Line by Line — A drawing school for people who long to draw

Courses starting February 2027

Portraiture: Returns

Tuesday evenings, 6 – 8pm

23rd February – 13th April 2027 (8 weeks)

Live on Zoom — you'll just need a laptop, tablet or phone. Our model poses live.

A portraiture class with a difference.

Each week we'll study a portrait from the past, from Rembrandt to Alice Neel, getting to know it through looking, reading, talking and drawing. Once we know the picture well, our model will re-enact the pose, bringing it back to life and letting us have fun making a contemporary version.

£195 for the full 8-week course

Book your place

Still Life: A Little and a Lottle

Wednesdays, 10am – 4pm (with an hour for lunch)

24th February – 14th April 2027 (8 weeks)

Live on Zoom — you'll just need a laptop, tablet or phone

We’ll spend some time together on screen, but most of the day you’ll be away from it, making your drawings.

Order and chaos are endlessly vying for position. On this course, we'll embrace both.

Some days we'll work with very minimal compositions, and others with maximal, many-object arrangements. Each asks for a different approach to making a picture: times of deep looking and slow drawing, and times of fluid, darting, quick drawing.

In some weeks, we'll bring the two together.

The course will be lively and varied. We'll each make a wide range of work and meet a few challenges along the way, which will hopefully open us up to new ways of seeing and drawing.

£295 for the full 8-week course

Book your place

Fees are payable upfront. Two concessionary places (50%, means-based) are available on each course — just email me at mathew@linebyline.studio and I'll send you a code to use when booking. You're also welcome to give a place as a gift.

From people who've joined a course

See drawings students have made on Line by Line courses →

"As a total novice I joined one of Mathew's classes during lockdown. I loved learning how to draw and my very basic skills developed and grew. Mathew is very patient and knowledgeable, and shared his love of art with us."

Sarah

"I thought drawing with an online class would be dry and I worried I would feel remote from the group. However, Mathew's collaborative style of leadership made me feel warmly included, and I was surprised by how committed I felt."

Heather

"During Mathew's classes, the act of drawing feels like an immersion in deep kindness and total serenity — an invitation to overcome a fear of failure and let our imagination leave a true mark on the paper."

Flavie

"I've thought on and drawn on elements of this course frequently since, and recommended Mathew to a number of friends who want to develop and deepen their drawing."

Anne

Charcoal drawing by Mathew of a hand resting on an arm, on a torn sheet of paper

How it works

1Book your place online. It only takes a couple of minutes, and you'll get a confirmation email with everything you need.

2Join us live on Zoom on the day and time of your course, using the button in your confirmation or reminder email.

3Draw along with the group, with instruction, guidance and advice throughout.

4Each class ends with some optional homework, if you'd like to keep drawing between sessions.

5Between classes, you can photograph your drawings and add them to a private online gallery, shared only with the others on your course. It's a lovely way for us all to learn from and be inspired by each other!

Each course runs as a series rather than drop-in sessions, so it's best if you can join most or all of the dates.

Why we draw this way

Line by Line isn't primarily about teaching technique — the kind you could learn from a book. It starts from a different belief: that everyone can already draw, and that when we draw, we're returning to something. The work here is more like a process of uncovering, freeing, building confidence, looking deeper, and paying attention — moving closer to the enjoyment drawing can bring, and to seeing beauty when it arises.

Courses move between portraiture, still life, drawing from imagination, and looking closely at established artists. Read about the drawing that started it all →

About Mathew

Mathew earned a postgraduate diploma at the Royal Drawing School on a scholarship place from 2015 to 2017, and has taught and mentored there since 2020. His work was featured in the Thames & Hudson book Ways of Drawing (2019). In 2020 he also began running his own online courses, and Line by Line grew out of a small, close community of students — some lifelong artists, many complete beginners — who kept coming back, course after course.

You don't need experience or confidence to start. Enthusiasm is enough.