DRAWING FROM FILM

We zoom in on Lewes, in East Sussex, southern England, to talk to about his uniquely cinematic approach to life-drawing classes

Nick Bush started Drawing From Film (DFF) five years ago while at art school in Glasgow, on a big blackboard in his bedroom. From this experimental venture, Nick pitched his unique life-drawing class idea to project manager at The Depot in Lewes, East Sussex and began weekly meet-ups at this independent old brewery-turned-cinema.

Subsequently, his vision has drawn enough attention for a second series of film-drawing salons in Herne Hill, south London. “So far in this series we’ve drawn from The Lavender Hill Mob, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Wallace and Gromit,

July 2015 Tampopo, and La Belle et le Bête,” says Nick. “I choose films that I have a curiosity with and want to learn more about them, by visually dissecting them,” he says.

The DFF evenings invite people of all levels to come together to draw and learn from film. During the evening a specially selected film is projected and Nick pauses it between eight and 10 times at specifically chosen moments, for the class to draw from. The stills are up for three or four minutes, which gives the students time to make their sketches.

“The emphasis in the classes is on peer-to-peer learning. I encourage people to look and learn from one another and to talk about their work. As an organiser I’m really encouraged by seeing others using film to help express their own ideas,” Nick adds.

“I choose the stills, but the artist’s individuality comes out on top through the drawn mark. Film is often a mirror to our and other people’s societies. Our drawings are taken home, and the ideas can be re-expressed in a different form.”