I’ve never been much of a creative type or interested in drawing, but lockdown can definitely do some crazy things to you when you’re bored. Let’s just say, the name ‘Drink and Draw’ influenced my decision to take part in this virtual art class, as I knew I could relax and have a drink while I improved on my non-existent drawing skills.
Jilly and Tom led the drawing workshop, and they both made the group feel at ease and not under too much pressure. This session was designed to relax us, teach us some art skills, and build our confidence. There were 10 participants in the class including 2 of my work friends, the 2 instructors and some other friendly faces. Everyone was enthusiastic and happy to get involved. While some people were amazing at drawing, others admitted that they hadn’t done it since school, so there was a range of people with different abilities.
We began the session by each introducing ourselves, saying where we were from, and what we were drinking. This was a good way to break the ice in the group, and once we had had a little chat, we moved onto the different drawing methods.
These turned out to be a bit challenging, and everyone was laughing at the unidentifiable drawings. Firstly, we drew an object (I chose a gin bottle) with our dominant hand while not taking our hand off the paper. Next, we used our non-dominant hand, and finally we were not allowed to look at the paper at all. By the end of trying all these methods, it would be an understatement to say mine didn’t look like a gin bottle at all!
Next we moved onto shading, which I found very challenging because I struggled to see the shadows from my objects, but I was more than happy to give it a go! I sketched a gin bottle, cup, and pencil. I chose easy objects to draw so that I would find the session relaxing and not too stressful. Others chose to draw flowers, a banana, a coffee strainer, and a face massaging tool. We all held up our drawings on Zoom and tried to guess each other’s before revealing them.
Next up, the hosts displayed an upside-down picture of David Bowie. We had 4 minutes to draw him, so I decided to add some colour to make it a bit more obvious who it was. When they first showed us the picture, I was really dreading drawing him as drawing people is not my forte, but I think it turned out alright, if I do say so myself. It was time for a quick break to refill our drinks before having a little lesson on some art history, which was interesting and broke up the session before continuing to draw some more.
The funniest part of the session was when we had to draw each other. We were allowed to choose whoever we wanted to draw on the Zoom call before displaying our portraits. The rest of the class would then have to guess who we had drawn. I was flattered when some people chose to draw me!
The Drink and Draw workshop was a great way to meet new people, learn some drawing skills and have a laugh while doing it. I didn’t know what to expect from the workshop, as I wasn’t sure how the hosts would help us improve our skills while we drew different things, but the class exceeded my expectations. I would most definitely recommend this 1 hour 30 minute drink and draw online workshop to anyone wanting a fun, sociable evening as it only cost £13 per screen.
