Join Helen Girling - local Artist and regular Sketch Appeal contributor - for our first ever Social Sketchup in Chelmsford!

What better way to celebrate the summer than with an al-fresco Sketchup at Spitalfields! We’re thrilled to be returning for a 5th year, to host this FREE Sunday social - part of the official Spitalfields Summer Sessions. We’re also thrilled that our Sketch Goddess and Colour Queen Sue Kreitzman will be joining us again, as guest of honour!

Come draw and be drawn at this fun and interactive portrait party - no skills or experience required! After a quick warm-up (drawing the person opposite you in a few ‘unusual’ ways!), we’ll split into groups and invite one person from each to pose (for 10 mins) whilst the rest of their table draw their portrait. No pressure to pose, but if you do you’ll get to take all your portraits home at the end!

NB: This event is IDEAL FOR BEGINNERS/NERVOUS SKETCHERS! Please don’t worry if you think you aren’t “any good” - this is all about social connection and drawing freely, for the joy of it!

Suitable for ages 18+
Tickets = Pay what you can, if you can - suggested donation £5-£10
NB: This event will take place outdoors on Bishops Square, London, E1 6EG

A taste of what to expect!

Join Colour Expert Momtaz Begum-Hossain and (Sketch Appeal Founder) Dulcie for this super-special event at The Cartoon Museum!

At this fun, FREE workshop you’ll have the opportunity to create a mood-boosting tote bag with your face on it! We’ll guide you every step of the way, though be assured - it’s a very easy process! After a brief welcome and introductions, you’ll have time to sketch out some ideas and shape your design on paper. Once you’re happy with it, you can start cutting it out in colourful vinyl, then transfer it onto your tote bag using a LOKLiK heat press.

This is an exciting chance to:

• Discover how fun and easy it is to collage on fabric using vinyl

• Try out a LOKLiK heat press

• Spend a few hours getting creative and hanging out with likeminded people

• Take home a cool custom tote AND a free goody bag from our event sponsors

• PLUS, get free entry to the current exhibition at The Cartoon Museum (we recommend arriving at 5pm if you’d like to do this, so you’ve enough time to look around!)
  
  

Please note: This event will be filmed and photographed. By attending the event you agree to appear in any photos and footage for publicity purposes. Thank you!

Tickets are free but space is limited. Please only book if you can definitely attend. If you need to cancel please let us know within 48 hours of the event so that we can reallocate space.

This is a Sijiu Fans Carnival event, kindly sponsored by LOKLiK and HTVRont.

Join us for a fun 2 hour portrait session to celebrate Women’s History Month!

This isn’t the first time we’ve had fun with this theme - and it won’t be the last! This is a chance to pay creative homage to the amazing women who have liberated, empowered and inspired us - women who have made both recent and ancient history, and everything in between!

There’s no pressure to do so, but this is a great chance to dress up in tribute to one of your favourite women of history. Real, fictional or mythical…there are, OF COURSE, lots to choose from!

We’ll kick off with 5 x 1 minute poses followed by 8 minute poses/portraits of as many people as we can in 2 hours.

Tickets = Pay what you can, if you can (£0, £5, £10, £15)

Join us to celebrate International Women’s Day 2024!

This is a chance to feel the power of sisterhood and community - to revel in collective creativity, and to share our unique perspectives through playful portraiture! Expect a fun and fast-paced 2 hour portrait session where everyone will have chance to interact, experiment, draw and be drawn. This will be followed by a 30 minute reflection and collection of personal life lessons, mantras or words of advice, which we’ll share and collate into a Sketchy Bitches Book of Wisdom for Womankind!

No previous drawing (or Sketchy Bitches) experience required - our events are friendly, playful and ideal for beginners!

Tickets £5, £10 or £15 - please pay what you can

NB: This event will take place in the cafe at Oxford House, Bethnal Green. The cafe will be closed to the public and entrance will be via the side door, which is accessible by wheelchair. There is an accessible toilet.

Our first ever IWD event in 2019

4 years since our unforgettable event at Rich Mix, just as COVID dawned..

Join us for a fun teatime sketching session, drawing literary-inspired portraits (of each other) ahead of World Book Day on March 7th!

Maybe you fancy dressing up as a writer, character, or even an entire genre! Or maybe just bring one of your favourite books and pretend to read it as you pose. The more muses (and sketchers) the merrier! We’ll do 5 x 1 minute warm-up poses followed by as many 8 minute poses as we can in the remaining time.

All levels and all ages welcome!

NB: Our Sunday Sessions take place on Zoom and you will receive the link to join by email on the day of the event.

