Getting started
Which sketching class should you take first?
A quick guide to the six classes, and an order that works for most people.
Sketch Hour · 1 October 2026 · 1 min read
There are six classes on the timetable, and they all run at every start time. Here's how to choose.
If you're new, or haven't drawn in years
Start with First Lines. It's the hour that makes every other class easier: how to hold the pencil loosely, how to see objects as simple shapes, and how to shade so a circle turns into a ball. You draw from things on your own kitchen table.
Then follow what you want to draw
People. Faces teaches proportion and likeness, ending with a three-quarter portrait. Figures is looser and faster: gesture drawings and whole bodies in motion, the skills for sketching people in a café or a park. Most people find Faces more satisfying first and Figures more freeing.
Places. Places is streets and buildings, with perspective made simple. Landscapes is trees, hills and skies, and is the most relaxing hour on the timetable. Landscapes is gentle enough to take straight after First Lines.
When you want a challenge
Realistic Still Life is the slowest, most detailed class: careful measuring, a full range of tones, and the small details that make glass look like glass. It's best after First Lines and one or two others.
A good first month
- First Lines
- Landscapes, for a confidence boost
- Faces or Places, whichever you'd rather draw
- The other one of those, or Realistic Still Life
After each class, send in your drawing. Your feedback often points to which class to take next. If your shading is strong but proportions wobble, Faces will help. If your lines are confident but everything looks flat, Still Life will.