A wonderful opportunity for people with all levels of experience to explore the skills of outdoor sketching and urban drawing. Over the five days, students will draw on location at various sites near the Art Academy. Students will tackle the architecture of the Southbank, explore busy Borough Market, sketch the serene view across to St Paul's and much more. Each class will begin with a brief introduction to the day’s subject, showing examples of the work of artists who have depicted similar scenes to the ones which the students will experience. Each day the tutor will introduce a new material or drawing technique for the students to explore over the day, in their sketchbooks or on larger sheets of paper.  

A fun and intensive week of life and portrait painting appropriate for advanced skill level. By the end of the masterclass, you will have developed your existing skills and knowledge of structure, tone, colour, composition under the guidance of an experienced practicing artist. The emphasis will be on learning practical skills as well as bringing out your intuitive ability. The course will cover planning a painting and executing two types of portrait: head and shoulders and a full figure composition.  

This is a well structured course with an emphasis on learning to understand the construction of the head and its features and using these skills to better create more intense, expressive portraits. Working with oil paints students will develop a series of artworks, from short expressive painting sketches, to longer more detailed pieces. The students will also be encouraged to work intuitively and expressively in tandem with an emphasis on accuracy of observation. The class has the benefit of 1:8 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist, Charlie Schaffer. Students will receive one-to-one guidance throughout the course, and Charlie will be on hand to give regular feedback and constructive advice. He will also be demonstrating and painting alongside the students.

This is a structured opportunity to gain fundamental drawing and painting skills, whilst blurring the boundary between drawing and painting by using both wet and dry materials together. Throughout the week, students will be using a limited pallet keeping the focus on tonal painting. By looking at still life, interior/exterior and portrait, students explore various ways of seeing, increasing their understanding and confidence to draw and paint. Topics include linear drawing, tonal drawing, composition, sketching outdoors, expressive drawing/painting, study of natural forms and portrait painting. A fun and intensive course that will leave students with the knowledge and inspiration to start their own artworks.  

Both a vital stand alone discipline and arguably the foundation for all other types of art, drawing and the ever-fascinating world of portraiture collide in this inspiring five day portrait drawing course. In this beginner's course drawing fundamentals will be addressed throughout each day while. Working mainly from portrait models, students will first explore portrait through a practical and structured approach to observation. The skills of anatomy and measurement will be complemented with more experimental ways of working, critical analysis of various artworks and group discussion, all with aim of instilling the confidence needed to marry physical likeness with personal artistic expression. A vibrant and supportive studio environment will be created by your tutor Zoe who will encourage you to explore and push yourself through both the discipline and subject. This course is a must for anyone interested in improving their portrait understanding, furthering their interest in drawing through the focus of portraiture, and those wanting to progress to create portraits in other disciplines, such as painting. We recommend completing a beginners drawing course or having basic drawing skills before signing up for this course.

This five-day portrait painting course will offer an opportunity for intensive study under the tuition of Des Haughton. This is a five-day intermediate course in painting portraits from observation in oils and it is designed for students with previous painting experience. The aim of this exciting Portrait course is to give students opportunity to focus exclusively on the challenges faced when painting a portrait. The course will cover a variety of techniques including how to construct a portrait, how to mix colours, how to see and understand “Tone” and to explore the important role tone (light) plays in creative volume. The final part of the course examines “expression” and the possibilities within portraiture. It's an intensive five days that offer a high level of tutor contact time with Des giving demonstrations, individual guidance, criticism and advice. The course aims to stimulate, refresh and advance your practice on an individual basis. Please be aware that on Friday the class will finish at 4.30pm.

A well-structured and systematic course for those who have never painted before or want to start from the beginning. Students learn to see colour, shape and tone and relate all these elements together through composition. This course aims to foster self-confidence and enjoyment of painting in a stimulating community environment. There will be work from both still-life and life models. Students will learn how to handle oil paint and understand different ways of approaching painting. Throughout the course students will learn from works of many artists to improve their development. There is plenty of guidance from the tutor and the course is fun and relaxing.

