23 inspirational and informative YouTube channels for content creators

I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that a large portion of us spend at least some time on YouTube. Whether it’s for research, learning something new, or just killing a few minutes during some downtime, it’s always enjoyable to see what’s newly posted, or just even put something on in the background. And I’m also fairly certain that I’m not the only one who ends up spending more and more time watching channels and content related to working on my own projects.

I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite channels geared toward content creators. The list is broken down into categories, such as videography, motion graphics, and more. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but ist a haul from my subscriptions on YouTube, and channels that I enjoy watching and learning from, or even just getting inspiration from.

General/miscellaneous YouTube channels

Chase Jarvis

We’ll kick this list off with one of my favorite photographers and personalities, Chase Jarvis. Chase is a photographer from Seattle, and along the way through his photography career, he became a more wide-ranged entrepreneur, doing speaking gigs, creating the Best Camera app, and eventually created the massively successful Creative Live education ecosystem.

Even though he’s primarily a photographer, I can’t recommend him to everyone enough. Chase posts tips, hacks, and inspiration videos and blog posts for all creators, regardless of your avenue of outlet.

Creative Live

The brainchild of the aforementioned Chase Jarvis, Creative Live is a groundbreaking education ecosystem that offers both free and paid classes from experts in a wide range of fields. From photography to videography to audio engineering, to growing your business and organizing your life, there’s classes for everyone.

The classes stream online, and these classes are free to everyone. And often times they are multi-day, huge undertakings. If you want to purchase the classes, then they are available for purchase after the fact. The classes are always well-produced, and usually have a small live audience for questions, demonstrations, and also take questions from the online audience. Creative Live is definitely a great resource, if you’re able to catch the live streaming classes or find one particular class that you value enough to purchase.

Engineered Truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ0UdBf7m-g

This is a new channel to my subscription list, but it’s definitely an interesting one. I’ve included Engineered Truth because I’ve never seen another channel like it, and I think it can be pretty inspirational and/or informational to creators. Or, well, anyone.

Basically, the channel talks about careers. Matt ended up graduating with a mechanical engineering degree and started working a job in that field. He got fed up with that and started making YouTube videos about that dissatisfaction, and then grew into a general realistic career resource.

Matt conducts interviews with people who have various interesting jobs, or who have left traditional jobs for a very different career, and aims to provide real-world information to help people find a career that they love (or at least like more than the one they currently have).

THiNK Media TV

Another newer channel that I’ve been following, Sean’s THiNK Media TV is geared toward mostly YouTube creators, focusing on gear, tips, techniques, and inspiration to help further your own channels.

If you’re looking at starting a YouTube channel, or want to make yours better, give this channel a look for info on cameras, lighting, software and process among other helpful tips.

B&H Photo

While not necessarily a channel most people would subscribe to, B&H is a great resource for information on hardware and techniques across the board. They sell gear for photography, videography, pro audio, and more. If you’re looking at new gear, or just like to stay up to date, look no further.

Linus Tech Tips

I’ll be honest, Linus Tech Tips is probably not necessarily a channel that a majority of creators follow. But I think that may be a mistake, as LTT covers a wide range of topics, albeit mostly PC-based. But they have been covering more and more video and audio gear, as well as consumer electronics. And it’s not a bad idea to gather some knowledge on PC hardware/software in general.

And on top of all those, a good amount of the channel content involves behind the scenes videos, or exercises in conceptual craziness, like building a server with a petabyte of storage (a petabyte is 1024 terabytes, by the way). I definitely believe that LTT is a channel not to be missed due to the great and entertaining information presented, even if you decide to skip over some of the more nerdy and technical videos.

Videography and Cinematography

Film Riot

Film Riot has been around for a while, and despite being geared towards filmmaking it’s a great resource for any sort of video production. Ryan and crew go over everything from hardware and gear to the actual tips and techniques behind your favorite films.

On top of being very informative, the channel is genuinely entertaining. Humor is a huge part in the channel’s brand and attitude, making the episodes easily digestable even when getting into more technical aspects of video production.

Philip Bloom

If you’ve ever looked into researching a camera for video, you’ve probably run into a review from Philip Bloom. The dude is known for his very thorough and always gorgeous reviews and short films, and never disappoints. Even if you’re not looking for camera reviews and opinions, his work is inspiring.

