If you spend any time creating surface pattern designs, you’ve heard of the two big courses on the market, Leverage Your Art by Stacie Bloomfield and Immersion by Bonnie Christine. However, it can be confusing to figure out which course to take, if you need to take them both, and what the differences are. After I wrote my review of Leverage Your Art, the number one question I’ve received is how it differs from Immersion. Since I receive the question so often, I’ve decided to write out a comparison of both courses.
It should be noted that I took Leverage in 2022 and Immersion in 2024. However, I’m an affiliate for Stacie, so I get details and updates for the class. So, let’s dive into how these classes compare. (Sidenote: If you want an in-depth review of either of these classes, check out my individual reviews of Leverage and Immersion).
LEVERAGE YOUR ART
If I had to sum up Leverage in one sentence, I’d say, “Leverage Your Art teaches you how to run a successful surface design business.” I noticed recently that Stacie updated her branding for the course with the tagline, “The ultimate art business course.” I concur.
This course barely dips its toes into the waters of design, but lots of time is spent on setting up tracking for inventory, copyright, pitching, and licensing. Stacie details how to put your designs on products and how to set up your financials to sustain you right out of the gate. Extensive time is given to pitching and branding yourself as an artist.
Modules
The course offers the following curriculum:
Your Style, Your Story
Building your Brand
5 Ways to Share Your Work
Licensing Foundations & Workflows
Leverage Your Art on Products
Leverage Your Art with Multiple Revenue Streams
Course content is dripped out and includes self-paced videos, recorded expert interviews, workbooks, industry resource lists, design briefs/assignments, templates, live calls with Stacie and her team, and a licensing rate calculator.
Schedule
Leverage runs for eight weeks. Stacie builds two “implementation” weeks into her schedule. These weeks have no content released and you can use them to catch up on any lessons or class assignments you haven’t completed yet.
Collateral
The Leverage workbook is thorough and well-designed. Each module has its own workbook. There are places for you to take notes, brainstorm, and dream. When I took Leverage, all of the collateral was digital, so I printed it out and put it in a binder. Two years later, I’m still referring to the Leverage materials.
It should be noted that Stacie is now offering a mailed package with a spiral-bound workbook and lots of other branded goodies, such as an art journey road map, weekly action envelopes, and a pencil. So, that’s a massive upgrade in my book. However, only the first 350 students get the box.
Support
Leverage comes with a student community hosted on Mighty Networks that is open to all students as they progress through the course. A few weeks after the course closes, you are moved into an Alumni community with ongoing support.
Additionally, the technical support I received during the class was highly responsive and thorough in answering my questions.
Cost
Leverage costs $1,997.
IMMERSION
If I had to sum up Immersion in one sentence, I’d say, “Immersion teaches you how to use Adobe Illustrator to design patterns for products.” Bonnie’s sales page says, “Master the skills to create artwork for surfaces.”
This course skims the surface of pitching and art entrepreneurship but gives you a deep dive into using Adobe Illustrator to design full- and half-drop patterns.
Modules
The course offers the following curriculum:
Foundations
Gathering Inspiration
Illustrator Essentials
Illustrator Advanced
Pattern Mastery
Designing in Collections
Income from Your Art
Creative Entrepreneurship
Immersion content is dripped out and includes self-paced videos, recorded expert interviews, workbooks, industry resource lists, templates, and live calls with Bonnie and her team.
Schedule
Immersion runs for eight weeks with two “implementation” weeks built into the schedule. These weeks have no content released; you can use them to catch up on any lessons or class assignments you haven’t completed yet.
Collateral
As I said in my review, Immersion offers the best collateral of any course I’ve taken so far. The spiral-bound workbook, notebook, stickers, and other goodies are high-quality, and I’m still going through the workbook as I implement everything I’ve learned. Additionally, there are digital versions of everything offered in her physical workbook.
Support
Immersion comes with an in-app community; I believe she’s hosted on Kajabi. There doesn’t appear to be an end to the community; I’ve not received a notice that it’s been archived or moved into any alumni function. When I took the class, technical support lagged and didn’t answer all my questions.
Cost
Immersion costs $1,997.
Side by Side Comparison
Class | Leverage Your Art | Immersion |
Focus | Focus on art entrepreneurship and building a sustainable art business. | Focus on pattern design using illustrator |
Cost | $1,997 | $1,997 |
Schedule | 8-weeks, with two implementation weeks | 8-weeks, with two implementation weeks |
Curriculum | 1. Your Style, Your Story 2. Building your Brand 3. 5 Ways to Share Your Work 4. Licensing Foundations & Workflows 5. Leverage Your Art on Products 6. Leverage Your Art with Multiple Revenue Streams | 1. Foundations 2. Gathering Inspiration 3. Illustrator Essentials 4. Illustrator Advanced 5. Pattern Mastery 6. Designing in Collections 7. Income from Your Art 8. Creative Entrepreneurship |
Release | Dripped content Self-paced videos Recorded expert interviews, Workbooks Industry resource lists, Design briefs/assignments Templates Live calls with Stacie and her team Licensing Rate Calculator | Dripped content Self-paced videos Recorded expert interviews Workbooks Industry resource lists Templates Live calls with Bonnie and her team |
Collateral | Digital collateral for all students, physical “goodie box” for the first 350 students | Digital collateral for all students, physical “goodie box” for all students |
Support | Ongoing support | Ongoing support |
Who it's for | Artists who already understand how to create patterns and illustrations and want to learn how to build a sustainable art business selling and licensing their work. | Beginners who want to learn the ins and outs of using Illustrator for pattern design while getting an overview of how they might also make money from those designs. |
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There you have it. Hopefully, this will help you in your decision-making. I also want to be clear that I highly recommend both classes, but I believe they have distinctly different audiences.
Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links, for which I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase.
Janet “Toni” Federico, PMP, MBA, MFA, is an illustrator, surface designer, writer, and curriculum designer from Washington, DC, now based in the Midwest. Toni helps online course creators optimize their content to ensure students learn what is being taught. Toni’s courses have been used by the State of Texas, major insurance companies, and in her own work as a teaching artist.
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