Exercise: Imagine a Workshop

Think about a technique, process, approach, or way of thinking that feels central to your illustration practice - something you enjoy and feel confident sharing. Now imagine that you’ve been asked to run a short, one-off workshop for a small group (in person or online). Identify your focus (which could be a drawing process, a material, an idea or theme, etc.) and ask yourself:

• What would you like to teach or explore?

• Who will attend the workshop?

• Are they beginners, young or elderly people, or other illustrators?

• What materials will be needed for you and the participants?

• What would participants do or make?

• How long will the workshop take?

Thoughts

From previous feedback from tutors and past assessment, I got a lot of acknowledgement on my drawing technique (particularly with the brush pen) so I think that's what would be my main focus.

Exploring the brush pen has from experience benefited me from understand where dark shadows can be manipulated with the brush pen by how much pressure you apply to your surface.

I would want to target anyone over the age of 13 and anyone from the beginner stages of their art journey would be able to take part, it's a simple lesson that can be easily guided.

To let people explore different ways that the brush pen can be manipulated to benefit their illustration, I would make them do a simple drawing of an animal of their choice; start of simple but also challenging enough that they would could create something that they would keep.

I would say the workshop would be an hour or two, to allow everyone to have time to get feedback as they create and also to bounce off of each other. All they would need is a piece of paper, pencil and a brush pen, A4 is a great size to explore the page and if the workshop attendees feel up to exploring more animals or different poses then they have the space to do so.

Reflection

I've designed my workshop this way so that people can feel comfortable and understand that they don't need fancy tools to create fun and interesting art. I personally LOVE the brush pen so sharing that love feels good, I also love Kim Jung Gi's work and all he used was a brush pen...

Poster

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/92ebe1_9d2a6d8ccd1e450c9cd0b186219201bd/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Evaluation

I really liked doing this exercise, I got to explore my biggest strength and turn it into a little workshop idea. With the popularity of Charlie Mackesy and his work with 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse', I feel like a lot of people would want to explore this style; the brush pen is also a really simple tool that has a lot of qualities to it as well.

It was one of my first tools that I bought since I didn't have a lot of money and I really liked up to Kim Jung Gi back in 2020 and so when I got back into art, the brush pen was just where I felt the most fun. You can do small lines, thick lines, you can wet it a bit with your spit (yuck) and make cool smudges to add cool shadows. I've been recently experimenting with the brush pen with watercolour and I would say its the best way to get people started with art.