College One: Challenging the way students approach drawing-Large A1 drawings to music...

I decided to use bigger drawing paper and work a lot bigger than the previous ones. I decided to use bigger paper so that I could be more energetic, free and loose when drawing with music. I chosen the instrumental version to a popular song titled 'We found love' by Rihanna. As I was going to work bigger, I thought a bigger media would be appropriate and therefore decided to use chalk pastels. The composition is awful but I find this is not an issue when the music starts and I have to begin. I like the idea of working a1 but even now after years of doing it, I still get nervous doing it, it sits me outside of my comfort zone and I hope it would do the same for the students in the workshop that I may teach.

Still drawing to the same song as above, I decided to focus on one glass instead of a composition because there was too much to focus on. It did work better. I think a good drawing consists of perfect composition and perspective, without these to worry about and rely on, the drawing becomes completely about the object in front of me. I used different shades of light colours that blended well together, it added highlights and reflections which a glass would hold. Chalk pastels are a big media to work with, how would a piece this big work with a small media?

I would argue that the more exercises the students do, the more confident they will become when approaching another task. These tasks make a clear statement that it is not the results that are the most important part to gain out of these exercises but how they was achieved.

I know that some students even after joining in with these activities will still find working on a large piece of a1 paper to be daunting, there are ways around this. Fields and backgrounds could be applied, it would take more time but it would also help the students become more comfortable and confident from the beginning. This would be the only control they would have over this piece and exercise because once the music starts, it is about the speed and emotion that comes from the music, it is uncontrollable and energetic.

Above is just one obstacle I may face when producing a workshop and making sure it runs successfully, the point I make is that there are solutions. As long as I remain in control the workshop should be a success. My aims to get out of this workshop are:

• of course that the students enjoy it as well as I may
• they learn from it and use what they have learn't in the future
• and that I learn from this experience as much as they do. whether it goes well, or whether it is a disaster. Everything is a learning curve.