Untutored Drawing Practice Online

What this is:

Untutored drawing practice from home using the Zoom screen sharing function and open source photographs. We alternate between a range of subjects, human and more- than-human. The format is normally similar to that of a regular life drawing class in that it is clock based, incorporating shorter warm ups and longer poses. We get a ten minute tea break in the middle. The idea is to get in as much practice as possible, so there's not a whole lot of chit chat apart from at the end when we normally have a relaxed 'show and tell' (strictly voluntary).

When we meet:

Sunday mornings bright and early and the occasional weeknight.

Who it's for:

This is targeted towards anybody who cares to join, no matter how experienced they may be at drawing. Nobody is concerned with how experienced or not anybody else is in the group. We're just working away together. It's okay also to dip your toe in an just stay for a portion of the class as some people do.

How does it benefit you?

It can be difficult to develop a habit of practice without a bit of structure. You'll be surprised how many drawings you are getting done without even trying. Over time your skills and confidence will improve. You might also enjoy the bit of company and the photographs and music. :)

What does it cost?:

It's currently free. At some stage I might impose a small charge for this just to defray some fixed costs involved in running the group and support the photographers and website owners who provide their images for our use.

A technique I use for drawing

• Use a light pencil at first and have an eraser handy!

• Draw a big light circle outline to indicate the space the figure occupies on the page, followed by internal shapes to broadly outline the separate parts of the figure.

• Keep refining those circles/shapes as you go. Do this down to the hands. Eg. make broad outlines at first for the hands then smaller subdividing shapes to indicate the location of fingers, knuckles etc.

• The detail should emerge as the shapes get more and more, and smaller and smaller.

• If there's time for colour, shading or texture, that can go in next. You might want to rub out some of the lines at this point or paint over them.

  I like this technique as it means I'm not overcommitting with detail at the beginning, before I know the proportions and how everything hangs together.

Come along one Sunday and give it a crack!