Pay what you can, if you can - £0, £5, £10, £15

As many of you know, Sketch Appeal is grounded in lived experience of creative empowerment and recovery from disordered eating. As an area of mental health that is widely misunderstood, to mark Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024, we wanted to create an opportunity for authentic stories and lived experiences to be shared - as well as explore the positive systemic changes that bring hope for the future.

This will be an informal, open conversation that we hope will help to broaden understanding of how eating disorders manifest and in who, and ultimately to communicate a message of hope to those who are currently affected by them.

There will be 4 panelists: Dulcie Ball and Lee HD from Sketch Appeal + Katherine Lazenby and Sarah Mann from the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

We will discuss:

1. Our personal experiences of disordered eating, clinical treatment (if sought) and recovery

2. Non-clinical and creative approaches and aids to recovery

3. How can we create change in the system, and hope for the future - with a focus on creativity, service co-design and the importance of lived experience

NB: The conversation will take place live on Zoom - sign up below if you’d like to join and listen live. We’ll be recording the audio and releasing it as a one-off edition of our podcast, for those who can’t join live but are interested in hearing what is said.

Register below to receive the link to join us live.

Pointillist is a much-loved portrait prompt at our live events and introductory workshops, but it’s been 3 years since we did it on Zoom! SO, we’re going for it this Sunday - with a 2-hour Sunday Session dedicated to drawing portraits (of each other) using only dots!

Whilst we love a line here at Sketch Appeal, it’s always fun (and challenging!) to experiment with creating portraits in this way - dot, by dot, by dot! We’ll be drawing 8 minute poses/portraits and take a break half-way through.

NB: It’s best to use felt or other round-tip pens for this technique - POSCAs work well.

Tickets offered on a sliding scale - pay what you can, if you can.

NB: This session will take place on ZOOM and you’ll receive the link on the day.

Join us for some fashion sketching fun with guest Artist Elyse Blackshaw!

To coincide with London Fashion Week, this week’s Sunday Session is a chance to play and experiment with mixed media approaches to fashion illustration and portraiture. Get set for some fresh inspiration and energy, as Elyse gives us an insight into her dynamic work and demonstrates how she does it.

We’ll have a go at drawing mixed media illos of some hot-off-the-catwalk looks, before settling into drawing portraits of each other in 8 minute fashion-inspired poses!

We recommend you bring some collage papers + a mix of drawing materials (e.g. markers, pastels, oil pastels, coloured pencils) to play around with. None are essential - just bring what you can!

Optional dress code = VOGUE!

Tickets offered on a sliding scale - £0, £5, £10, £15. You’ll receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.

Ahead of V/Galentine’s Day, come share your love of drawing at this 2 hour portrait sketchfest! After some speedy warm-ups, we’ll be drawing 8 minute portraits of as many willing muses as we can. Wear red, or something you love!

Tickets offered on a sliding scale - pay what you can, if you can.

NB: This session will take place on ZOOM and you’ll receive the link on the day.

Cat Faulkner is the iconic Illustrator behind Jelly Armchair - an independent card company based in Cheltenham, which she runs with her sister Liz. Or as they say, “small family business - big silly puns!”

Cat’s work is full of charm, character and wit - the same joyful, playful energy that Cat radiates as a person. She draws her heart and soul into her work, and it shows!

When not generating new designs and working at Jelly Armchair, Cat’s a sought-after live event illustrator - painting portraits of guests at weddings and other celebrations. How does she manage it all? I’m not sure even Cat knows the answer to that!!

We’ll be talking (and generating!) puns, style, live illustration, avocados and more! Cat will give us a peek inside her sketchbooks and a demo of her process, before setting us a fun illustration challenge, inspired by her work. Then we’ll draw portraits of each other - option to avo-go at avocado portraits!

A small selection of Jelly Armchair’s Valentine’s collection, designed by Cat

One of Cat’s beautiful wedding illustrations, painted live.

Cat’s awesome sketch of our 5th Birthday Party - drawn in about 10 minutes!!

Cat has been an amazing cheerleader of Sketch Appeal from day one, first by contributing artwork and this interview to our magazine!

I loved having Cat (and giant snail) at our Oxford Street pop-up in November 2021, and I am forever grateful to her for having faith in my ideas and making this world a sunnier, punnier place!

Calling all London-based Sketchy Bitches!

It’s been a while since our last IRL portrait session, so we’re excited to be holding our first of the year on Saturday 3rd Feb! We’ll be sketching from 1am-1pm at Oxford House in Bethnal Green, where we run our community art club.

