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What to expect from The Drawing Circus: Prologue

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:58:23 -0400

The Drawing Circus is created by a team of artists, life models and musician; Drawing Circus events re-frame life drawing in a theatrical setting using stage lighting, live music, sets, costume and props to create a life drawing classes that breaks the boundaries of regular drawing classes.

What? Our latest event ‘Prologue’ will be set in two parts, which can attended separately or one after the other. There will be a huge central set with 6-8 nude models modelling at once, accompanied by live music from our Drawchestra of costumed musicians.

Who? The models who model for our events create tableau that you’d never experience in a regular one-model life class, with a mixture of poses from 3-45 minutes.

The Drawchestra create original music especially to draw to, playing live at the event.

When? Prologue in two parts, Part I from 4-7pm and Part II from 8-11pm.

Where? Prologue will be held in The Old Market’s main theatre space (or small events are held in the bar, which will also be open throughout the day)

Why? The Drawing Circus aims to push the boundaries of what life drawing can be; to inspire and delight. All of the team involved volunteer for the big events, keeping them affordable and accessible to all. Here are some more photos from our last Grand Drawing Circus, Manifesto.

Get in touch for more information info@draw-brighton.co.uk

Photos by Roy Mathews

What's on this week

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:17:00 -0400

Wednesday
19:30-22:00 Mixed pose

Thursday
12:00-14:00 Mixed Pose
19:30-22:00 Themed Pose: Punk

Friday
12:00-14:00 Mixed Pose
15:00-18:00 Long Pose

Saturday
11:00-18:00 Artists Open House**
11:00-13:30 Mixed Pose*
14:30-16:30 Short Poses
17:30-20:30 Long Pose: 3 of 3

Sunday
11:00-18:00 Artists Open House**
17:30-20:00 Jam £5 Life Drawing

Monday
13:00-14:00 Childrens Drawing circus
16:00-19:00 The Drawing Circus: Prologue Part I***
20:00-23:00 The Drawing Circus: Prologue Part II***

*There will be no tutored class this week, but instead we will be holding a regular Mixed Pose Life Class, run by Shelley Morrow.

**New England House will be showcasing it’s creative talent with an open studio event every weekend and bank holiday in May. Life classes continue as normal; level 3 will be open as a gallery and cafe. Click here for more details.

***Click on the links to book for individual Drawing Circus events for £12 each, or email info@draw-brighton.co.uk to book Prologue Part I & II together for £20

curlymark: Digitised a portrait from last week’s life drawing...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:42:01 -0400

curlymark:

Digitised a portrait from last week’s life drawing class

The Drawing Circus: Prologue

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:05:09 -0400

On the 27th May we’ll be holding our latest Grand Drawing Circus, ‘Prologue’.

It is the first in a new series of theatrical life drawing events and plays through an elusive narrative, told through the poses of six models and accompanied by live music from the Drawchestra. The models will be set on a giant central set in the Old Market Theatre, surrounded by a circle of 100 draftsmen.

The event is split into two three-hour parts which can be attended separately or as a full six-hour drawing event, booking is required and you’ll need to book events I & II separately. £12 (Regular), £10 (Student), £20 (Both parts)

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Book Part I (4pm-7pm) here: http://draw-brighton.co.uk/events/1103/the-drawing-circus-prologue-part-i

Book Part II (8pm-11pm) here: http://draw-brighton.co.uk/events/1104/the-drawing-circus-prologue-part-ii

You can also pay in cash at the studio, or book via email.

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Finally there is a costumed £3 Family Drawing event in the daytime from 1-2pm; more details are available here: http://draw-brighton.co.uk/events/1105/the-drawing-circus-family-drawing

What's on this week

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:12:00 -0400

Tuesday 14th

19:00-21:00 ETC Discussion: Festival Vs. Fringe

Wednesday 15th
19:30-22:00 Mixed pose

Thursday 16th
12:00-14:00 Mixed Pose
19:30-22:00 Themed Pose: Boxes

Friday 17th
12:00-14:00 Mixed Pose
15:00-18:00 Long Pose

Saturday 18th

11:00-18:00 Artists Open House**
11:00-13:30 Tutored Life Drawing 06: The Head*
14:30-16:30 Short Poses
17:30-20:30 Long Pose: 2 of 3

Sunday 19th
11:00-18:00 Artists Open House**
11:00-14:00 Tutored Oil Painting: 3 of 3
17:30-20:00 Jam £5 Life Drawing

*’The Head’ looks in detail at how to draw the head and face, thinking about the head as an object as well as a collection of features.

