Monday, December 28, 2009

New Sponsors announced for 2010!

We're really excited to announce new sponsors for 2010 for Dr Sketchy Nottingham !

Baby Tattoo Books, a US based book publisher specialising in beautiful artist/illustrator led books have donated one book per 2010 Sketchy event for us to give away, the prize table is looking more appealing already!

Charnos, yes, that well known lingerie company, will be dressing some of our models in 2010 with their Hourglass range of lingerie and shapewear. More info on this to follow but we believe they will feature as a part of our February 20th show....watch this space!

We also need to say a big thank you to our regular sponsors who have supported us continuously through 2009 - Susi from Eternal Spirits Corsetry who has clothed our models and donated prizes for the prize table, Susie from Dottys Cafe the mistress of cupcakes! Matt, Paul and Jody from Danse Macabre who we mutually support and who help us promote all the events, The Shop who continue to promote us and donate prizes and by association The Smears all girl punk rockers who donated limited edition Vinyls at our last event. AND of course our Photographers -

Spike from Vapour Trail Photography, Emma from Miss Rain Photography and stepping in at our last event Paul from Monsignor Photographic.

A big THANK YOU to everyone and most importantly, all your arty folks who have attended the events and made them so much fun! 2009's events blew our socks off, we had no idea how popular Dr Sketchy would be in Nottingham!!

x Charlotte & Scarlett

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Arty Ideas for Dr Sketchy December


Heres some info about our Dec models to get your creative Juices flowing!

Missy Malone and Leyla Rose are delicious stars of the burlesque scene, raven haired temptresses with dazzling costumes. I have done studies of both these women in the past and I can only begin to express what a treat they are to draw.

Leyla Rose is 100% curves! Perfect for charcoal, thick marker pens or other soft flowing media... or why not sneak in some watercolour crayons. Leyla is elegant and voluptuous with a big dose of sauciness, think classical venus meets bettie page! You'll be able to create some beautiful curvy artwork.

Missy Malone is a bundle of larger than life energy on stage and strikes a great pose, her expressive face is great to capture, if you like drawing cartoons and charicatures you'll LOVE drawing Missy. Simple media for quick sketches is recommended, try sketching her while she performs as capturing her movements makes for a dramatic image.

Both women have great faces to get likenesses of or to charicature if that's your bag! They will be doing some joint poses and the juxtaposition between their very different characters and figures is a great thing to focus a drawing on.

Also, dont forget if you fancy meeting the ladies in person and having them teach you a think of two about burlesque, their fan dance workshop is on Sunday at the Ropewalk, more info on the sketchy website www.drsketchynottingham.co.uk.

Our additional model for December is Peachy Clean, a local lass with a lot of attitude and style, she plays in all girl punk band The Smears and it'll be her birthday at Sketchy, cake cake cake!

I'm just uploading a few pics from the last sketchy, taken by me so they're a bit rubbish, our proper photographers images are on the way, i'm sure they're a million times better than mine! Theres a video that i've just put on youtube too, check the group as i'm adding it shortly.

Dont forget about our FREEE mini Sketchy event, open to all ages (parental supervision for under 16s please) on Nov 14th at Danse Macabre exhibition www.dansemacabre-art.co.uk
It'll be at the old Beatties Toy Shop, round the corner from angel row Library. It starts at 3pm, be there or be terribly uncool! Bring your own media as usual, you may want to bring a cushion or blanket as seating may be limited however we will make sure there are seats for anyone who has genuine difficulty sitting on the floor....and we'll mop so it's nice and clean!

Our models are Maleficent Martini (gothy punky ballerina!) and Dee Christopher illusionist extraordinaire who will be performing at the private view later that night. Bring your black crayon, it's going to be dark and spooky!

Tickets for Decembers event are on sale now! www.drsketchynottingham.co.uk
Hope to see you there!
x
Charlotte


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Monday, October 5, 2009

Doctor Sketchy Deux Round Up

A BIG thank you to everyone who attended the very funny second Dr Sketchy Nottingham!

I havent read all the comments cards yet as I've been struck with the dreaded lurgie and excessive amounts of deadlines but feedback we will be listening to so far is ....

