Untutored Drawing Practice Online

What this is:

Two hours of untutored drawing practice from home using the Zoom screen sharing function and open source photographs. We alternate between a range of subjects, human and non-human/more than human. The format is similar to that of a regular life drawing class in that it is clock based, with drawings occupying increasing durations of time. 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 meet:

This is held bright and early on Sunday mornings (GMT), though anybody who sleeps in or arrives late is welcome to just join in anytime. Starting early keeps the rest of the day free and allows people from Australia to join in as well (I'm Australian though my dad was from here). If anybody is short of time and just wants to stay for the first half or the last half, that's fine too. It's very chill, even though it's quite structured, if you get my drift.

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.

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!