** New England House will be showcasing it’s creative talent with an open studio event every weekend and bank holiday in May. Life classes continue as normal; level 3 will be open as a gallery and cafe. Click here for more details.

Last Tuesday we beamed ourselves up to the The Old Market Bar...

Tue, 07 May 2013 03:00:00 -0400

Last Tuesday we beamed ourselves up to the The Old Market Bar for a Science Fiction themed Drawing Circus. To make up for a lack of Drawchestra we had no less than six models posing as aliens, space pirates and inexplicably nude astronauts to an eclectic soundtrack of sci fi tunes. Check out some great drawing by Geo Parkin here.

Our next drawing circus will be held on the 27th May and will be a Grand Drawing Circus for the Brighton Festival Fringe, entitled ‘Prologue’. Get in touch for more details.

The Team

Francesca Cluney - Space Spider
Felix Clement Parker - Space Pirate
Laura Burgess - Alien
Laura Nenonen - Android
Ruth Lawrence - Barbarella
Sara - Alien

Jake Spicer - Tutor
Shelley Morrow - Photographer

Photos of some of the characters from our recent Sci-Fi themed...

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:33:43 -0400

Photos of some of the characters from our recent Sci-Fi themed life drawing event at The Old Market. More photos coming soon!

Thanks to everybody who has visited our Open Studio this...

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:52:13 -0400

Thanks to everybody who has visited our Open Studio this weekend! If you haven’t been along yet pop by and say hello, we’re open every weekend in May including the bank holidays from 11am-6pm.

Atelier Summer School

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:07:00 -0400

Over the summer we will be running a series of small summer school classes alongside our regular life drawing program. The classes will be small so booking early is essential to guarantee a place; just book via the links bellow or get in touch (info@draw-brighton.co.uk) for more details.

Drawing the Costumed Figure / Jake Spicer
Tues 18th – Wed 19th June / £70, £50* / 11:00-17:30

Landscape Painting & Drawing / Hester Berry
Tues 25th – Wed 26th June / £70, £50* / 11:00-17:30

Drawing 15 minute Portraits / Jake Spicer
Tues 16th – Wed 17th July / £70, £50* / 11:00-17:30

The Figure in the Landscape (residential course in Wales) / Jake Spicer
Mon 22nd – Fri 26th July / £400

Sight size Portrait Painting / Tim Patrick
Every Sunday in July / £250 / 11:00-16:00

More information

Drawing the Costumed Figure / Jake Spicer

A two day workshop exploring how to draw the costumed figure. Some experience of life drawing is ideal, all materials are included.

Day 1: We will explore techniques for drawing drapery and fabric, followed by drawing from models posing nude and repeating the pose in costume to establish an understanding of the figure beneth clothing.

Day 2: We will explore different costumes as well as making quick studies of clothed figures in public.

Book here

Landscape Painting & Drawing / Hester Berry

A two day workshop taught by Landscape painter Hester Berry. Oils, watercolour or acrylic are all welcome. You can bring your own materials or hire our painting kits for the studio; no past experience is necessary.

Day 1: We begin with an introduction to landscpae painting at New England House, followed by a trip to Barkham Mills for 2-3 hours drawing and a return back to the studio studio debrief and preperation for the next days painting.

Day 2: We meet on location (or at an arranged location if lift-sharing) at Barkham mills and spend all day painting outside with a final hour debrief back at studio.

Book here

Drawing 15 minute Portraits / Jake Spicer

A two day portrait workshop based on Jake Spicer’s new book ‘Draw Portraits in 15 Minutes’ Published by Ilex Press. The course follows the techniques of the book to build an understanding of how to draw a strong 15 minute study of a head. No past experience necessary.

Day 1: We will begin with an introduction to the book and attitudes to take to portrait drawing. Working through the book we will explore a basic 5 minute portrait technique.

Day 2: We wil spend the day working through spotlights on how to deal with the different features of the head and problem solving issues in portrait drawing.

Book here

The Figure in the Landscape / Jake Spicer

A five day residential drawing and painting course in Wales. Six places are available, staying in the top floor holiday flat of a spacious Edwardian house on the edge of the beautiful Mawddach estuary in Snowdonia National Park here. Accommodation is full board with food and drawing materials provided. The course will explore drawing the figure in the landscape with alternating life drawing and drawing/painting the stunning surrounding woods, sea, rivers and mountains. We will have models with us who will be taking turns to model both in the house and outside in the landscape. Email to book, or for more information.

