The 5 best London life drawing classes, 2026

Right, life drawing in London has gone properly mainstream — the pub drop-in version is in half the boroughs now and the proper academy courses are over-subscribed. Five sessions covering the spread, from "I've never picked up a pencil" to "I want to actually learn this."

The Royal Drawing School short courses

Shoreditch. The closest thing in London to a serious drawing education that doesn't require an art degree. Term-based, properly tutored, the standard is genuinly high. Booking opens months in advance and the popular courses (figure drawing, head and hands) go in days. If you can get a place, do.

Drink and Draw at the Camden Eye

Above the Camden Eye pub. £15-ish, two-hour session, model + drink. The Camden Eye one is the best of the network of "drink and draw" pub sessions — tutor actually walks the room, the lighting is decent, the model gets paid properly. Walk-up usually fine.

If you've never done life drawing before, this is the gateway. Don't be intimidated.

Rosemary Branch, Islington

The Rosemary Branch is a working pub-theatre in Islington and the upstairs life drawing has been running for years. More serious than the pub-drink-and-draw circuit — long poses, regulars, a proper sense of progression session-to-session. £12, book.

If you wanted to go weekly and actually improve over six months, this is where I'd send you.

Hackney Picturehouse

In the cinema bar before evening films start. £15-ish. Mixed-pose, friendly, the Hackney crowd is properly social and you'll end up in the bar after. Less serious as a learning environment, lovely as an evening.

Candid Arts Trust

Behind King's Cross. The cheapest serious life drawing in zone 1, £10 a session, multiple weekly drop-ins (Tuesday evening is the most regular). Long history, proper studio space, real models. The unsung backbone of London life drawing.

What to bring

A board (A2), charcoal, willow, a putty rubber. Most sessions provide paper. If you're going for the term-based courses (Royal Drawing School, Prince's Drawing School), the kit list is more specific and they'll send it on booking.

The pub-drink-and-draw scene

There's genuinly one within walking distance of every zone 2 station now. The good ones I've listed above. The ones I'd skip: anywhere advertising "naked yoga and drawing" combined (different audience), anywhere the door fee is over £25 (you're paying for the brand, not the model), anywhere the model session is under 90 minutes (not enough time to settle).

For more drop-in art classes (figure painting, watercolour, screenprinting), the London this-week page tags them properly. Ceramics waitlists in particular — they're mental at the moment.

That's the five. Pick one, go three weeks in a row, you'll see your line improve. Promise.