Contemporary Life Drawing

Push the boundaries and experiment with new approaches to develop your own contemporary style of representing the human form.

Whilst proportion, composition and other more traditional concepts will still be covered in this 10-week course, you will gain a greater understanding of contemporary art practices when painting and drawing the life model.

Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced artist, this course will be of value to you.

You will be introduced to a wide variety of drawing techniques using different media, some conventional, others less so. We will initially cover proportion and further traditional concepts, but always with a bias toward experimentation. Tutor Scott will present many different ways of drawing the model in charcoal and mixed media.

As the course progresses, the focus will shift to painting the nude. The tutor will demonstrate in class and/or bring in his own work for discussion and analysis, as well as the work of other contemporary artists. We will look at different palettes, composition, colour theory, light and the colour of shadows, whilst never losing focus on observational drawing and proportion.

The course will end with a two-session pose (five hours) allowing participants to finish with a more sustained piece of work.

The emphasis of this course is experimentation within life drawing, whilst all the time improving your drawing and painting skills. The tutor will discuss contemporary figure painting and help develop each person’s own style and journey to self-expression.

About the tutor:

Tutor Scott Bridgwood is a working artist with over 30 years’ experience after graduating from Chelsea School of Art in 1992. He worked and taught art in Rome (Italy) for 10 years before moving to Leicester. It was during his time in Rome that he developed his passion for drawing/painting the human form, which continues to the present day. Scott has taught at Attenborough Arts Centre for nearly 20 years. He also teaches Life Drawing at De Montfort University and from his home studio in Leicester.

Further information:

All materials will be provided.

Participants must be aged 18+.

The course will run for 10 sessions on Friday afternoons, 2pm – 4:30pm, starting on Friday 16 January and ending on 27 March 2026.

Please note: no session on Friday 30 January and Friday 20 February 2026 (half term break)

If the course/workshop you’d like to book is sold out, we do operate a waiting list – simply contact our box office team on 0116 252 2455 / arts-centre@le.ac.uk and ask to be added to the waiting list. We’ll then contact you if a place becomes available, with absolutely no obligation to accept it if you’ve made other plans!

Please ensure that you agree to our updated Terms & Conditions before booking as courses/workshops are non-refundable in some circumstances.

We aim to make all our sessions as accessible as possible and carers/PAs are very welcome – just remember to book their free place when you book your session. If you’d like to talk to us in advance of booking or attending your sessions to discuss your access needs, our Box Office team is here to help! Email arts-centre@le.ac.uk, pop in or call 0116 252 2455, open 7 days a week.

We have four blue badge parking spaces outside Attenborough Arts Centre, plus double yellow line roadside parking very close to the building for blue badge holders for up to three hours if our parking spaces are occupied.

Free parking for all customers is available after 5pm on weekdays and all day at weekends in the University of Leicester car park next door to Attenborough Arts Centre on Lancaster Road. The closest public car park for parking at all other times is Victoria Park, 5-10 minutes walk from us (near De Montfort Hall).