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Best Drawing Classes in NYC
Drawing is the art of creating beautiful pictures by hand or digitally. Physical drawing includes pencils, pens, erasers, and paper, while digital art uses design software to produce intricate styles. Learning how to draw in New York City can provide you with many benefits, including a new and exciting career. Thankfully, NYC drawing classes can help you master these skills to produce engaging and attractive artwork for yourself or your employer.
Why You Should Learn Drawing in NYC
Taking drawing classes in NYC can improve your life by helping you master a new and exciting skill. It’s not only potentially profitable but physically and mentally rewarding. For example, drawing can relieve anxiety by creating artwork that vents your frustrations. Studies show that creative arts relieve emotional troubles while improving a person’s hand-eye coordination.
Even better, you can make money as an artist by selling your drawings or starting a new design career. These jobs include designing advertisements, creating new company logos, painting new billboard signs, producing website layouts, and animating cartoons. These fields let you create engaging artwork and provide ample compensation for your hard work.
In-Person Drawing Classes & Schools in NYC
In-person drawing courses and schools in New York City provide beginner-friendly training and education for more advanced techniques. They include subjects like drawing lines and shapes, as well as shading and coloring your artwork. Each program includes small class sizes and hands-on support from a skilled professor who can provide personalized educational help.
Furthermore, classes cover diverse subjects that focus on different aspects of drawing. For example, some teach realistic landscape drawing, while others focus on cartoon or manga artwork. In this way, you can choose an option that works the best for your needs. The following courses are some of the best in-person drawing classes and schools in NYC.
Accelerated Introduction to Drawing
Accelerated Introduction to Drawing is a course by The Decorus Atelier of Figurative Art in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It focuses on teaching you to draw quickly by utilizing a small class size. Typically, it tops out at about five people, giving you lots of personal time with the teacher.
During the course, you’ll learn how to draw straight lines, craft shapes, produce attractive designs, and shade your artwork. It’s designed as a sampler for the school and gives you an immersive experience over a two-hour study period.
Students from 16 and up are welcome to attend this course. You’ll need to bring a sketchbook, pencils, and erasers, though the school may have some available at a low price. It’s a one-time session, meaning you’ll quickly learn art skills you can apply in other classes at the school.
Accelerated Portraiture Drawing
Accelerated Portraiture Drawing by The Decorus Atelier of Figurative Art includes a fast-paced environment similar to all introductory courses by this school. This session focuses specifically on creating portraits, including self-portraits.
Subjects include constructing the face, proper facial proportions, bone identification, skull planes, and facial features. You’ll learn how to sketch and shade each of these sections to create an accurate portrait with depth and feeling.
This course works well for beginner, intermediate, and advanced artists because the professor adjusts their lessons based on your abilities and understanding. Class size is around five students, meaning you’ll get more than enough time to interact with the professor.
Adult Focus on Drawing
Adult Focus on Drawing by One River School provides beginning and advanced drawing students an immersive educational experience. You’ll learn about line, tone, texture, composition, depth, perspective, and light in a hands-on environment.
During each session, the skilled teacher provides tips and feedback to improve your artwork. They’ll teach you proper drawing form and discuss techniques that can enhance your work such as cross-shading and using color to produce depth.
Class costs include all materials, including pencil, oil pastels, chalk pastels, ink, and colored pencils. You also take home any art you create, meaning you can either hang it in your home or sell it to others.
Teen Art Focus: Drawing (Grades 6-12)
Teen Art Focus: Drawing (Grades 6-12) by One River School gives students between 11 and 18 an immersive four-session experience. It accepts all skill levels, including advanced artists looking to improve their techniques with more advanced concepts.
During each class, you’ll focus on technical skills, like drawing straight lines, creating detailed shapes, and texturing your artwork. Mediums like graphite, charcoal, oil pastels, chalk pastels, and ink are all allowed.
Other subjects include light, tone, composition, spatial depth, and perspective. Learning these subjects will improve your art by giving it more detail. Between each session, you receive teacher feedback on previous work to better utilize each artistic technique they teach.
Adult: Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain
Adult: Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain is a Creatively Wild Art Studio Dumbo course that focuses on tapping into your creative mind. It’s unique among NYC drawing classes because it highlights both artistic techniques and their scientific nature.
For example, you’ll learn about perceptual skills that help you break down a subject by lines, shapes, colors, and textures. The goal of these lessons is to teach you how to perceive the world like an artist and capture it on paper more effectively.
You’ll also learn important drawing skills such as sketching, coloring, shading, and texturing your work. All course materials are included in your fee such as paper, charcoal, pastels, pencils, and pens. Each student must complete a class waiver form before attending.
