6 > Fearless Drawing
This is lucky because I spend every
day drawing.
I’m an artist and my drawings are
commissioned internationally for lots of
clients including the Los Angeles Times,
Sony Japan, Heineken, Swarovski, Harper’s
Bazaar, De Beers, Elle Spain, Harrods, and
Le Bon Marché.
I am completely addicted to the power
and pleasure that drawing affords me.
Each day I get to start out with a blank
sheet of paper and create ANYTHING I
can imagine. I feel the same way about
drawing today as I did when I was a
child. The physical pleasure of sweeping
marks, scrubbing felt-tipped pens, and
smearing paint. Exploring, defining and
creating the real and imagined world and
capturing it all just how I see fit.
There is nothing I would rather do.
When I tell people what I do for a living
a frequent response is a version of
“I wish I could draw!”, but there is so
much baggage and fear attached to it.
I regularly teach workshops particularly
focusing on people who feel nervous
drawing. The idea of being able to draw
is so attractive, and yet unless we already
feel confident in our abilities it is seen
as an unreachable goal. This is such a
shame. If we aspired to play the guitar
then the fact that we were not already
accomplished wouldn’t prevent us, we
would just begin, practice, and from
wobbly beginnings would improve. For
some reason drawing is not viewed in
this light, but rather as something which
only a few lucky people are naturally
talented at. This is rubbish.
We all started out naturally and
unselfconsciously drawing in childhood;
enjoying the physical PROCESS of applying
paint or crayon to paper, unconcerned
with the finished artwork, the PRODUCT
of our creativity. The problem is that early
on we are made to focus on the product,
the result of our labor. We are encouraged
to accurately capture the world around us,
and gradually our ability to draw is defined
by how close to reality the finished
product is. Most of us quickly become
disheartened. We spend miserable hours
in class attempting to draw a bowl of
fruit accurately, grinding endless erasers
to dust in a miserable attempt to get
it “right.” The pleasure of the process
becomes merely an academic battle
to turn a three-dimensional world into
two dimensions on your page. You are
judged by yourself, peers, and teachers,
and it is quickly determined who in
the class can and can’t draw. It is this
environment that makes people stop
drawing. It was that environment that
nearly made me stop drawing!
I love drawing.
Introduction > 7
Today my drawings are fairly
representative but include lots of
wibbly wobbly lines, dodgy perspective,
and made up bits. I change the world
however I choose, adding petals to
a flower or removing entire floors of
buildings. I take pleasure in creating MY
version of the world through drawing.
Much of my work is fibs and fiddles.
Absorbed in the process I add zigzag
tiles, stripes, and spots which in reality
do not exist. I am not a camera, the
work is not a carbon copy of the world,
but each drawing speaks of the world
whilst also speaking very loudly of me.
There is no one way to draw and I am
wholly uninterested in trying to make
you draw like me. I want you to have the
confidence and freedom of expression
to draw like you. Drawing is like hand-
writing. Only by embracing the marks
that our own hands can make and
exploring our own drawn response to the
real (and imagined) world will you find
your own way forward.
I have written this book to make you fall
in love with the process of drawing again,
to rediscover the physical pleasure and
joy of putting pencil to page. Drawing
can become your private refuge, a
place to hide away, explore, create and
do something just for you. By actively
seeking enjoyment in drawing (focusing
on the process), we will begin to draw
regularly, and by drawing regularly
our work (the product) will inevitably
improve! I want you to be inspired, to
experiment, and to discover or recover
your own drawing voice. It is designed
to create a new relationship with your
drawing, a chance to reconnect and
appreciate your unique drawn line.
Drawing brings me so much happiness
every day and has completely influenced
the way I view the world and observe
my surroundings. It offers a freedom and
power to create, escape, relax, indulge,
and explore, and I am so excited to share
my passion and enthusiasm with you.
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