The Dare: To Draw

Lisa Henning from Beautiful Ink shares her experience during the Dare Hour...

On Friday I attended a business conference... done the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce kind of way.  This years theme was 'Come on an Adventure’, and like many adventures the unexpected happened...

My moment came after lunch, when we had The Dare Hour.  There was a choice of seven dares, to improvise, to provoke, to sing, to meet creepy crawlies, to strike a pose, or to draw.  Whilst improvisation would have been my other dare, I decided it was time I got over myself and dared myself to draw again.

I surprised myself, with a talent I hadn't realised had evolved.  I say evolved because I didn't use to like the way I naturally draw.  I'm a messy drawer, you can see clearly what it is but I scribble, being the Virgo perfectionist I want to be precise.  Back at school when I last really drew, there would be more eraser rubbings on my paper than art !   I became frustrated at not being able to draw how I wanted, I didn't embrace my messy style, and I stopped drawing.

Our Dare to Draw was a Life Drawing class with Jake Spicer from Draw Brighton.  He took us through some hand/eye co-ordination exercises, we couldn't look at our paper, just following our models form with our eyes, drawing with our eyes, transferring onto paper in one continuous line.  My first two pictures would scare you i.e you'd never let me near you with a tattoo machine, but my third one I like.  It looks a bit Picasso'esque (last picture).

What a great exercise, I felt myself growing more confident with the pencil in my hand, it didn't matter where it went... once I'd gotten over the fact the lines didn't need to meet up at the top !  That's just what my drawing problem was, I'd been too rigid and too hard on myself.

My stock answer when I get asked "Do you do normal tattooing " is "No, because I can't draw.  Well of course I can, but not in a way you'd want to be tattooed."  Truth of the matter is/was, it had been so long since I had drawn that I didn't know what I drew like.  Even on Friday I hoped that I'd suddenly developed the ability to draw with a flourish the precise lines that I've aspired to... but instead I discovered that I can draw a pretty good body, and I've finally embraced my messiness.

As you'll see below, I'm really good drawing at breasts for some reason, and thank heavens I do curves and proportions well !
Ok we can debate whether me doing a drawing class was a dare or not, but daring myself to do something isn't exactly new, and I wanted to see what I could do...

So, back to the Life Drawing Class, after the hand/eye co-ordination exercises we did three timed poses, 3 mins, 5 mins and 15 mins, as in we had 3 minutes to draw the models pose, then two slightly longer poses with the 15 minute pose being last.  The first picture is the one I drew in 15 minutes, and I'm really pleased with it.  I can honestly say I did not know I could do that !  Yes I can see some mistakes, right arm a bit clumpy, left shoulder blade too low, but I promised myself I would just draw... there was no eraser in sight !

Below is the 3 minute pose.  You may note there is no 5 minute pose. I changed my medium to charcoal, I'd committed to drawing with it, it went wrong and it's in the bin... but like Meatloaf says, two out of three ain't bad

These are not finished pictures, and they're not going to be.  I like that I can leave them like this because it makes me want to do it again, to get even more fluid with a pencil in my hand, just like I am with a tattoo machine.  One day I might do a drawing I want to finish, but for now I'm really pleased with what I drew in 3 and 15 minutes.  Just to be clear - there's no chance of me tattooing body art any time soon

Life Drawing - Hand/Eye Co-ordination Exercise

I think there was about 20 of us who chose the drawing dare, and I think I can overwhelmingly give it the thumbs up from us all.  Well done BHCC on another successful conference, the un-conference sessions in the afternoon, the morning talk and exploration, were a resounding success too!

With last years theme 'Doing business in a city built for pleasure', and this years 'Come on an Adventure', I'm already looking forward to next years !

And I know I'm not the only wanting to visit Draw Brighton again !

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk