Evening Life Drawing | Royal Drawing School | 9 Session Pass

Wherever you are, connect with our expert tutors through the Digital Studio — live-streamed from our studios for an in-studio feel online. Using dynamic lighting, multiple camera angles, and creative set-ups, these sessions offer a unique approach to observational drawing that’s only possible in a digital format.

With no need to commit to a full course, you can drop in to our two-hour evening sessions to support your practice, explore new ideas, or simply unwind. These classes focus on the expressive potential of the life room, with tutors guiding you through varied exercises and approaches.

This session pass gives you access to all remaining Evening Life Drawing sessions in the Autumn Term, at a 25% discount. Sessions included in this pass:

Monday 15 September, 18.30 - 20.30 - Tone and the Illusion of Light

This drawing session, led by tutor Marcus Cornish, explores how tone — meaning light and shade — shapes what we see and feel in art. Tone refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a surface, playing a vital role in how we perceive form, depth, atmosphere, and emotion. By understanding tone, artists can create the illusion of three-dimensional space, suggest light sources, and convey mood or drama in an image.

We will examine tone from two perspectives: technically, as a way to observe, structure, and build the illusion of light when drawing a subject; and subjectively, as a powerful tool for expression, contributing to the emotional and narrative content of drawing, painting, and sculpture.

Monday 22 September, 18.30 - 20.30 - Plant Time: Slow Drawing

This drawing session will offer an opportunity to engage closely with nature. Looking through the lenses of artists, scientists, architects and other thinkers, you might be drawing from the ephemeral world of flowers, paying attention to the colour of mosses and pressed plants, or reflecting on the deep layers of time in fossils and minerals. You will learn how slow looking can influence your work and discover how objects in nature can be sources of inspiration.

Monday 29 September, 18.30 - 20.30 - Life Drawing in Colour

In this session led by tutor David Gardner, we will explore the creative possibilities of artificial lighting and how it can transform our approach to the human form.From Caravaggio’s dramatic chiaroscuro to Lucas Samaras’ staged photographs and Euan Uglow’s night-time paintings, we’ll consider how artists have used lighting in bold and inventive ways to illuminate and reimagine the figure.

Working with coloured spotlights and an elaborate set, we’ll experiment with contrasting tones and observe how they affect the body, shifting mood, depth and perspective.

Monday 6 October, 18.30 - 20.30 - The Contemporary Portrait

In this drawing session, we will take inspiration from modern and contemporary ink and watercolour portrait artists including Edvard Munch, Marlene Dumas, Lucian Freud and Celia Paul.

Drawing from a model, tutor Rachel Mercer will introduce approaches to working with wet media, encouraging participants to embrace its unpredictability. Through brushwork, bleeding techniques and close observation, we’ll explore how to imbue portraits with energy and life while also attending to the delicacy and finer details of the face.

Monday 13 October, 18.30 - 20.30 - Rhythm and Colour: Drawing a Party

In this life drawing session, students will capture the movement, rhythm and energy of the party scene. Working with coloured paper, varied materials and a live model, you will explore dynamic compositions inspired by dance, atmosphere and interaction.

Taking inspiration from artists including Toulouse-Lautrec, Denzel Forrester, Doron Langberg, Christina Kimeze and Auguste Rodin, this class invites you to experiment with colour, rhythm and repetition. Expect a expressive set-up, with technology used to create repeated figures and an elaborate scene to draw from.

Guided by tutor Katy Papineau, students will explore how to draw movement in space, using expressive mark-making and tonal contrast to capture fleeting gestures and vivid environments.

Monday 20 October, 18.30 - 20.30 - The Essence of the Figure

In this drawing session led by tutor Dilip Sur, students will explore drawing as a practice of inquiry, exploration and discovery — a way to encounter a deeper sense of self through direct, energetic engagement. The session invites focus and courage as students respond quickly to a range of fast and dynamic poses designed to loosen the hand and train the eye to grasp the essence of the figure. Alongside these shorter poses, there will also be opportunities for longer studies, allowing for a balance of observation and personal interpretation through Dilip’s expert guidance.

Monday 27 October, 18.30 - 20.30 - Drawing a Ghost Story

This special life drawing session, led by tutor Fraser Scarfe, will be inspired by a classic ghost story. Expect a spine-tingling atmosphere drawn from tales of the uncanny, the eerie, and the supernatural — a world of shadows, suspense and strange encounters.

Working with a live model, we will draw scenes shaped by the story’s mood and imagery, enhanced by dramatic lighting, an atmospheric set, soundscape and varied camera angles. The session will feature a range of dynamic poses and tonal drawing exercises, with guidance on building tension and drama through composition, gesture and contrast.

Monday 3 November, 18.30 - 20.30 - Experimental Drawing

This drawing session, led by Hira Gedikoglu, will focus on visual problem-solving through drawing, destroying and re-drawing. This session will guide students through a series of exercises that will be a toolkit for expanding the parameters of drawing, reinvigorating seemingly dead ends and exploring more experimental avenues of working. All levels welcome.

Monday 10 November, 18.30 - 20.30 - Ink and collage

In this drawing session, students will learn how to create a painterly composition of the figure with ink and collage. Tutor Elizabeth McCarten will introduce expressive approaches to using ink and watercolour, exploring a range of mark-making to create unique, primed paper. These primed papers will be used to build dynamic figure collages, exploring composition and colour in new, creative ways. We will push beyond drawing from observation into a more imaginative realm, exploring the tension that lies between figurative and abstract work. All levels welcome.

Further details

• The Royal Drawing School does not use nude models online. Models in this series will be semi clothed
• All students will need a device that supports the latest version of Zoom
• Chat support available during the session
• These sessions are designed so that students can engage with whatever materials they have to hand. Each session has a suggested material list that will allow you to get the most out of the classes.

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