City Lit - Starting to Draw

For a long time now (and by that I mean years!) I've wanted to try my hand at something different, something artistic, like music or art. However procrastination has ruled the roost and I've never really got round to doing anything about it; it's been one of those unfulfilled needs I guess. Well at least it was until a few months ago when I decided to grasp the nettle and choose decisively; it wasn't easy but I reasoned that while being musical is great because you can entertain and enjoy playing socially it's hard to practice and the results don't last whereas with drawing whatever you create stays with you forever and it's eminently portable - with a pencil and paper you can draw anytime, anywhere.

So first I landed myself a Groupon voucher to the WK School just off Piccadilly for an afternoon's introduction to drawing and technique. To be honest I was a bit nervous on arrival but luckily there were only four or five of us beginners hoping to learn and the atmosphere was very informal. With our pads and pencils we kicked off with some lines and patterns, then moved onto drawing realistic spheres and even an egg-shaped object with shading and shadows. Surprisingly some of our attempts weren't too bad and so our teacher moved us on to pastels, charcoal and all of the fun that you can have with these materials. Tiring as it was the session was a good one.

More than just a ball?

Opening the window to something new

Fresh from this new beginning (although a little tempered by the realisation of just how hard it is to be really good at something) I decided to quickly book a 4-week Starting to Draw course at City Lit. For once all of the stars seemed to be aligned with the course taking place a mere 10-minute walk from my office at the very convenient time of 6-9pm on a Friday and for a not too astronomical price. I was sold on the idea although not so much that I actually put in much practice as the course approached! Of course this all changed when Diane got hold of the fifteen of us and put us to work drawing still-lives in pencil, practising our shading and then finishing with some charcoal work using our 'other' hand; that was interesting!

Glue bottles are not so easy to draw it turns out

Dramatic fruit and goblet ensemble

In the weeks that followed we practised and we practised while Diane nudged us in various useful ways and we critiqued each other's pieces. The really surprising aspect was just how different our pictures turned out to be; while we were drawing the same pieces of fruit with the same materials our styles were all totally different and convincingly unique! At first I thought that charcoal, with all of its many graduations, was my favourite material but then we moved onto pastels and my world shifted on its axis! When you start adding colour the possibilities are just endless:

A whole new dimension for me

Somewhat abstract but it's a start

By the final week every one of us had produced at least a few works that we were proud of (as well as some pieces that were, shall we say, unfinished) and discovered where our talents lay. Personally I like the idea of layering pastels, charcoal and pencil together in the same drawing but the only problem is time; you'd think that in an hour it'd be possible to get something half-decent down on paper but that's not how it works out. Really in that time I'm just getting started!

From now on then I just need to keep sketching and discovering what works and what doesn't. I can see myself taking another City Lit course that's for sure but in the meantime it's just me and my pad:

What a pretty fellow!

I can see fruit becoming a preoccupation!