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Colleague and I slipped out of the office this lunch time to visit an Open Studio event. I was extremely surprised to find that a company whose products I’ve seen in all the glossy magazines is actually local to my home town of Brighton - and their studio was just down the road. Sukie make […]

We’ve moved to new offices at work, and one of the things I’m enjoying most is the view. Effectively, much of the building is a huge glass box; we’re on the top floor, and it’s a bit like being suspended in the sky above the city.
Idly staring out of the window during a phone call […]

Welcome to the weekend. Here’s the weekly round-up: all posts are still open for your comments and contributions.
> On Monday, I suggested drawing things close to home.
> On Tuesday, I had some off-beat suggestions for finding a life model.
> On Wednesday, I wrote a little bit about self portraits.
> On Thursday, I noticed that a […]

This post falls firmly into the category of ‘reminding myself of good habits’. It’s a simple one, and one that art teachers forever try to encourage, but somehow I just forget. It’s simply this: draw thumbnails before you launch into a bigger picture.
A thumbnail, so legend has it, takes its name from the practice […]

The way I see it, there are two broad ways of approaching collage: you can use unidentifiable coloured bits of paper to make up your image, or you can use figures, shapes and objects from photographs, rearranged to make a new picture. The former might be more pleasing, ultimately, but the latter is quick, quick, […]

Apologies for the small image today. I came across it yesterday while perusing a charity Christmas card catalogue at the bus stop. I hope you can squint enough to see it, because I think it’s worth it.
Now and again, an image comes along that just makes my heart skip. This was in the middle of […]

I spent my sixth to my 13th year pretty much doing nothing but drawing horses. You know little girls and horses.
I got so that I could draw them to my satisfaction, but even with such intensive practice, I never managed to iron out a certain imbalance: it was always easier to draw a horse […]

Who’s in control of your picture? That’s right, you’re in control. I know it doesn’t always feel like that, but it’s true. So it’s up to you to make decisions about what you’re going to show and how you’re going to show it.
OK, you can sit down in front of your subject and draw everything […]

We human beings like patterns. We use them to decorate our clothes, our bedcovers, our curtains. Architects in more aesthetic times used them as a matter of course, to bring character to what would otherwise be blank facades: you can see them in decorative brickwork, ornate iron railings, and even on features as mundane as […]

Sometimes a blank space says…
a lot.
In drawing, it is often tempting to fill up every last bit of space on the page, but remember: less is more. A blank space can:
> Imply a background, from a misty infinity to snow banks to blank walls.
> Serve as part of your composition, creating interesting shapes in itself.
> […]