THE CORE STUDIO PROGRAM

Read Below for the Curriculum

The Core Studio Program is designed for artists seeking the structure of a traditional atelier with the flexibility of modern learning. Rather than attending fixed weekly classes, students develop their skills through independent studio practice, supported by continuous mentorship, structured projects, and personalised critique.

Working at your own pace, you’ll progress through the Scottish School of Classical Art curriculum, studying subjects including Academic Drawing, Figure Drawing, Anatomy, Cast Drawing, Portraiture, and Classical Painting. Every study is guided by your instructor through demonstrations, written feedback, video critiques, and regular live review sessions, ensuring you always know what to work on next and how to improve.

Your development is supported through three key elements:
• 24-hour access to the SSCA studio, providing a dedicated professional workspace where you can develop your practice alongside a community of committed artists.
• Continuous personal mentorship, including unlimited messaging-based critiques with a 48-hour feedback turnaround (excluding Sundays), alongside live group critique sessions held every two weeks.
• A complete online learning library, featuring recorded demonstrations, project guides, masterwork references, assignments, and continually expanding educational resources.

Unlike traditional classes, the curriculum is tailored to your individual progression. You choose the area of study you wish to pursue, and your instructor provides carefully selected references, stage-by-stage demonstrations, and additional exercises designed to strengthen your technical ability and artistic understanding.

Whether you’re mastering the foundations of academic drawing or developing advanced painting skills, you’ll receive the structure, accountability, and expert guidance needed to build a lasting classical practice.

The Core Studio Program combines the freedom to work on your own schedule with the confidence of knowing that experienced guidance is always available whenever you need it.

COURSE DURATION

The core studio program is delivered through three month sessions.

Students may opt in at the start of each new session.

Disclaimer

No refunds can be made once the student has paid the tuition fees and committed to the course. A student may, however, use their fees as credit for another course, should they pull out before their session begins.

A student may elect to pay monthly, the full tuition fee must be paid before the session begins.

Financing options are available.
Please feel free to reach out for details.

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THE CURRICULUM

ADVANCED PAINTING

Advanced Painting focuses on applying the Riley Method to create realistic and expressive figure paintings, emphasizing proportion, anatomy, and foreshortening. Students use their acquired knowledge to demonstrate proficiency in using color and keying the values associated with creating a sense of the figure in an environment. Read more here.

ACADEMIC DRAWING

The Starting Academic Drawing course is the first year of the curriculum, focused on the mastery of fundamental drawing concepts through the replication of images in the Charles Bargue Drawing Course. Through sustained practice, students acquire skills in two-dimensional representation, sight-size measurement, and the replication of three-dimensional forms from two-dimensional drawings. The course aims to develop proficiency in tools, achieve high drawing cleanliness, and apply proper concepts, knowledge, and processes to drawings. Read more here.

FIGURE DRAWING AND PAINTING

SSCA's core program focuses on creating realistic and finely rendered figure drawings, through the academic approach to rendering and the Riley Method. Riley method emphasizes the placement of the main volumes of the human body, anatomy, and interconnects them through rthymical shapes which recur. The approach involves breaking down the figure into three dimensional forms and capturing its gesture, resulting in drawings that are both accurate, realistic and beautifully designed. Read more here.

STILL LIFE AND PORTRAITURE

At SSCA, 3rd-year students explore still life and portrait painting, experimenting with a range of materials, lighting setups, and compositions. The course emphasizes the SSCA process for creating realistic paintings and drawings, and teaches classical portrait painting techniques to convey the character of the subject, improving students' understanding of three-dimensional form, and developing an effective painting technique. Read more here.

CAST PAINTING AND DRAWING

In later stages of the curriculum, students replicate plaster casts of statuary to recognize similarly designed shapes in life, and learn to design compositions with impactful focal points and interesting shadow maps. This also prepares them for drawing live models by relying on eye measurements and controlling value range to convey form and depth. Read more here.

ANATOMY FOR THE ARTIST

Our Anatomy for the Artist course provides new methods for comprehending the structures of the human body and aims to enhance students' understanding of skeletal structure, proportions, and planes. Key studies include major joints, muscles, and the skeleton in three projections, instilling a three-dimensional image of each form. Read more here.

THE WAY WE TEACH

The core program provides a personalized approach to art education. Our goal is to nurture a love of art, cultivate creativity in student work, and foster technical expertise. To achieve these objectives, we encourage students to design their own academic projects within the program's parameters.

Instructors at SSCA prioritize teaching the materials and techniques of art-making, rather than dictating creative outcomes. We aim to equip all students with the foundational skills to express themselves artistically and to prepare them for professional careers in the arts by imparting technical proficiency and a deep understanding of what it takes to be creative professionally. To succeed at SSCA, students must combine academic studies with personal creative projects, recognizing that results reflect dedication and effort.

Over three years, SSCA students will learn the fundamental concepts and practices of realistic painting and drawing through working from life and progressively complex studies. Each completed study offers the opportunity to learn the function and benefit of solving specific problems through exercises, leading to mastery of tools and methods.