Sight size Portrait Painting / Tim Patrick

Painter Tim Patrick will teach a weekend course across every Sunday in July based around the technique of ‘sight size’ oil painting. Students will work on a single portrait for five weeks, there are only four places available and one model will be shared between each two students. Tim Studied oil painting in Florence at Charles Cecil Studios and has adapted his training to apply to his own adventurous painting practice. Some experience of drawing is required, please email for more details.

Filmaker, photographer and storyteller Nic De Jesus recently...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:04:38 -0400

Filmaker, photographer and storyteller Nic De Jesus recently shot this beautiful video portrait of Draw tutor Jake Spicer drawing, painting and teaching.

This Saturday we have the quarterly Sketchcrawl. Sketchcrawl is...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:07:03 -0400

This Saturday we have the quarterly Sketchcrawl. Sketchcrawl is an international phenomenon; artists from all around the world - any level, beginner to professional - get together on set dates throughout the year to draw in a sociable atmosphere. As the name suggests, it’s a bit like a pub crawl: you spend a day moving from location to location. At the end, you can meet up one final time to pass the sketchbooks round.

This month we will be drawing at Brighton Marina. Meeting at Wetherspoons at 11am and walking around the marina sketching as we go. Please feel free to join us at any time throughout the day; no experience is necessary and all abilities are very welcome.

Here are photos from past events, when we had sunshine.

Last Thursdays at the themed pose session we had a model posing...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:40:15 -0400

Drawing by Alison Milner-Gulland

Making the mask

Last Thursdays at the themed pose session we had a model posing in a giant birds nest with a bird mask as inspiration. Here are some fantastic drawings from the evening, and Illustrator Geo Parkin came along and drew some excellent sketches on his ipad and wrote a blog post about the evening here.

This Monday the Drawing Circus stowed away to Emily Ball’s...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:13:10 -0400

This Monday the Drawing Circus stowed away to Emily Ball’s studio at Seawhite in Partridge Green for a Nautically themed full day of drawing. Felix and Mary enacted the eternal struggle of sailor and sea in a series of musical moving poses whilst Emma and Frankie played the parts of cast-away and siren with progressions of longer and shorter poses.

It was another highly successful event at Emily’s lovely studio and we’re looking forward to the next collaboration. Places book up almost immediately so get in touch if you’re interested in a place.

The Team

Emma Sandham King - Model
Francesca Cluney - Model
Mary Martin - Model/Drawchestra
Felix Clement - Model/Drawchestra
Jake Spicer- Tutor/Photographer
Emily Ball - Tutor

Drawings by Gary Goodman and Emily’s students

Tutored Life Classes

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:34:00 -0400

Every Saturday we run a tutored life drawing class at our New England House Studio. Each of class costs £10 and stands alone as a lesson in it’s own right; the set of twelve classes can also be attended in sequence to provide a complete tutored life drawing course. Don’t fret if you’ve missed a session, when we reach the end of our twelve week cycle we begin them all over again!

The sessions are drop-in so you can just turn up and pay on the door, or alternatively book via the website www.draw-brighton.co.uk; sessions are taught by Jake Spicer. Here is a run down of what you can expect at each class:

01 / Doorway to Drawing / 13th April
‘Doorway to Drawing’ is an introductory session exploring the basic elements of drawing; we’ll work through a range of exercises in charcoal and pencil building core skills, followed by drawing from still life and a portrait model.

02 / Gesture / 20th April
The ‘Gesture’ tutored class focuses on capturing the raw feel of a pose in a quick sketch, either as an end in itself, or as a foundation for a more detailed study.

03 / Anatomy / 27th April
The ‘Anatomy’ class focuses on how to use an understanding of anatomy to inform life drawing. The class introduces how the anatomy of the model’s body parallels with the anatomy of the drawing.

04 / Structure / 4th May
The ‘Structure’ class looks at achieving accurate proportions in a drawing by creating a framework of landmarks on which the figure can be structured.

05 / Negative Space / 11th May
The ‘Negative Space’ class explores how to understand the shape of the figure by drawing the negative spaces that surround it.

06 / The Head / 18th May
The ‘Head’ looks in detail at how to draw the head and face, thinking about the head as an object as well as a collection of features.

07 / Hair / 1st June
The ‘Hair’ class looks in detail at different strategies for drawing hair, as well as exploring how hair behaves on the head, and the body of the model.

08 / Limbs / 8th June
Capturing the subtleties of the arms and legs can be as tricky as drawing the hands and feet that adorn them. The ‘Limbs’ class looks in detail at the arms and legs, looking at foreshortening in limbs and how an understanding of anatomy can underpin a drawing.

