Drawing sessions with Wildlife Drawing UK

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In January and February I attended live drawing sessions organised by Wildlifedrawing.co.uk. That was actually a lucky find, since I love animals and they are probably the most interesting topic to draw (for me). And it allowed me to engage in a group of people mesmerised and amazed by our wild muses.

The first session was handling rescued reptiles consisting of a tortoise, corn snake, leopard gecko, bearded dragon and a green iguana named Deano who loved a good scratch. Honestly, he really enjoyed being petted and scratched.

Usually I start a drawing too small, so this time I started sketching big which was quite the wrong approach. Considering you want to catch the form and appearance of moving animals, it’s probably best to  make small sketches, so you don’t need to move your pencil too far enough.

One abandoned sketch I did want to finish as a proper drawing then in the following week after the session.


Drawing all the scales was quite time intense, so I learned to appreciate all the hard work of those artists who actually draw photorealistic images. That’s probably not something for me, especially when you want to capture the form and construction of an animal, it’s better to keep it a bit loose. Drawing hyper realistic portraits might make you a skilled technician, but doesn’t teach you anything about how to construct the animal or capture its behaviour and character.

And that’s probably the point of these live drawing classes. To get to know your subject and establish an emotional bond. As they say on their website as well. And it’s true, often I just sit there being amazed and forget to actually draw. Happened quite a lot in the owls session.

Another bonus with wildlifedrawing.co.uk is that each ticket supports an animal welfare project or institution. So drawing, meeting animals and doing something good, can’t get better than that! I forgot to mention that one location offered superb coffee, thus also this desire was handled magnificently.

So what are you waiting for? In case you don’t live in or near London, they also offer online sessions over Zoom, last time we drew some caracals from a farm in Namibia.


That’s all from me, stay tuned for some more animalistic updates!

Andi 


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