12 weeks | Total: 36 hours  (3 hours per week, 10am – 1pm or 6.30pm – 9.30pm available) | newcomer/refresher / all levels | Price: €485 | Use of all materials included. *Terms & Conditions apply

This foundation course provides a comprehensive introduction to the cornerstones of drawing over 12 informative, challenging yet enjoyable weeks. It is suitable for beginners, students and professionals alike who wish to sharpen their eyes and improve their technical ability. Grounded upon the traditional practice of copying, central to workshops, ateliers and academies throughout history, students will develop their skill and technique by drawing prints from the renowned nineteenth-century course, the Cours de Dessin by Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme – just as artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh did. They will also be guided through a series of supplementary exercises designed to cultivate particular skills and techniques, from simple line control to advanced shading.

This course will guide students, step-by-step, through various stages of progression, beginning with the rudimentary essentials of observation, visualisation of angles and proportions, handling of materials and strategies for simplification; before advancing to lessons in light, shadow, form and volume, exploring how these elements may be used to represent relief on a two dimensional surface.

The lessons learned on this course can be applied in a variety of professional fields, such as; design, architecture, animation, illustration, fashion, photography, film and beyond.

Please see T&C’s at the end of this website (before the Contact Us page).

12 weeks | for graduates of Part I & returning students | Price: €485 | Use of basic materials included | Please note: The duration of this course has increased from 8 weeks to 12 weeks, price per class remains the same. *Terms & Conditions apply

Upon completion of Part I, Foundation, students may continue to Part II, Practice. During this 12-week course, students have the opportunity to spend time cultivating and improving upon the skills they have learned through repeated application and practice of their craft, under the guidance of a tutor. This popular course follows a similar format to that of a traditional atelier, allowing students to work more independently on their projects, with direction in the form of one-to-one critiques.

Students benefit from their tutors’ feedback and from the structured classroom environment which facilitates regular, committed practice. With access to a specially curated selection of The Drawing Studio’s high-quality prints*, chosen by our instructors, students will be guided as to which subjects are most suitable for their level of ability.

*Notes on the Collection: The Drawing Studio is home to an expansive and growing collection of original academic drawings, high-quality prints, and plaster casts spanning the canon of classical antiquity.

In both original prints and fine facsimiles, our collection includes high-quality plates from the famous 19th century drawing manual, the Cours de Dessin by Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme, which was a highly regarded and widely used drawing course studied by artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh and Diego Rivera. This is the most extensive collection of its kind in Ireland. We also have an array of original academic drawings by students of Gérôme from the École des Beaux Arts, and other academic drawings from the 19th and early 20th centuries, invaluable for illuminating the methods typical of an academic training. This collection is of great interest to scholars of the period, and is currently being studied as part of post-doctoral research.

We possess a set of the rare Alinari Biblioteca di Disegni, an expansive collection of Master Drawings; of which only 300 copies exist worldwide, which have been acquired by major museums, academic institutions as well as many Royal collections. An extraordinary and unique work, it is the largest available collection of Italian drawings from the 15th to the 18th century, printed by means of the refined 19th century technique of collotype. The set contains more than 1,200 drawings across 28 volumes, printed with the highest possible fidelity in a true facsimile, mounted on specially prepared Fabriano board. The work was carried out under the direction of an International Advisory Committee, composed of eminent scholars and internationally-known specialists in the field of drawing. The drawings, for the most part unpublished, have come from 80 of the most important museums and galleries in the world.

Please see T&C’s at the end of this website (before the Contact Us page).

10 weeks | 3 hours per week | Self-directed | Use of basic materials included | Price: €325
6th/7th Oct – 15th/16th Dec (Halloween Midterm: No class 3rd/4th November) *Terms & Conditions apply

Booking: See end of description for booking options

Time Slot Options:
Thurs 9:30am – 12:30pm, ​​Oct 6th – Dec 15th, 2022, €295
Thurs 1:30pm – 4:30pm, Oct 6th – Dec 15th, 2022, €295 / €340 with Life model
Fri 9:30am – 12:30pm, Oct 7th – Dec 16th, 2022, €295
Fri 1:30pm – 4:30pm, Oct 7th – Dec 16th, 2022, €295

In an inspiring hub of contemplative study and common purpose, students can enjoy self-directed learning at The Drawing Club, with access to our library of drawings; a collection which comprises the Alinari Cabinet of Master Drawings, the lithographs of Bargue and Gérôme’s Cours de Dessin, original nineteenth-century academic drawings from the École des Beaux-Arts, and more. Students “read” these masterworks through the time-honoured practice of copying, expanding their visual literacy and broadening their artistic vocabulary. Works from the printed collection can be freely selected by students, while a rotating syllabus of plaster casts, from classical antiquity and beyond, will be chosen and lit by the school.