Long Pose Figure Drawing
Long Pose Figure Drawing is a Drawing New York class without an instructor. Instead, you work alongside up to 24 other students drawing a live model. During your session, the model lays flat, allowing you to sketch their body and its many contours.
You’ll take a five-minute break every 20 minutes, during which you can talk to other artists and make new friends. The course costs includes a drawing pad and pencils and charcoal, though they accommodate small watercolor sets. Pastels, open ink, and other paints are not allowed.
This class works best if you have previous drawing experience and don’t need help with basic skills. It’ll take place over three hours, meaning you should have more than enough time to sketch out the model and create a unique piece of art.
Weeknight Figure Drawing
Weeknight Figure Drawing is a Drawing New York course that includes a live model taking short and long poses. Short poses last 20 minutes, while long poses are 40. During each pose, music quietly plays to help you concentrate on your art.
Note that you must bring supplies to this class, including pencils, paper, erasers, and sketchboards. Watercolor paints are allowed, though acrylic and spray paints are not. When finished, you’ll take home several drawings to sell or display.
Like with the Figure Drawing class offered by Drawing New York, this course works best when you have previous art experience. That said, beginners may appreciate this fast-paced nature of this program.
Virtual Drawing Classes & Schools
While NYC has many high-quality in-person drawing classes, virtual courses may work better for many people. These programs include live, online training with an art professional who can work one-on-one with you or in a larger class-based setting. This approach provides many advantages and some downsides that make them worth considering.
Pros of Online Classes
Virtual drawing classes provide many advantages that make them worth your time. Just a few reasons for you to try them include:
- Diverse Attendance Options: Do you travel a lot and worry about missing your in-person drawing classes? Virtual courses let you work anywhere you can find an internet connection. This benefit ensures you can attend classes while on vacation or a work trip.
- Recorded Lectures: Most online drawing teachers record their lectures, meaning you can watch it later if you miss something. You can even watch them if you can’t attend for any reason. This benefit ensures you get the full value from the course.
- Lower Cost: Virtual classes often cost less than in-person classes, which makes them perfect for anyone on a budget. Some even provide discounts when you schedule multiple people for the course, which can save you even more money.
- Safer to Attend: New York City is safer than it was 30 years ago but the roads are even worse. If you feel unsafe fighting NYC traffic for an in-person drawing class, virtual courses will work well for you. You don’t even have to leave your apartment to attend.
Cons of Online Classes
Though virtual classes provide many advantages over in-person courses, there are some downsides. First, you’ll have to provide your own supplies, including pencils, paper, and erasers. You’ll also have limited socialization chances because you’ll likely be far from your professor and classmates. However, virtual courses still work well for those on a limited budget or who dislike NYC traffic.
Online Classes You May Enjoy
If you’re interested in online drawing classes, you can choose from one or more options on CourseHorse, including:
- Beginner’s Intro Art Journaling: Beginner’s Intro Art Journaling guides you through creating a personalized art journal with drawings and paintings. You’re encouraged to produce stylized artwork that reflects your emotional state and relieves your anxiety.
- Botanical Drawing 1: Botanical Drawing 1 focuses on wildlife designs, including sketching and coloring seeds, fruit, and animals. Each class includes live lectures from a skilled artist who can fine-tune your abilities and help you produce better work.
- For the Birds: For the Birds: Wildlife in Landscape Art teaches you how to draw and paint beautiful wildlife. You’ll work with watercolor paints via Zoom and get personalized help. You must take Botanical Drawing 1 or a similar course before attending this class.
Private Group Drawing Classes in NYC
Are you trying to schedule a team-building event for your company but everyone’s sick of kayaking, hiking, and trivia nights? Well, the best private group drawing classes for NYC provide a fun and creative way for your employees to bond. To meet your needs, CourseHorse hosts several private group drawing programs that cover multiple subjects.
For example, Virtual Group Drawing & Sketching Class teaches up to 255 people about creating still life, landscape, facial, and botanical art using graphite. Your team can also learn basic watercolor painting in Virtual Watercolor Workshop, which covers landscape and portrait art. Lastly, Virtual Cartooning & Doodling Workshop highlights cartoon-related drawing skills.
If these classes don’t appeal to your team, CourseHorse has many more you may enjoy. Furthermore, they can create personalized programs specific to your team’s needs. Simply contact them using their online form to learn more. They’ll discuss things like class size, subjects, costs, and other important elements to streamline your experience.
CourseHorse also provides many other benefits for your team, including 24-hour confirmation, no booking fees, adaptable class sizes, and multiple supported platforms. These benefits make them a good option for both in-person and virtual classes. For instance, CourseHorse’s programs should work for your remote team by easily adapting to their operating systems.
