In an effort to return to our artistic roots we have appointed Dean Melbourne, a local artist, to conduct a course of four 2-hour life drawing classes in the office. Every member of staff has been invited to take part – here are some of the results of the first session.
The first exercise was to get each of us drawing the model. No instructions, no guidance, no rules. Each of us produced a drawing which will no doubt be used to compare and contrast with our efforts at the end of the course, and gave Dean an idea of just how good (or bad) we were.
The second task was an exercise in Pure Contour Drawing. We were instructed to draw without looking at the paper. For everyone, the finished result – although looking nothing like the model – contained details which hinted that the brain was capable of transferring what we could see to paper purely by the movement of our hands. This exercise is one favoured by Betty Edwards in her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (highly recommended).
The third task involved sharing drawings. We each started a drawing and every 5 minutes were instructed to move one place around the circle to continue the drawing where the last person had left off.
The final task was a timed exercise. We had 3 minutes to draw the model without lifting our pencils from the paper. The results of some of these drawings are the photos you see on the left.
Session 2 takes place in January so the budding artists in the office will have chance to practice what they’ve learned over the Christmas break.