Hi, Hadis here,
Here are 15 skills that I think is great to learn, especially we, young women and all women. I don’t mean for you to learn them all at once simultaneously. No, No, I have gathered them and I explain the benefit of each of them, some for therapeutic experience, some for better moments for family, some for marketing and having an income.
I hereby also introduce a class to start, at the end of each section, but the good point is that I have chosen them from a subscription based platform (Skillshare), so no need to choose class and pay for one, two or even 15 classes!!! no just a platform subscription with 14days free trial and you can watch other classes. You can also start learning from video platforms for free too.
- Watercolor
- Journaling
- Surface Pattern Design + AI + Print on Demand Shop
- 3D Design and Animation
- Notebook and Bookbinding and Mixed Media
- Photography & Videography
- Goal Setting & Productivity
- Chrochet & Craft
- Gift Art, Air Dry Clay and Sculpting
- Podcasting and Video Podcasting
- Food and Pastry Decoration
- Digital Illustration
- Fashion Design & Illustration
- Sewing and Stitching Art
- Nail Art and Styling
Watercolor
My first suggestion is watercolor painting, watercolor painting has a difference to other medium, your mind should predict the steps before, and then act, if you want a place to be white, you should not touch it at all, you start thinking by layers, by orders, I think that is completely a therapeutic game of chess, also no need to play hard, there can be lots of ideas that can be painted so beginner friendly.
➡️Anna Krupa, Paint strawberrys in two ways with watercolor paints and crayons, Start this class free→
Journaling
Journaling is another skill , if you think journaling only means day journaling! no not at all. Journaling on my opinion is a wide range, it can include media journaling, if you are a mother, your children growth journaling, it can be day journaling too. There are many guided classes to practice journaling, if you want to start with journaling the music you listen to, or movies you watch or tv series you watch, here is a class I recommend to start with.
➡️Abbey Sy, Media Journaling: Track Your Favorite Films, Books & Shows,Start this class free→
Surface Pattern Design + AI + Print on Demand Shop
I have seen many women and young women love surface pattern design. I think this art is a multi-diciplinary one, you both practice design and engineering. Also you feed your art muse while you become an entrepreneur if you start a print on demand shop on websites like Redbubble, Teespring and so on.
Besides that, if you use AI for doing the process of retouching and putting together faster, that would be learning another skill, Artificial Intelligence.
If you want to start as a beginner and learn all the following skills I told, this class is a good one to start with:
➡️Hadis, Start a Print-on-Demand Shop with Surface Pattern Design (Handmade + AI), Start this class free→
3D Design and Animation
It was around 2016, I attended a free exhibition and conference in Tehran University that was about jewelry design. I walked around the salon. There were poster of the design: the philosophy of each artist behind that design, processes stages, and final design, earring, necklace, other. Some had references to modern life and some had references to heritage of ancesstors. Then we met the speaker in the salon, her name was Banafshe Hemmati. She started speaking to use and then we sat on the chairs on the corner of the hall. She told she had studied industrial design then one day she felt she wanted to have jewelries showing her own personality. She started to work on this, she participated Red dot prize. She now has a brand that is about lux jewelries inspired by geometrical Iranian architecture. She talked to us about opportunities, about the path, about niche of designing for kids. I found that path very inspiring. She said, “jewelry design (not making) needs precision so women might have more patience”. You as a woman know the taste of market better, so I feel that is a good way to make a brand or be independent and supporting.
Here is a class I recommend for starting jewlery design.. when you design, you print in with 3D printers then give it to jewlery makers and they make it based on order of client (gold, silver, etc)
➡️Gesa Pickbrenner, Blender In-Depth: Jewelry Design Foundations in 3D,Start this class free→
Notebook and Bookbinding and Mixed Media
Lets go for creating pocket notebooks, notebooks changed my life, I had 3 of them in my bag, one for filmmaking ideas, one for to do list, and one for paper writing.. you can have your own, then I found creating my own ones is fun.. I can recharge them will papers and create them based on color, size, pattern I want. Also creating them is so uniqie and economic.
This teacher is a professional nootbook and bookbinder, 30 years! I always love to hear stories of master in such a focused and niche skills
➡️Ido Agassi, Make a Pocket Journal: A Simple Bookbinding Project,Start this class free→
Photography & Videography
In 2017, I had discovered Youtube, I watched so many videos, in fact Youtube helped my listening in English a lot. I watched photographers channel, the process, the philosophy, the how to. I followed many genres, feminine photography, food photography, creative photography, street photography, … then one of the food photographers, The bite shot, became inspiration of me, I thought I want to start too and food photography is a very good start, so i started my own youtube channel and took photos ..
