I’ve been wanting to do some life drawing for a long time. There aren’t many local classes near me so I was pleased to see that you can now do “live” life drawing online on Zoom. When I say live, I mean that the sessions are done through zoom and a model poses for you to draw real-time, either nude or clothed from their home. The pandemic has forced a lot of companies that were previously offering in-person “real” life drawing to take their sessions online. This means that you can now do life drawing where ever you are based.
When you’re using Zoom you will appear on video with the other participants in the class. However, you can choose to turn your video off if you want. I’ve tried taking a class with my video on, but find I can concentrate better with it turned off. Plus then at least no-one sees the ridiculous faces you pull when your drawing sucks
Most online Zoom life drawing sessions seem to cost between £5 and £10, though prices vary depending on your circumstances. For instance, some companies offer concessions to key workers like hospital staff or varied pricing depending on what you can afford to pay.
Now I have to admit the first life drawing class I signed up for was dreadful. It was two women who had made a video of themselves clothed standing outside at a distance from each other. But it didn’t completely put me off and I was pleased with the next life drawing class I attended with The Drawing Sesh.
The Drawing Sesh
This is one of my favourite online life drawing groups. It’s run by two artists, a young couple who have recently graduated from Brighton Art School. Their niche is fashion, and so their life drawing sessions are clothed and have a fashion theme. They mainly do the modelling themselves. For the first few classes I took with them they used a green screen and projected images behind themselves. I thought this made them really unique, but they seem to be moving away from this a little more now. The duo are friendly and keep things interesting by sharing fashion themes and ideas each week. I also like the suggestions they make for ways you can try drawing. For example, this week started with a continuous line drawing. Other ideas have been to draw with shapes rather than outlines and to draw just the negative shapes.
This is a friendly class, so if you like a chat in between sketching you can optionally do that too.
Zoom Life Drawing Session Times
Monday 11am – 1pm BST
Thursday 5pm – 7pm BST
Cost and Booking Info
Sessions are £7 each at the time of writing or you can support them on Patreon for a monthly fee and get all the sessions much cheaper.
https://instabio.cc/theDrawingSesh
The Jolly Sketcher
This is another life drawing group that I really like. Funnily enough, it turns out that it’s run by an artist that Sandra knows called Tanja Hassel. They met years ago at some art classes they both attended. These sessions are normally run as a real “in-person” class in London, but have been taken online for the pandemic.
The sessions are well organised and have great models who are either nude or nearly nude who pose on webcam from their own homes. For all the sessions I’d have attended the models have been dancers within means they are fantastic at holding a pose. You can also tell that they are used to modelling as they have a good repertoire of poses.
The sessions start with very short poses from 30 seconds and gradually build up to longer ones, so there is something for everyone. You can optionally choose to share what you draw with the other participants on video if you want.
Zoom Life Drawing Session Times
Monday 5pm – 5:30pm (free session) and 7pm – 9pm BST
Tuesday 7pm – 9pm BST
Thursday 2pm – 4pm BST
Fri 10am – 10:30am BST
Sunday 11am – 1pm BST
Cost and Booking Info
Sessions cost from £5+ (pay what you can afford) for the 2 hour sessions https://bookwhen.com/thejollysketcher
Life Drawing Plus
I have only attended this online life drawing session once, but I enjoyed it. The class I attended had a Tarantino theme and so the model was dressed and posed to reflect his films Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction. This also included the model sitting on and standing near a motorbike. It made the session more interesting. They also have nude model drawing sessions.
Zoom Life Drawing Session Times
Tuesday 7.30pm – 9.30pm BST
Cost and Booking Info
Sessions cost £6
Booking is via their link on instagram https://instagram.com/life_drawing_plus
Drawing Caberet Couture
Instagram @drawingcabaretcouture
“Haute couture and cabaret themed online drawing classes”. Now, this has to be one of the most unusual life drawing sessions I’ve tried so far. The model was wearing some very weird stuff with a kinky mask-like thing which reminded me of Hannibal Lecter. The model was filmed beautifully, it looked like it was a fashion shoot the way it was directed.
The only thing that I found a bit tricky was that I struggled to hear what duration each pose was for and when the pose was starting. However, this may have been because they filmed this session outside and the instructor wasn’t mic’d up. I have only tried one session so far so I can’t comment what it’s usually like. It’s well worth trying for the experience and wackiness.
Zoom Life Drawing Session Times
Thursday 11am – 1pm and 7pm – 9pm BST
Cost and Booking Info
Sessions cost from £8.14, but if you think you are likely to attend more than one session a month, it’s much cheaper to support them on Patreon. https://instabio.cc/20426qGJEA7
Other Online Life Drawing Classes
I haven’t tried these classes, but check them out as they might have classes to suit you.
- @Reconfigure_Lifedrawing
- @adriandutton_life_drawing
- @lifedrawingmanchester
- @thamesmeadlifedrawing
- @camberwell_life_drawing
- @LondonDrawing
Free Online Life Drawing Resources
If you are looking for free life drawing reference (not live) check out this blog post.
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Have you tried Love Life Drawing? It’s a mother and son team based in Brighton I think, he’s been doing free live YouTube sessions during lockdown and is a real sweetheart. There is another live one tomorrow Sat at 3pm
https://www.lovelifedrawing.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kenzoandmayko/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9o111IH1VD8Kxz0YLn8_A
No I haven’t, thanks for sharing Sandra.
I’m looking for a life modelling work via zoom
I’m interested in the zoom life drawing courses. I live in the United States. Are these classes active and how can I participate. I’m an animator and need to get more live models to draw.
Hi, yes you can take part now. If you click on the blue links in the post they will take you to the Instagram pages which will have info on booking. Also if you go to Meetup you will see more Lifedrawing groups in the USA. Here’s one in Seattle that’s doing online life drawing – https://www.meetup.com/SeattleFigureDrawing