Sketch Hour Open Sketch Hour
For artists who learn from reference

Your references, a timer, and an hour to draw.

Timed gesture sessions like a life-drawing class, from 30-second warm-ups to long studies.

Start practicing See how it works

Free. Nothing to install. No account needed.

The session player showing a 30-second gesture pose of a dancer mid-kick, with the countdown and controls along the bottom

How it works

Sessions

Practice like you’re in a life-drawing class

Pick a 15, 30 or 60-minute class: quick gestures first, a long study last.

  • Grayscale
  • Random mirror
  • Thirds grid
  • Sound cues
Session setup with the 30-minute class selected and its schedule of poses shown as a strip
Library

Draw from your own references

Pinterest boards that refresh daily, plus your own pins, photos, GIFs and clips.

A board in the Library holding photo references: dancers, silhouettes, a portrait, two roads and a painting
Curriculum

A path through the skills of drawing

30 units in 8 tracks, from figure to environments, each with references made for it.

The Learn tab showing the next unit, Figure 1: Gesture, with a row of posed mannequin references

More tools

A portrait photo in the reference viewer
Photo
The same portrait reduced to three values
3 values

Value studies

Zoom, flip, grayscale and 2-, 3- or 5-value views of your references.

A road running toward mountains with the thirds grid on

Film stills and places

FilmGrab stills and street views for timed perspective studies.

The timer counting down from 10 minutes, with pause, +1 min and reset buttons

Timer and log

Rounds and rests, plus your minutes and streak for the week.

Keep your hands on the pen

  • SpacePause or resume
  • ←→Previous or next pose
  • GGrayscale
  • FMirror
  • TThirds grid

All keyboard shortcuts

Ready for your sketch hour?

Pick a class and start with a 30-second warm-up.

Start practicing

Works on computer, tablet and phone.