August sketchy's

Mark and myself have been to the last 2 Dr.Sketchy's life drawing events in Manchester and for anyone remotely interested in wanting to start life drawing as a means of getting back into drawing or just to brush up on the skills, I would HIGHLY recommend it. At £7.50 a ticket (plus a booking fee online) you get a good few hours being able to draw the models in various poses spending anywhere from 1 minute to 10 on a piece and there is no pressure to do things "correctly"... they pride themselves as being Anti-Art school.. which basically means you have more fun! :)

I spent my time practicing getting proportions correct and trying to get a sense of how the models were positioned and the character/feeling of the pose etc... followed by sketching cartoons and caricatures in more my own particular style. I was a little scared to do so at first in case some one told me off but I then looked at Mark's work, he was doing close up portraits filling whole pages.. where I was doing tiny doodles of full length poses.. but neither of us were wrong which is what I loved! This isn't just a room full of silent student-y types staring at a naked model, there's a more relaxed atmosphere with suggestions of how to draw the models thrown in there - you dont have to if you dont want, but it is fun - such as use your opposite hand, focus on one area in high detail, draw the model and then pass it on for someone else to fill in the background... etc.. also... the models are always naked! Don't get me wrong, the addition of a Burlesque theme to the night/models is a lure but it also makes the evening more interesting and different from art school again... and its not just women... the next event not only boasts being in an interesting location (MoSI) but also a body building model (apparently he has a wicked sense of humour).

anyway.. enough of me rambling.. here's a few shots of the Sexy Scooby Doo - Velma Von Bon Bon night (taken from the Dr.Sketchy's facebook page) and then mainly my sketches from the last 2 nights... hopefully Mark will add some of his too.