Based in Brighton; Draw is a fantastic enterprise that runs flexible and affordable drawing, painting and printmaking classes, accessible to everybody.
In 2009 Jake Spicer set up ‘The Brighton Life Drawing Sessions’ – a weekly drop-in life class held in the corner of a small studio in Brighton. In 2011 Jake partnered with Shelley Morrow to create ‘Draw’ and expanded into a dedicated studio running daily life classes. Since then Draw has continued to grow, with more than 1000 new people each year coming to paint, draw and print at their classes, supporting a thriving community of artists, tutors and life models.
Then, in spring 2020 when Covid-19 hit and we were put in lockdown all their drawing classes had to be cancelled and the studio shut. However, this was not the end for Draw. Becoming part of a growing number of small creative businesses pivoting their offer and utilising tech, Draw began to offer their classes on Zoom.
“We run all of our online life drawing classes on Zoom through the community patronage site Patreon, where we also provide weekly life and portrait reference photos and tutorial blog posts.”
Their amazing online classes include online life drawing – which you can gift as a voucher:
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“Know somebody who is missing their in-person life drawing classes, or wants to start life drawing but isn’t sure where to go? We have just the thing! Online life classes give you the opportunity to draw live from a life model alongside other drawers on Zoom, with that same sense of community as an in-person session. Each voucher comes with a link to an introductory video that will help the voucher holder to prepare for the session.”
As well as online classes Draw also offer a range of beautiful gifts for art lovers and aspiring artists, such as the Portrait Drawing Bix, Life Drawing Box, Draw Pinbadge and these fantastic range of “how to” guides – You Will be able to Draw by the End of this Book.
Draw hope to re-open in a new space in 2021 which is great news for their local community.
This month we want to highlight some of those creative businesses and individuals who have demonstrated this resilience, creativity and proactivity.
Support Independent Businesses and Makers this Festive Season
As Christmas is around the corner it’s going to be a very different one for us all. We’ve all been through a lot this year, and although we have focused on just 3 businesses in this article we’d like to give a shout out to all of our fantastic clients for their resilience throughout this tough year. The future relies on us supporting one another; choosing where you buy your gifts from this Christmas can be one of the ways we help support each other, and independent businesses to ensure they will be back in 2021.