After a quick warm-up, we’ll take it in turns to pose at the head of the table whilst the rest of the group draw our portrait. Poses will be 8 minutes(ish) and we’ll provide all the materials and paper of various sizes - including our ‘signature’ A7 cards! We’ll likely head off for lunch somewhere afterwards, and maybe even do some more drawing…

Beginners and new faces very welcome - no drawing skills or previous Sketchy Bitches experience is required! Just bring yourself and an open mind : )

There is a wheelchair ramp and accessible toilet on ground level. The cafe is closed so we’ll have the place to ourselves, so it’ll be nice and chilled - but you’ll need to BYO coffee/drinks!

Join us for the second in our brand-new series of Sunday Session on Zoom, with special guest Judy Andrews!

Judy Andrews doesn't just "do" graphic art, she lives it. She describes her work as a scrapbook of life–colourful snippets of typography dancing with bold affirmations. For Judy, blending journaling with art is like breathing. It's how she stitches together the past with the present, the real with the imagined. Creativity is her way of life.

Judy’s two decades in design are brimming with stories, lessons, and little 'aha!' moments. Over 5 years ago she founded design agency, Tickety Boo Creative, an agency that helps brands and businesses to build their confidence. It was around this time that she met Dulcie, and created several iconic artworks for Sketch Appeal!

Judy is currently writing an intentions guide, to help people live a life with intention, clarity, and confidence. Come and hear more about it (and all of the above!) at this week’s Sunday Session!

What to expect:

1. Hour 1: A 20-30 minute chat with Judy, with chance to ask questions. Judy will then invite you to select, explore and creatively manifest your word of the year. You could draw and illustrate the letters, draw things associated with it, or articulate it in entirely abstract form! This is a chance to create a piece of work just for you. We'll also explore vision and values, and get you thinking about your purpose and how you fulfil it - or could in the future. 
   

2. Hour 2: Pret a portrait! We’ll draw 8 minute portraits of volunteers from the group, to a banging 90s playlist (because Judy loves the 90s too!)
   

Tickets offered on a sliding scale - £0, £5, £10, £15. Pay what/if you can.
You’ll receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.

We’re excited to kick off a brand-new series of Sunday Sessions with award-winning Artist, Curtis Holder!

Curtis’s work is intricate, delicate and soulful beyond words, and through it comes rhythms and observations beyond and beneath what even his sitters can see. If you’ve seen him on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, or in any other context, then you’ll know that - as well as his exceptional artistic talent and vision - he has the most incredible energy and power to connect. Trust us - this session will leave you high for weeks!

In the first half of this session we’ll be chatting to Curtis about his past, recent and future work - including his residency at the National Theatre and Leeds Art Gallery. We’ll also delve into his motivations, his approach, his backstory and - without doubt - his thoughts on the personal and social impact of drawing.

Once we’re all talked out, we’ll tackle a challenge set by Curtis then spend the last hour sketching each other - drawing 8 minute poses/portraits of as many volunteers from the group as we can!

Tickets offered on a sliding scale - £0, £5, £10, £15. Pay what/if you can.
You’ll receive the Zoom link on the day of the event.

Sure, Curtis has done some slightly more high profile gigs, but some of us will remember him well for his appearance at our 2022 SKETCHFEST!

HAPPY NEW YEAH!

Got creative block or ready to rock?!

Come fire up your creativity and motivation at this self-care Sunday special!

In the first hour, we’ll spend time reflecting and sketching our intentions for the year ahead. You’ll create a fun illustration featuring your NY goals, mantras, and/or simply draw an image that evokes the spirit in which you want to live your life in 2024.

Once we’ve finished and shared our solo pieces, we’ll turn the spotlight on each other. We’ll draw 8 minute poses/portraits of anyone who’s up for playing muse, and sitters will be invited to offer us a prompt in the form of an accompanying word of the year, mantra or intention.

This is a great chance to re-connect with your creativity, feel the support of a kind and open-hearted community, and re-focus your energy for the year ahead.

NB: This is a Zoom session and the link will be shared by email on the day of the event.
Please note we will start at 5pm UK time

FREE TO ATTEND - SIGN UP BELOW

I SPY… THE RETURN OF A CHRISTMAS CLASSIC!

Our festive I-D Magazine theme is back for a third year!

In case you don’t know, it’s tradition for anyone gracing the over of I-D Magazine to wink, close or cover one eye. In 2021, we put a festive spin on the concept at Sketchy Bitches - with some pretty fab results!

