Life drawing for beginners – 8 weeks

About this course

This 8-week Life Drawing for Beginners course is perfect for anyone starting from scratch or looking to refresh their skills. Led by accomplished visual artist Rachel Labovitch, this course is designed to build your confidence and give you the skills to draw from life.

Each week builds on the last, helping you develop a solid foundation in life drawing. Our inspiring Twickenham studio provides a creative, professional and relaxed environment to foster focus and creativity.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a personalised learning plan and a clear grasp of life drawing fundamentals, empowering you to continue your drawing journey confidently.

Rachel’s hands-on approach ensures personalised feedback and guidance every session. Join a group of like-minded people, share ideas and grow in a supportive community.

What you will learn:

Lesson One - More on Proportions

This first week we will recap our learning from the taster sessions, and will be establishing basic measurements of the figure that will help you achieve correct proportions.

We will look at

• Head widths and heights

• Overall widths and lengths of the body including a breakdown of arms and leg lengths

• Hands and feet in proportion to the body

Lesson Two - Proportions

This week will be all about getting proportions correct, and breaking down the figure even more into shapes and areas.

We will achieve well proportioned drawings by

● breaking down the figure into smaller parts

● using our pencils to measure heights

● learning how to use verticals to align different parts of the body

Lesson Three - Foreshortening

Foreshortening is a technique of making something appear to recede into space, for example an outstretched arm.

We will learn simple ways of effectively drawing foreshortened limbs by

● exploring distances using measuring techniques

● applying alignment techniques

● observing and applying forshortening in the head

Lesson Four - Hands and Feet

Hands and feet tend to be something people avoid drawing, in this session we will be looking at simple ways to depict them

The session will use a method designed to make drawing hands and feet straightforward by

● showing a break down of stages of drawing hands and feet

● examining the skeleton of hands and feet

● using simple quick drawings to capture the gesture of hands and feet

Lesson Five - Shape and Form

We will be looking at how to capture a sense of movement in the body. This session helps us to understand further what is happening underneath the skin by

● looking at muscle mass and use

● drawing big shapes within the body that encapsulate those muscles

● working from the inside to the outside of the body.

Lesson Six - Balancing line and shade

Now we are more familiar with drawing from the model, we will look at gesture drawing, how to create seemingly effortlessly fluid, light drawings.

This session will explore gestural drawings by

● exploring the qualities of charcoal as a gestural medium

● creating quicker and looser charcoal drawings

● using charcoal on its side to create areas of tone

Lesson Seven - Establishing Tone

We will explore different ways of rendering tone on the model, seeing how much light there is on their figure.

This session will look at lighting of the figure, and expanding on the previous session of drawing shapes, we will

● work from general to specific

● look at comparative tone on the body

● establish mid, light and dark tones on the body

Lesson Eight - Long Pose

This is a free session with a long pose to enable you to put into practice all the different ideas we have explored. The session will end with a personalised learning plan for everyone, with suggestions for next steps.

About the instructor:

Rachel Labovitch is a highly accomplished visual artist whose practice is deeply rooted in the art of drawing. With an MA in Drawing, Rachel’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, reflecting her mastery of the medium. For over 20 years, she has balanced her studio practice with a passion for teaching, developing innovative drawing-based programs for schools, outreach organizations, and gallery spaces. Her academic contributions include lecturing at prestigious institutions such as the University of the Arts London and Kingston University.

Rachel’s career highlights include receiving an Arts Council England Grant for a residency at Forty Hall in 2010, being shortlisted for the Ruskin Drawing Prize in 2012, and winning second prize in the Diana Armfield Drawing competition in 2019. Her solo exhibitions, such as "Skyward" at The Garden Museum in London, have captivated audiences, showcasing her ability to capture the natural world with a unique perspective.

Currently based in London, Rachel continues to teach painting classes in Richmond and lead drawing workshops at Orleans House Gallery pursuing her commitment to art education as well as continuing her own artistic journey with an ever-evolving body of work.