This course is a packed week covering a range of ways to paint the human figure in different types of spaces, and is a good introductory course or works as a refresher for those with painting experience. We start by painting the life model in the studio space, focusing on perspective and placing the figure in the room. The next day we look at a technique used by contemporary painters and the old masters, of working from miniature models as a way of working out interesting compositions. Days 4 and 5 are one project – gathering information collected from outside, and then constructing your own compositions in the studio, incorporating 3 figures into the space as a way of suggesting narrative. Oils and acrylics both welcome.

This three-day portrait course will offer an opportunity for intensive study under the tuition of Tim Benson. The class has the benefit of 1:8 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist. Students will produce at least four oil sketches on the first day and at least one more 'finished' painting by the final day. Under Tim’s guidance, students will concentrate on tonal painting allowing the emphasis to be on the form. During the course of the painting there will be an in-depth look at how to mix up colours. The tutor will also be working alongside the students demonstrating a 'wet in wet' technique. This exciting course is an intensive three days that offers a high level of tutor contact time.

This is a fun course that offers the fantastic opportunity to paint in and around London’s urban landscape. The Art Academy is just a short stroll from the Thames, conveniently situated in the historic Southwark London Bridge area which will feature as the main focus of this course. Working with quick sketches in oil or acrylic, students will practice how to efficiently and accurately capture tone and colour in the outdoors. Creating loose and vigorous paintings, we will look at how to capture a sense of light and atmosphere at different times of day. Looking at the works of other artists we will discuss different ways of composing a painting in an urban setting. Basic painting techniques such as tone, colour and texture will be addressed, as well as creative expression in the application of paint. Painting outside of the studio is always an exciting experience and students of all levels are sure to enjoy painting outdoors.

This is a well structured course with an emphasis on learning to understand the construction of the head and its features and using these skills to better create more intense, expressive portraits. Working with oil paints students will develop a series of artworks, from short expressive painting sketches, to longer more detailed pieces. The students will also be encouraged to work intuitively and expressively in tandem with an emphasis on accuracy of observation. The class has the benefit of 1:8 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist, Charlie Schaffer. Students will receive one-to-one guidance throughout the course, and Charlie will be on hand to give regular feedback and constructive advice. He will also be demonstrating and painting alongside the students.

For some artists the portrait can be about purely formal aspects, with no relevance placed on the character of the sitter. Under the tuition of Andy Pankhurst you will be encouraged to explore and discover what you personally want to "paint about", working from a model throughout the week. Starting with preliminary drawings on day one you will be introduced to the concepts of measurement and proportion, form, tone, space, composition and pictorial structure. The focus will then be on producing a colour oil sketch from the portrait model with a particular emphasis on colour and temperature. The final three days of the course will be spent on a large-scale portrait painting of a sustained pose. This exciting course is an intensive five days that offers a high level of tutor contact time.

This course has been created to be both practical and discussion led, the aim is for us to learn ways of looking, speaking and making. The central focus is to question our conditioning; how historical, political, social, gendered and other factors have influenced our relation to the visual world around us, and therefore our relation to visual art. The general daily structure of this course will be as follows: every day we will begin with an introduction to visual and theoretical references. Then we will then paint until mid-afternoon, at which point we will have a discussion about each participant's work. The last day of the course the participants will make a self-directed painting for half of the day, after lunch we will do a crit on the work, in which everyone will receive comments from the group and have a chance to respond.

This is a structured opportunity to gain fundamental drawing and painting skills, whilst blurring the boundary between drawing and painting by using both wet and dry materials together. Students will explore various ways of seeing, increasing their understanding and confidence to draw and paint. Topics include linear drawing, tonal drawing, composition,  expressive drawing/painting, study of natural forms and personal project. A fun and intensive course that will leave students with the knowledge and inspiration to start their own artworks. Please be aware that on Friday the class finishes at 4.30pm.  

A wonderful opportunity for people with all levels of experience to explore the skills of drawing and life drawing. Throughout the course you will work to a variety of themes to learn fundamental drawing skills, including composition, tonal drawing, measurement and movement. Once mastered students are encouraged to develop a creative approach interjected with urban sketching, exploration of different lines, contrasts, compositions, materials and techniques. This is a structured informative, yet fun and stimulating, course that teaches essential drawing skills whilst encouraging a creative approach.