The Slanted Lens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHfBdYVmg

This channel started as a photography tutorial and review site, but has always embraced DSLR video along the way. Now, The Slanted Lens has a wide gamut of material for both photo and video audiences, and Jay P. Morgan makes the experience fun and interesting in each video.

wolfcrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8noaA-NzafQ

Wolfcrow is all about cinematography. Workflow, editing, education, and visual storytelling is what you’ll find on this channel. Walking through analyses of established cinematographers and their styles, you can always find plenty of inspiration for your own work.

DSLR Video Shooter

Caleb Pike’s channel, DSLR Video Shooter, covers exactly what it sounds like. Video gear reviews are a major part of the content here, and there’s an emphasis on affordable and alternative gear to some of the more traditional costly equipment out there. I can’t recommend his channel enough for anyone who’s interested in DSLR video production.

DSLR Guide

Another channel aimed at video production with DSLRs, there’s more of an emphasis here on filmmaking and general cinematography, however there’s plenty of gear talk along the way.

Andyax

“Movie making videos by a Norwegian and his friends” is the tagline for Anders Øvergaard’s channel, Andyax. Here you will find a bunch of great gear reviews, as well as some very entertaining shorts and other videos. And Norway. So, so much Norway.

Motion Graphics

ECAbrams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZY7Yks6hI

Evan Abrams has been one of my very favorite tutorial channels, as he’s able to get the viewer through some oftentimes very dry content without the boredom usually involved. Dude is hilarious, and brings a ton of levity to normally humorless content. If you want to learn After Effects, this should be one of your first stops after the Video Copilot After Effects 101 series.

Video Copilot

Almost anyone who has attempted to learn After Effects has watched videos from Andrew Kramer’s Video Copilot tutorial series. And that’s with good reason, as Andrew is an excellet artist and educator, as well as having a great sense of humor, making the videos a blast to get through.

Video Copilot has also moved into the development realm, creating some of the leading plugins for After Effects and VFX community such as Element3D, 3D packs for video production, and Andrew himself works in the industry, including projects such as Star Trek, Super 8, Fringe, & Almost Human.

motionsquared

Motionsquared’s content focuses primarily on tutorials for After Effects, Element3D, and Cinema 4D. There’s a lot of lessons on different types of projects, and can definitely help further along your skills in motion graphics.

Mt. Mograph

Matt Jylkka started Mt. Mograph because he believes that knowledge should be free and available to everyone. Through the channel, he provides great educational content for After Effects, Cinema 4D, and others, covering a wide range of topics.

Recently they have been developing and selling tools to assist mograph/VFX artists, and also offer tutorials on these tools.

VinhSon Nguyen

VinhSon offers great tutorials on After Effects, Cinema 4D, motion graphics and video production alongside a set of free tools to aid artists in their process. There are a lot of very interesting guides available, going outside of what you would normally find in your average tutorial resource.

YouTube

Video Influencers

Video Influencers is a collaboration between THiNK Media TV’s Sean Cannell and BenjaminTV’s Benji Travis. This channel focuses on things that directly impact YouTubers, including interviewers with other YouTubers, tutorials, workflow guides and inspiration, and hardware reviews. Some of the content is definitely a bit redundant if you watch THiNK Media TV, but the interviews are great.

Video Creators

Tim Schmoyer’s Video Creators was started after successfully running a family channel for many years, allowing for a platform from which he can help other YouTubers with their channel, marketing, and content production.

Video Creators puts out constant content covering almost every aspect of being a creator on YouTube and is always a great resource.

YouTube Creator Academy

Creator Academy is an official YouTube channel, offering tips, guides, and interviews for creators to learn and make better content. From the basics and beginner guides to more advanced topics on growing income and more, the Creator Academy channel is a great resource.

YouTube Creators

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBeD2PcU40s

Creators is a more general channel, being the official YouTube Creators outlet. News, updates, spotlights on rising creators, and more are found here. A worthwhile subscription for inspiration or just staying up to date on the YouTube platform itself.

Derral Eves

You may have seen Derral’s videos around online if you’re looking at YouTube news, algorithm updates, or for general channel growth help. Derral has a great deal of knowledge about the YouTube platform and is a great resource for any creator looking for ideas on growing their channel. There’s a ton of content on his channel, and he delivers it with a great sense of humor.

Conclusion

So, that’s a lot of content to digest, right? Granted, I know that not all creators are interested in mograph/VFX and would gladly outsource that. But there’s something in this list for every content creator, so take a look and find some inspiration for yourself, and maybe some education as well.

Are there any creator-oriented YouTube channels that you would like to suggest? Leave it in the comments below, and let’s share among the community, I want to see where you like to get your news, tips, and inspiration from!