Copying works of art has been an essential part of an artist’s development for centuries, training the hand and the eye of the copyist, and imparting ‘le grand goût’ – taste and style. During the nineteenth century, artists would flock to the Louvre to copy its masterpieces. Thomas Couture (1815 – 1879), teacher of Édouard Manet (1832 – 83), advised his students to “Keep good company – that is, go to the Louvre.” Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) described the museum as “the book where we learn to read”.

The Drawing Club brings the museum experience into the studio, creating an environment where student copyists can pay careful, considered attention to works of art, fostering deep engagement with the artistic inheritance we have access to today, while training the hand and the eye.

Level: This course is open to students who have completed a minimum of the Drawing School’s Discipline of Drawing | Foundation Course, who feel confident to progress without the direction of an instructor. Experienced draughtspersons, such as professional artists, designers or architects, may join the Drawing Club without having completed the Foundation Course.

*Notes on the Collection: The Drawing School is home to an expansive and growing collection of original academic drawings, high-quality prints, and plaster casts spanning the canon of classical antiquity.

In both original prints and fine facsimiles, our collection includes high-quality plates from the famous 19th century drawing manual, the Cours de Dessin by Charles Bargue and Jean-Léon Gérôme, which was a highly regarded and widely used drawing course studied by artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh and Diego Rivera. This is the most extensive collection of its kind in Ireland. We also have an array of original academic drawings by students of Gérôme from the École des Beaux Arts and other academic drawings from the 19th and early 20th centuries, invaluable for illuminating the methods typical of an academic training.

We possess a set of the rare Alinari Biblioteca di Disegni, an expansive collection of Master Drawings; of which only 315 copies exist worldwide, which have been acquired by major museums, academic institutions as well as many Royal collections. An extraordinary and unique work, it is the largest available collection of Italian drawings from the 15th to the 18th century, printed by means of the 19th century technique of collotype. The set contains more than 1,200 drawings across 28 volumes, printed with the highest possible fidelity in a true facsimile, mounted on specially prepared Fabriano board. The work was carried out under the direction of an International Advisory Committee, composed of eminent scholars and internationally-known specialists in the field of drawing. The drawings, for the most part unpublished, have come from 80 of the most important museums and galleries in the world.

Please see T&C’s at the end of this website (before the Contact Us page)

Important note (please read before booking): In signing up to the Drawing Club, you acknowledge that you have completed a minimum of the Drawing School’s Discipline of Drawing | Foundation Course, or are an experienced draughtsperson (e.g. professional artist, designer, architect). If not, please contact info@drawing.ie or call/text us on +353 (0)87 2980 409 to discuss your options.

Two-Day Intensive Artistic Anatomy Modelling Workshop | Dates: To be Confirmed | Price: To be Confirmed | Use of materials included (Chavant NSP^TM modelling clay, full figure armature, modelling tools, notebook)

Weekend workshop | Modelling Course | Newcomer / All levels | TBC

This 2-day weekend workshop introduces students to the fundamentals concepts of modelling by starting with a series of exercises focusing on approach and methods of creating forms, analysing structure and proportion.

Students will work with water-based clay using white plaster casts from the iconic features of Michelangelo’s “David” as models to copy. Starting with basic reduction, the complex form is broken down to step by step easy to understand exercises.

During the course students will complete the eye, the nose, the mouth and the ear gaining a strong foundation which can be applied in traditional or digital model making.

Weekend workshop | Modelling Course | Newcomer / All levels | TBC

Students can continue their studies, modelling a life size model of the human head, learning about the proportions of the face, the skeletal landmarks of the skull and the muscles responsible for the expressions of the face. This approach is invaluable for the correct understanding of how to represent and reinterpret the human face. While the course is covering the fundamentals of portrait anatomy, it has a strong focus on proportion, structure, volume, form and introduces students to the hollowing of a clay portrait and finishing techniques with water based clay.