There are many classes to start photography, but food photography is 3 skills, life documentation, career (as commission or blogging) and sharing joy of life , and videography is also a need for todays life that most platforms are video based
Here is a class in food videography to start with:
➡️Rose Nene, iPhone Food Videography: Make Food Look Delicious on Video, Start this class free→
Goal Setting & Productivity
Goal setting, it is the vital skill, there are many types of goal setting, and I learned that in different aspects, like behavioral goal setting. but be careful, goal setting without action is not goal setting
😊
➡️Mirka Hokkanen, Goal Setting & Time Management: Crafting a Visual Calendar for Maximum Productivity, Start this class free→
The reason I have chosen all classes from one platform is I found it for myself and you very focused approach to just join one platform. No need to buy the separately, just one time subscription ( with 14 days free trial) and learning different skills at our own pace, priorities and taste.
Crochet & Craft
Crochet has large potential as a hobby, as being self independant in creating beach wearing or doll gifts in amigurami style and table ware, also it can turn into a small business.
This class is fun to start:
➡️Emilie Bolduc, The Amigurumis Crochet Masterclass: From Total Beginner to Expert, Start this class free→
Gift Art, Air Dry Clay and Sculpting
There is a material called air-dry clay.. also there are shells. I found There is a huge potential in learning working with air-dry clay to make many different gift and arts, or sculpture. I my self like jewelry dishes. Or you can learn to directly decorate and paint stuffs like shells. Like this class
➡️Christina MacArthur, DIY Shell Ring Dish, Start this class free→
Podcasting and Video Podcasting
Yes, when I make a list I consider skills of modern life and the creator economy era too. Video podcasting, podcasting, in general editing and social media skills. There are many teachers who explain it simple, boost your self confidence in it by tiny project. May be 3 years later you have a popular channel in the topic you like.
➡️Nicaila Matthews Okome, THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO VIDEO PODCASTING, Start this class free→
Food and Pastry Decoration
Decorating cake is a vital skill, many know how to cook, but imagine if you know how to fill the between layers, and how to add decoration like frosting , or like Lambeth cake (vitorian style), it is really a time saver, economic skill, also I myself feel so proud when guest make compliment of my decoration.
➡️Rossana Aloi, Learn Vintage Victorian Piping in This Cake Decorating Class,Start this class free→
Digital Illustration
Illustration is an art that engage with stories, with dream and stories. You can learn it either with physical medium like watercolor, guache, etc or you can do it digital, like photoshop, illustrator or now with Procreate and pen, it needs a budget at first but you are free to buy materials also it is travel friendly and need less space. I love both of them, like typing and hand lettering both are cool.
➡️Brooke Glaser, Procreate for Beginners: Learn Illustration on the iPad in 4 Projects, Start this class free→
Fashion Design & Illustration
If you want to be niche in illustration, you can choose fashion illustration, what I have seen it branches can be either illustration for brands or no fashion illustration as surface pattern design. There might be other branches I have not noticed, you tell me.
➡️Danielle Meder, Fashion Illustration: Digital Drawing with Attitude,Start this class free→
Sewing and Stitching Art
Knowing about stitching (Beginner and advanced), styling, and things that can help you in urgent occations is a must.
➡️Bernadette Banner, Hand Sewing Basics: Work Wonders with Fabric, Needle & Thread, Start this class free→
Nail Art and Styling
Going to a nail bar is fun and gives good feeling, but knowing how to decorate your nail is also a self confident booster and a help in urgent situations like when you have no time to prepare for a suddenly announced wedding. There are many nail art and other classes, this one is a starter:
➡️Imarni Nails, Nail Art: Colorful, Creative Designs to Paint and Share, Start this class free→
| Skill | Beginner? | Start Today? |
|---|---|---|
| Watercolor | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ |
| Photography | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ |
| Crochet | ⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ |
| Pottery | ⭐⭐ | Later |
| Digital Illustration | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ✅ |
Learn at Your Own Pace
One of the best things about Skillshare is that you don’t need to purchase every class separately.
With one membership, you can explore thousands of creative classes—from watercolor and photography to illustration, sewing, pottery, animation, design, and much more.
That means you can try different hobbies until you discover the ones you truly enjoy.
➡️ Start exploring Skillshare