09 / Hands / 15th June
Hands can be as central to the identity of the model as the face; the ‘Hands’ class looks in detail at drawing hands in dedicated studies and as part of a life drawing.

10 / Feet / 22nd June
Feet are often overlooked in a life drawing; the ‘Feet’ class provides time to look in detail at the feet, in isolation and as part of a full figure drawing.

11 / Foreshortening / 29th June
Understanding how perspective affects a life pose can be critical to make sense of trickier reclining poses; this class focuses on how to deal with perspective in a life class (usually called ‘foreshortening’).

12 / Problem Solving / 6th July
To move forward in your sketching you’ll need to learn to isolate and deal with mistakes in your own drawing. This class provides advice on specific issues, as well as giving long-term strategies for problem solving.

For more details just email info@draw-brighton.co.uk

Models on Tumblr

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:39:20 -0400

Emma Sandham King and Francesca Cluney, co-organisers of the Drawing Circus, champion Life Models and lynchpins of Draw since it was begun have recently joined Tumblr. Check out Emma’s blog here and Frankie’s blog here

Here are some pictures of the pair in action (or static, I should say)…

This Tuesday we celebrated a whole year of Drawing Circus events...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:15:48 -0400

This Tuesday we celebrated a whole year of Drawing Circus events at The Old Market with an Spring themed session (with accompanying pirates, because you have pirates all through the year right?). The Old Market have supported our sessions by hosting both our six-Monthly large events, and monthly small Drawing Circus’s, if you haven’t visited this excellent venue I strong recommend checking out their vibrant and varied program.

We’re looking forward to another year here, and in the immediate future we have a Sci-Fi themed Drawing Circus on the 30th April, followed by our next big event on the 27th May.

The Team

Peggy Squire - Model
Francesca Cluney - Model
Trevelyn (The Captains Beard) - Music
Felix (The Captains Beard) - Music

Hester Berry - Tutor
Jake Spicer - Tutor
Shelley Morrow - Photographer

Thanks to Emma and Frankie for a great two-model session last...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:16:03 -0400

Thanks to Emma and Frankie for a great two-model session last week in the Life Drawing Dress. To see more pictures of the dress; including close ups of the embroidered drawings on it have a look at Shelley Morrow’s website www.shelleymorrow.co.uk

This Monday we held an extra curricular Drawing Circus at The...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:12:13 -0500

This Monday we held an extra curricular Drawing Circus at The Old Market, following closely on the heels of the last. Starting with still-stretches and ending in a six-player pile-up pose the Brighton Rockers Roller Derby Team modelled for a full complement of eager artists, creating a dynamic diorama of Derby delight.

We raised £160 for the team to help them get to a game in Glasgow and we’re looking forward to their next local game, a Double Header with BRIGHTON ROCKERS V’s LONDON ROCKIN ROLLERS and BRIGHTON BRUISERS V’s PORTSMOUTH ROLLER WENCHES. Click here for tickets.

The Team

Emma the Condemner - Model
Kapow - Model
Cap’n Block Beard - Model
Anti Gravetty - Model
Petichoke - Model
Chaka Carnage - Model
Jake Spicer - Tutor
Shelley Morrow - Photographer

Drawing by Suki Price, Chris Keeley, Nick Hurst and Jake Spicer

Last Tuesday we put on our latest mini-drawing circus at The Old...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:15:44 -0500

Last Tuesday we put on our latest mini-drawing circus at The Old Market, an exploration of tragic tales of love with poses inspired by Pygmalion and The Lady of Shalot. Thank you to Lucy and Matthew for providing lovely accompanying music and stepping into the breach to model. Our next Drawing Circus is following close on the heels of the last with a session this coming Monday with the Brighton Rockers Roller Derby Team modelling.

Crew and Cast

Jake Spicer - Tutor
Alice Sweryda - Door
Lucy Victoria Sponge - Drawchestra
Matthew Hamblion - Drawchestra
Francesca Cluney - Lady of Shallot/Galeteia
Ottavio Pedretti - Lancelot/Pygmalion
Shelley Morrow - Photographer

Ben Mitchell, a regular at our drawing classes an all round...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 05:10:34 -0500

Ben Mitchell, a regular at our drawing classes an all round lovely chap, has posted the various stages of his painting from our popular Sunday oil painting class. You can see the the full set of pictures here.

To book a place on our tutored oil painting classes, just email info@draw-brighton.co.uk.