  • More opportunities to talk to and get to know the other guests. This is being addressed! We are looking at ideas that won't involve embarrassing team building-icebreaker games that are popular at conference and swingers parties and that will hopefully involve more social time for drinks and a natter before and/or after the event...we will keep you updated!

  • Better spot lighting on the stage for more defined shadows. This is something I'm pretty sure we had at the first event but neglected at the second due to last minute panics over the sound system.

  • Not having the DJ sat in a prime drawing spot - now this is something we can't address at Escucha as literally there is no other place we can put him, we dont have a long enough lead!!! As for the organisers taking up prime drawing spots, WE DRAW TOO! And I actually have evidence of the DJ drawing, his erotic stick-women are legendary! Another reason I need to be next to the stage is to wave my arms frantically and pull faces at the backstage crew (stage directions), I also need to be able to leap onto the stage in a split second incase of major disaster or costume failure or if a scuffle breaks out over the prize table (those robin hood colouring in postcards are a rarity you know!) . We will however be looking at getting higher chairs behind the DJ sofa so our big heads aren't getting in your way so much!

Further updates on feedback are on their way, another blog post is soon to follow. Dont forget our next event is a mini Dr Sketchy and is FREE it's the Danse Macabre special, check out www.dansemacabre-art.co.uk/dm_nottm2009.html.

Our next full Dr Sketchy is on Dec 5th with Missy Malone and Leyla Rose, a real treat NOT TO BE MISSED!

Following that, for those of you who have got a taste for burlesque and fancy having a go, Missy & Leyla will be doing a burlesque fan dancing workshop at The Ropewalk, check out the main Sketchy Nottingham website for details and tickets. Its open to men and women and focusses on the art of fan dance, theres no nudity required or tassel twirling involved, it's all in the best possible taste and guaranteed to be fun and informative. We think it makes a great early Xmas gift, OR even better, learn and then surprise your other half with your dancing skills on Xmas day!

See you all soon!
x Charlotte

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The First Event!

A massive thank you to everyone who helped make our first Dr Sketchys Nottingham a massive success!

The turnout was fantastic and far exceeded our expectations, we counted aboug 64 people, about 90% of whom were drawing (havent yet worked out the official door count, still recovering from too much adrenaline!). We had worried about a poor turnout since all the students are back home this time of year but our fears were soon buried.

The mix of people was lovely and we were so impressed by the level of artistry, Nottingham TRULY is a creative city, you only have to look at the incredible work produced to see that. We were blown away and I'm fairly sure I never want to draw again having seen the competition!! ;o). Mysti was proudly showing off the pictures she collected to all the staff at Yo Sushi after the show and Diva said this was the best Sketchy she had done. Rikki from 'The Shop" who is one of our resident professional artists was blown away by the talent in the room (and the artwork too).

Thank you to everyone who came up to us and said thanks at the end, it was so nice to meet so many new people. It was lovely to see old faces too and to have support from so many fellow event promotors from around the Midlands. BIIIG thanks to everyone who filled in the feedback forms, it's great to see your comments and to have so many smiling faces and positive things said.

We've taken on board your comments and next time there will be -

  • MORE CAKES! Since Susie from Dotty's Cafe had no idea what cake bellys you all had and ran out. One comment I heard was 'Dottys banana cake is the best thing i have ever eaten EVER' or something along those lines!

  • Wet Wipes for your messy charcoal fingers, you mucky bunch!

  • Bins for pencil sharpenings and a collection of rubbish during the interval (for cake plates etc).

  • Less of me standing infront of people like a moron so you cant see the stage, sorry in particular to Jake who was sat behind me, I'm fairly sure all his drawings must be of the back of my big fat head.

  • Some more varied poses & times - we will be discussing lying down poses and short standing poses with the performers for Oct 3rd. The times will also be more varied with some 1 or 2 min poses at the 'warm up' stage and possibly another longer pose later on.

  • More Dr When! He will be back - not next time as Ryvita Von Cheese will be our lovely Yorkshire compere, but he will be back in December for definite! We can't get enough of him. So much so that he's driving all the way back from Birmingham to see us again today.....actually he left an important bag in my living room last night, woops.

