THE CORE PROGRAM
FULL TIME AND PART TIME STUDY - ONE TO FIVE DAYS A WEEK
Read Below for the Curriculum
The Scottish School of Classical Art offers a personalized approach to art education, an intensive skill based program in realistic painting and drawing. The program aims to equip students with foundational skills to express themselves artistically and prepare them for professional careers in the arts through a three-year curriculum, influenced by the practice and ethos of the old masters.
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No previous qualification or degree is neccesary to join the program. Students must submit a small portfolio (one or two drawings or paintings) and pass a short interview process.
The portfolio is not to evaluate skill, but to demonstrate commitment. Students of any skill level may join the course.
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Course Duration:
Nine semesters over three years, each semester is three months.
Class hours: Monday to Friday 10AM - 4PM
Term dates:
Spring Semester: April 17th - July 7th
Autumn Semester: August 7th - October 30th
Winter Semester: November 6th - Jan 29th (Christmas break from 24th December - 2nd Jan)
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STUDY ONE - TWO DAYS PER WEEK - £600 PER SEMESTER
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STUDY THREE DAYS PER WEEK - £900 PER SEMESTER
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STUDY FIVE DAYS PER WEEK - £1500 PER SEMESTER
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FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE:
CREDIT-FUNDING AVAILABLE - ENQUIRE NOW
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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.
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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.
Course Duration:
Nine semesters over three years.
(Each semester is three months)
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Monday - Friday
10 am - 1 pm
2pm - 5 pm
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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.
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