Drawing Basics, The Perspective Course, The Gesture Course, Head Drawing and Construction and Figure Drawing Fundamentals, and there are bundles for figure drawing, digital painting, portraits, figure and anatomy, creature design, comics and traditional portrait painting. Courses and tools also go on time-limited sale, and gift cards can be spent on anything in the store. Individual course prices are not shown on the homepage.

Refunds are available within 30 days of purchase, through the Help form. The help page adds that requests are reviewed for "wardrobing", and Proko reserves the right to refuse a refund if more than 25% of a product's content has been consumed. Live workshops follow a separate workshop refund policy based on the workshop's start date. Proko accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and also offers Afterpay.

Who it suits

Proko suits artists from beginners to working professionals who want depth in the fundamentals: drawing, gesture, perspective, anatomy, portraits and the figure, with a growing list of digital painting, concept art and 3D courses. Buying courses individually suits learners who prefer to own a course and come back to it for years rather than pay a subscription, and the bundles suit those who want a whole track at once. The free lessons, the free sampler and the 30-day refund window make it easy to judge a course before committing. Learners who want regular live teaching can look to the live workshops, while the recorded courses are for those who like to work at their own pace with feedback from the community. Experienced artists can also apply to teach, since Proko invites experienced artists and teachers to partner with it as instructors.