  • Some fun, tongue in cheek workshop style instruction from me and Rikki. This is something we've been discussing for a while and someone mentioned it on their feedback form. We're going to get our heads together and see what might work, we may run a short workshop session at the beginning for anyone who wants some tips and tricks, though evidently none of you need any instruction on how to draw since you're all so flippin' amazing!

  • We've also had requests for more male models, musical acts and drag acts, we're way ahead of you! There will be two men to draw next time, Ryan Cross (as Sweeny Todd) and Desmond O Connor, amazing ukulele playing dirty lyrical genius! Balanced out nicely with a good dose of buxom female beauties with Ryvita Von Cheese and Emerald Ace (since a certain person who shall remain unnamed feedback form simply read "More Ladies More Ladies More Ladies - See above")... we wouldnt want to disappoint! We've been discussing a Drag Queen & King Sketchy for a while so plans are underway for a special event next year.
PHEW! I think that's everything.

Thats just leaves me to say a BIIIG thank you to Scarlett for her co-organisation skills, Molly Crabapple of course for allowing us to run the Dr Sketchy Nottingham, cant wait to tell her how well it went! All our performers, we had such fun with you all (Nottingham shoe shops will never be the same!) our sponsors, Emma and Spike for being such awesome photographers, Susi from Eternal Spirits, Debbie Bryan, Rikki from The Shop, Dottys Cafe & Danse Macabre for promoting & supporting the event and donating luverly prizes. Our helpers Maid Matthew, Betty Jane, My Mum & Dad, Dave, Tony and DJ Johnny Speedking! Tom Winch at Escucha for being totally awesome and letting Dr Sketchy have a home there, we had so many lovely comments about the venue, AND Kyle and the barstaff team who were lovely, completely cool and helpful and didn't mind having lots of half naked ladies getting changed in their swanky members only bar in the basement 'Minus One'.

We really hope you'll all come again to the next event, future dates running up til June are up on the website, Tickets are available in advance to ALL events. Please tell your friends! If you want to give further feedback, request music for our playlist, models/performers etc just email us at drsketchynottingham@hotmail.co.uk, all suggestions are welcome.

WE CAN'T WAIT TIL THE NEXT ONE!!
See you soon!

x Charlotte

Friday, August 14, 2009

August 22nd and Updates

We're fast approaching the first Dr Sketchy Nottingham, the nerves are beginning to set in and we're convinced there's something we've forgotten to do! That said we have four fabulous performers who will rule the day so its safe to say you can sit back and be sure to be entertained!
We very proud to have such an amazing line up for our first even Sketchy, including performers who have never graced the stage in Nottingham before.

Dont forget to sharpen all your pencils and get a fresh sketchbook in, you dont want to be running out of pages half way through when you're brimming with inspiration!!

And don't forget to dress sharp, our fab photographers Emma (Miss Rain) and Spike (Vapour Trail) will be seeking out sexy madams and glamorous gents for our first event photo album, you have been warned!

There are still a few tickets available online so get your mits on them as soon as you can, there will be some tickets on the door but don't risk missing out.

We're cant wait to meet loads of new faces and without doubt bump into a few old friends !
Look forward to seeing you all there
x Charlotte

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Dr Sketchys & Charlotte on the BEEB!

Charlotte was interviewed by BBC Radio Nottingham yesterday as part of their Design Heros series, interviewing designers & artists from Nottingham about their work and about what makes Nottingham so totally and completely awesome. The previous week they interviewed Sir Paul Smith - Tough act to follow!!

Dr Sketchy got several really big mentions on air and also gets a good plugging in the follow up article on the BBC website, check it out! -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2009/07/01/design_heroes_charlotte_thomson_feature.shtml

So get your tickets before they sell out due to popular demand!


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Monday, June 15, 2009

Welcome to Dr Sketchys Nottingham Blog!

Here you will find regular updates, photos, videos and other goodies to do with Dr Sketchy Nottingham added by Charlotte & Scarlett.
More will be added soon!
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What is Dr Sketchy?

Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School. Where Cabaret meets Life Drawing! With over 100 branches worldwide this is the blog for the Nottingham UK branch.