Online Experimental Life Drawing: Kitchen Lithography

These experimental sessions invite you to discover the diverse capabilities of materials at your fingertips. Each month over Zoom, we’ll delve into a new drawing or painting method, exploring new and exciting approaches to life drawing. Working with references from the Draw Patreon artist photo library, shared on the screen, this month's session will be taught by Jake Spicer, with guest tutor Scarlett Rebecca. Jake and Scarlett will lead you through a series of exercises which will give you the opportunity to push the boundaries of drawing, experimenting with varied mediums and tools to create innovative and unexpected outcomes - all while discovering what resonates most with you as an artist.

Designed for artists of all levels, these playful and relaxed drawing sessions will help you deepen your understanding of your materials and expand your creative toolkit and embrace the joy of experimentation alongside other sketchers over Zoom on the first Sunday of the month! The session is recorded for the Draw Patreon and you can access the recording by signing up to monthly membership. Here is our full list of upcoming themes:

Sun 6th April - Kitchen lithography 

Sun 4th May - Mono-printing with oil pastels 

Sun 1st June - Ink & bleach 

Sun 6th July – Contour-free drawings 

Sun 3rd Aug - Ink wash figures 

How to join the session

You can book a place at the session by purchasing a ticket via Eventbrite, but you can also access these sessions and save money by joining our Draw Patreon. The Online Experimental Life Drawing sessions are included in our Student All Access and Life Drawing Tiers, and are also recorded for Patreon supporters to replay and return to at any time. In addition to this, Patreon supporters get tiered access to a wealth of resources including our extensive artist photo reference library, live online life drawing & portrait drawing classes, online recorded courses and much more. You can cancel the monthly membership at any time. For more information and to sign up click HERE.

What you need to take part

To make the plate:

• A backing plate (can be plastic or metal, something smooth, strong and flat)
• Kitchen foil
• Cellulose Sponge (avoid plastic sponges; cellulose sponges are softer, more absorbent & compostable)
• Greaseproof paper / baking paper (to protect the back of your print from damage while hand burnishing)
• Cola / Diet Cola

For the drawing:

Any of the following: Chinagraph Pencils / Soft graphite / Wax Crayons / Chocolate / Indian ink & brush

For the printing:

• Oil based printmaking ink (relief/litho ink) DON'T USE SAFEWASH
• Vegetable oil (These are used to modify your inks to make them less sticky and runnier.)
• Blotting paper or newsprint (you can also use an old, clean towel for blotting dampened papers)
• Medium weight basic printmaking paper or cartridge
• Various pieces of clean scrap paper

Tools & equipment:

• Hair dry or hand-held fan
• Wooden spoon or baren
• Palette knife or push knife
• Print roller / brayer (If you can, use a roller which is larger than the surface you will be inking up, so think about the size you will normally be working to. Medium softness rollers are great for planographic print.)
• Flat plastic, glass or metal on which to roll out your ink
• A tray or tub as wide as your backing plate
• A large container of clean water

For cleaning:

• Rubber gloves
• Vegetable oil, low odour white spirit or citrus cleaner
• Rags, kitchen towel or scrap paper

Before the class

• Before the session, make sure you have a Zoom account and drawing materials for the class
• At the advertised time of the session, set yourself up to draw in front of your device, sign in to Zoom and click on the link in your email to join the class.

After the session

• If you’d like to share your drawings with the rest of the community can post them up on the Draw Community Facebook group HERE
• You can also share your work with us on Instagram, tagging the model, tutor & @draw_brighton or using the #drawbrighton hashtag.