Life Drawing Course for Beginners

Learn life drawing with our drawing short courses in Sydney!

Life drawing is a great way to improve your drawing skills. It trains you to ‘see’ and react quickly to what’s in front of you, but there is also room for you to express your personal view of the subject. In this course, you will practice drawing the nude from life in a series of quick and long poses that allow you to record quickly and efficiently what you see and longer poses that allow you to really study the subject.  

You will use a range of media and techniques to explore line, form, and expression. In this series of classes, we will also draw the nude in space and set up props and change the lighting to create different moods and scenes. This way we will add to your understanding of composition, tone, and the study of light and dark.

You will also look at some artists who work with the human form and engage with it creatively using them as inspiration for your work. You will receive teaching and support from a practising artist, work with a professional life model and gain confidence in your own drawing abilities.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this life drawing course, you should have:

• An understanding of the proportions of the figure
• Skills in how to measure the proportion of the figure
• Experimented with a variety of approaches to the human form
• Developed expression through a variety of media and techniques.
• Experimented with drawing the model in space researching other artists for inspiration.n

Course content

What will be covered in this life drawing course?

• Basic principles of drawing from life
• Structure and form
• Perspective in the figure
• Use of tone to create volume
• Expression and experimentation with media and techniques
• The figure in space

Intended audience

Who is this life drawing course for?

This life drawing course is designed for all levels but some drawing experience would be an advantage.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Class materials

What to bring to class

Please purchase and bring to each class:

• A3 size cartridge paper pad, minimum 50 sheets 
• 5 individual sheets of cartridge paper A2 10 sheets
• Willow charcoal sticks: medium box   
• Drawing pencils: 2B and 4B Staedtler
• White chalk pastel, generals compressed charcoal white 
• White eraser Pentel 
• Drawing ink-black 36ml
• Round soft watercolour brush size 12 (blue handle). If you have one already bring it whatever size it is.
• A couple of sheets of Prisma favini Art Spectrum #13 Ghiaccio light grey. 220gsm

If you buy it all from Art on King you will get a 10% discount. Just let them know you are a student at the Sydney Community College. 

• If you cannot find all these don’t worry, we can work it out when you get to class, you can use printed newspaper to draw on too. If you have anything similar bring it to class and we can see what you have already.

Easels will be supplied.

Additional information

Please note the following:

• You must be over 18 to attend this course
• Closed-in shoes required
• Please wear old clothes
• Long hair should be tied back.