A Summer Meet-Up with Drawn In
Hello sweetest gems!
I’m making a brief pit-stop here, on my corner of the internet, to share a little joy from our most recent Drawn In meet-up, Manchester’s social for illustrators, artists and sketchbook-lovers. Just look at this gorgeous lot!
This time we set up shop at Fairfield Social Club, a spot I’d visited earlier in the year for a Pecha Kucha night with my lovely friends Louise and Nathan. There’s something about those festoon lights and long shared tables that makes it a very welcoming, slightly magical hideout.
This time around, we were joined by the ever-lovely Jenny from Sketch and Cafe, who led part of the event with her signature playful drawing prompts and wholesome sketching session. Diving head-first into continuous line-drawings and collaborative illustrations is the perfect way to shake off the nerves, chat around the table and remember why we love to make art in the first place…to play of course!
I’m grateful to have been able to catch up with so many of my gorgeous illustration pals I’ve met over recent years too, some who’ve just moved studios and others in the midst of the hard slog of deadlines, others just exploring new creative paths. It really does fill my heart to spend time with them. It does much good for the inner-artist too. Our theme for this month’s meet-up was ‘Sketchbook Journeys', and I think its safe to say that for most illustrators sketchbooks can be a space of both frustration and joy, so to hear other people’s struggles, wonky perspectives, and abandoned projects felt strangely comforting, and made the event an open and non-judgemental space for people to share their failures as well as their wins, without pressure.
Once everyone had arrived and settled in with a drink, we began with sharing our sketchbooks with each other, which, as most vulnerable things do, tends to be the thing that connects us the most. We shared pages we were proud of and things we were hoping to work towards. There’s something very grounding about sharing your ‘ugly’ work with others - you realise very quickly that no one is the ‘perfect’ artist, and that most people, in their own creative way, are still figuring things out as they go.
Then, after Jenny led the loose drawing prompts to wake us all up and get out of overthinking, the event coasted with some space to do our own personal sketching. Between the chatting and the drinking all I had time to draw was this little lady in my Pith sketchbook. It was such a lovely event, and as we wrapped up for the night, many of us stayed, sketchbooks sprawled across the benches, and long chats into the evening. Summer in the city at its finest.
I’ve always been an advocate for socials like these, that’s why I love being a part of Drawn In so much. These moments of authentic connection are rare, and having gone through a time in my life where I didn’t know of any other illustrators I could chat to, to now make work alongside them and share goals with other likeminded creatives, is so valuable. And if you came along to the event, thank you for making this community what it is. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
Current Musings…
*This song has snuck it’s way into my playlist for Summer and I’m not mad about it. It makes me want to lay in the grass and watch the sun set over the city. Perfect for August.
*I’ve gotten back into reading on the morning commute, and currently I’m making my way through A History of the World in a Hundred Objects. I have to be in the right mood for non-fiction, but this book has been strangely comforting and makes me want to visit the British Museum again!
*Exciting workshop news! This August I’m running a child-friendly illustration workshop at the beautiful House of Books and Friends, hopefully creating a little joyful chaos! If you’re coming along I can’t wait to see you there.
*I was very kindly featured on Children’s Book North socials last month. It was my first time making ‘proper’ video content and my goodness I have a newfound respect for influencers! I spent an entire day filming 30 seconds of footage! It’s so far out of my comfort zone to be in front of a camera, but, as the lovely Yusra said in her Pecha Kucha talk, embrace the cringe! And I’m certainly trying.
Thank you for reading friends, as always. I hope your August sends you good thoughts and long sunny evenings with people you love.
With smudgy hands and a full heart,
C x