ARTIST NEWS: TEN Online Life Drawing Sources, you can join.

The most amazing and unexpected joy coming out of lockdown and quarantine time is the efforts for life drawing groups in the UK and Europe to keep drawing life models, and not just from still images. 


On instagram, I follow a few life drawing groups and communities in Europe where I usually go to draw when in Europe. Since the mid of March, there’s a bunch of them starting to offer online and live streaming life drawing. More the last 2–3 weeks that I almost could not keep up, mostly based in the UK and a few in Spain. I’ve started trying a few of them out, and within a few weeks,there’s a lot more offering different streams of Creative workshops too. Because it’s all online, the life models can be from all over the country in Europe. This is really amazing considering the few life drawings sessions and models variety in Singapore such as the one run by Creative Singapore’s Damien Thomasz. It has been refreshing to see the variety of European- based life models.


The majority of these groups are conducting classes through Zoom, and I think because of security and safety reasons, most life models prefers not to be 100% nude. This is not a big deal, since there’s a lot of different aspects of drawing life models that is challenging in a new way when you’re looking at them through a screen.   


Having tried a few of them the last three weeks, not all of them work for me, in one sense, the ‘organizer or host’ could be talking too much, and while perhaps that’s a style some people like, I prefer more silence to concentrate on my drawings. Having said that, if you like a lot of feedback and continuous commentary to help you think through your life drawing, I will not rule it out. The fees ranges from ‘free and donate what you can’ to 4 - 7 pounds via paypal.me or bookwhen.com. 


So, I’ve decided it would be useful to make and share a list, its not exhaustive as it seems they grow in numbers as we move into longer quarantine months. I’ll also give you my quick review of why I like or don’t like the ones I have joined. 


So here we go, you can cut and paste the link or click the hyperlink:  

• London Drawing. (www.londondrawing.com/online-creative-sessions/)

They have a range of Creative classes, not strictly life drawing, from Mindful Still Life, to Self Portrait lead by artists educators. Their life drawing fees is on the higher side at 8 pounds for 2 hours, and this was the one time where I discovered the organizer/host just talks too much, sounds like there was two of them constantly talking through most of the 2 hours). Otherwise, their instagram is busy, one I find interesting was a guest artists showing how she made her own ink from Avocado stones and Onion skin. 

• The Jolly Sketcher Online (www.bookwhen.com/thejollysketcher)

This is so far my favourite because of the timing and time zones. Quite a lot of the life drawings sessions based in Europe are doing it around dinner time/after work time, which with daylight savings the time difference to Singapore is about 6-7 hours. So all of their 7pm start is basically 1 or 2 am Singapore time and totally not workable for me. Tanja runs Jolly Sketchers Online and she has lunch time sessions which translates to Singapore 7-9 pm which is doable for me. So if you’re based in Singapore, I highly recommend her sessions. She is also one of the few that listed the world time zones in her posters which helps make decisions easier and faster, and her website listed the sessions very clearly and are also on the affordable range at 4 pounds for a two hour session compared to some others.
She also offers free 30 minutes drawing by theme that you can join in case you’re not comfortable with the longer sessions. 

• London Drawing Group (www.eventbrite.co.uk/london-drawing-group-11407647443) 

This is not a life drawing session, but a teaching site for all kinds of art classes, such as portraits, and art history lectures such as ‘violence against women in western art’. They use Eventbrite for their classes, and payment by donation. If you’re interested in learning not just drawing but about western art in general. This is for you. 

• Art Model Collective https://artmodelcollective.com/event/paint-draw-from-amc-photo-references-during-isolation-veiled-marble/

This one sells hi-resolution photo reference mainly to try to make some income while in quarantine, the one off price of 25 pounds gets you a set of 50 photos, uncensored and never seen before, that does not exist online, mostly taken at their previous live drawing sessions.
If that’s not your thing, their instagram story shares a lot of different online classes by others, which is where I got some of the ones on this list. 

• Cercle Artistic Sant Lluc https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCwS12fHWIos5AltFGHHVk4g

This is an art center based in Barcelona where I used to go for life drawing sessions. Their online sessions are conducted in YouTube, on their channel. It’s short poses conducted by many different models. And if you missed the live broadcast, the sessions are recorded and stays on YouTube. This is free and based on donation. 

• Françoise, Artist, Conceptual Performance Contortionist https://instagram.com/oh.francoise?igshid=1k8nub5u04441

To join her online classes, you need to send her an DM on Instagram,and she will ask for your email address to email you the details. Classes conducted on Zoom, and payment links are all sent to you individually. I’ve yet to join one of her sessions, but at the moment, her timing is not working for as it mostly starts at 7pm UK time. She is also modelling for other groups, and I cant keep up at the moment. haha. 

• Everybodys_lifedrawing https://instagram.com/everybodys_lifedrawing?igshid=6sk5uvv8kbx7

This is an ongoing weekly life drawing but just for one hour, and some of the timing is good for Singapore, starting at UK time 12.30-1.30pm for 4 pounds using Zoom. If you want a shorter session. This might be your thing. The model I’ve drawn so far is a yoga teacher, who also offer Yoga for Drawing sessions. 

• Life Drawing Barcelona https://instagram.com/lifedrawingbarcelona?igshid=104hejhoi5uxq

This is a life drawing group I used to go to weekly in Barcelona when I used to live there. They’re running almost every other day of the week, 90 minutes life drawing via Zoom, the classes are free, but you can donate to the model, and the link to do so is written on their post as the model changes. This one sadly doesn’t work for Singapore time zones. Their timing is 7.30-9pm Barcelona time, which is starting around 1- 2 am in Singapore.

• Adrian Dutton Life Drawing  https://linktr.ee/adriandutton_life_drawing

Another host of life drawing based in London, that I had previously joined in London. The link will take you to a list of upcoming online life drawings. This is another one that doesn’t work for Singapore time zone, as they all start at 7pm. But hey, if you’re a night owl. This is for you. 

• 2 B or Not 2 B Collective. https://instagram.com/2bornot2bcollective?igshid=xfpml6n2ohbh This one is a new one and I’ve got no comments as yet. They have a variety of classes and times. 

So there you have it. I hope this is useful to somebody.
Let me know what you think once you’re tried some of them. Is it good, does it work for you? Love to hear your thoughts about this new reality we are currently experiencing. 


Cheers and keep yourself safe!


Susan