The Edinburgh Drawing School was founded in March 2012. The school grew out of a concern that many of the art schools in Scotland were seeing their traditional skill-base decline, with the reduction or even removal of drawing, particularly life-drawing, from the curriculum of fine art courses. 

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Knowing how many people, from art students and experienced artists to the art buying public, lamented this fact, it was clear there was a need for a return to the classical model of drawing, where time is taken to teach skills in media, technique, proportion, composition and so forth, and so the school was founded to offer this to students of all ages and abilities.

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In January 2025, Fiona McCrindle, founder of E.D.S, now busy with the Torrance Gallery, passed the baton on to Alicia Coombs, who has been managing the school since 2022. With a background in management and customer service, as well as being a classically trained artist herself, was the perfect fit to unite a team of talented tutors and bring EDS  into it's next chapter. It is a wonderful sight to see the school flourishing and still here after the pandemic!

 

No qualification or experience is needed to come to our classes; we aim to appeal to both absolute beginners looking to take their first steps into drawing, and to professional artists who would enjoy the camaraderie of a group dynamic. Thus, the School offers a wonderful, creative and inspiring environment where artists of all abilities can mix, taking encouragement from not just the tutor but from each other!

 

All classes are taught by working, established artists, and we use experienced and professional life & portrait models. Having focused initially on life drawing, the range of classes offered has grown with demand and the timetable now covers oil painting, abstract, landscape, still life, floral and portrait subjects, as well as calligraphy and illustration.