Join us for 2 hours of spirited portrait sketching and festive cheer! Expect a friendly welcome, unapologetically cheesy playlist and 8 minute poses. No pressure to pose if you prefer not to - drawing is mandatory though :)

Bring a fittingly festive prop to cover one eye with, or just dress festive and close or cover one eye with your hand. From Christmas crackers to nutcracker dolls - grab whatever you can hold onto for 8 minutes!! If all else fails a nice glass of mulled wine would do the job…

All welcome - no previous posing or sketching experience required!

Tickets £6/£10

POSTPONED TO 2024

Come make a funky fairy with Fashion Artist Elyse Blackshaw!

This FREE Zoom session is a chance to make some unique 3D Characters out scrap materials, and your imagination! Elyse will guide us through the process and share some examples of her work, but this is very much a chance to play and create in whichever way you choose.

All ages welcome - this is a family-friendly session

You will need:

• A selection of scrap bits of card and paper - ideally some coloured. You could also use up some old sketches or artwork that you don’t want - could be a cool experiment!

• Marker/POSCA/felt tip pens

• Scissors

• Sellotape or washi tape

• Glue stick

About Elyse

Elyse Blackshaw is a London-based illustrator and a graduate from the Royal College of Art. She has worked for clients such as Samsung, Fashion Scout and Graduate Fashion Foundation. She works as a visual communicator and, most recently, installation as a result of winning the Westfield Future Fashion award. After illustrating London Fashion Week for nearly 10 years, Elyse now aims to utilise illustration techniques into a multi-disciplinary practice through three main roles:

ILLUSTRATOR of fashion, figures and patterns for gallery and commercial contexts.

EDUCATOR of fashion illustration through workshops promoting consideration for the environment and wellbeing.

ACTIVATOR of change in retail and gallery spaces to support environmental improvement within communities.

Visit www.elyseblackshaw.com for more information.

Join us for an extra special festive edition of art club at Oxford House !

We’re thrilled that our friend and Colour Queen Sue Kreitzman will be joining us at the table, to inspire us with her style, stories and creations. Originally from NYC, Sue has been an east ender since the 1980s and is the driving force behind the London Colour Walk, which happens monthly at Old Spitalfields Market.

An avid collector, curator and creator, Sue uses found objects and scrap materials to create unique sculptures, neckshrines, paintings and other 3D artworks. Sue will bring along some of her artwork to show us - including a series of hand-painted bags which will inspire our own creations!

Come and enjoy a morning of inspirational chat and playful, communal creativity!

FREE TO ATTEND - DONATIONS VIA PAYPAL VERY WELCOME!

We meet by candle/iphone/torch light for a festive lights night with a difference!

Bring an additional/moveable light source and join us for a experimental 2 hour portrait session - drawing 8 minute portraits of each other, lit in unusual and dramatic ways! We recommend bringing charcoal, pastels, ink or watercolours to create your soft, flowy faces.

We are all sources of light and this a chance to see each other as such - like glowing candles, without edges. What will happen when our clear, hard lines turn soft and blurry? Who knows! No doubt this might be a challenging one, but we’ll all be in it together :)

All levels welcome - from beginner to pro these sessions are for all!

Tickets £6/£10

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions

Pret a portrait!

We’re heading to the Urban Makers Christmas Market to host a pop-up portrait session with a (hybrid) difference!

From 2-4pm on Sunday 26th November: Join some of our fabulous Sketchy Bitches at our open portrait ‘bar’, where you can simply pose for a portrait - and/or sit down and sketch some of your own!

We’ll be on a big table with plenty of space and materials for people to use, and for those non-Londoners, we’ll be streaming the whole thing live on Zoom too! Expect 2 hours of unpredictable portrait-sketching - fast, fun poses and no more FOMO!!

This is a completely FREE session, whichever way you join us!

Please register below for the Zoom link. If you are joining us online you will need to have your cameras switched on for safeguarding purposes, to confirm identity. Apologies in advance if we are not able to chat to you as much, but we hope you’ll enjoy the creative spirit of it all!

NB: We’ll only be there for this one date, but the Urban Makers Christmas Markets will run from 11am - 5pm on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th November, Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th December. On each day, there’ll be 50 stalls featuring fabulous creations of 50 London-based indie makers/bizzers - plus workshops, festive food and drinks available too.

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions

Join us for an afternoon of colourful creativity inspired by David Hockney!

This is a special session to mark the opening of David Hockney: Drawing from Life at the National Portrait Gallery - an exhibition we’re thrilled to have contributed to (see below)!

We’ll also be joined by Simon Elliott - Author and Illustrator of beautiful new book Hockney: A Graphic Life. Simon will tell us all about why and how the book came about, chat a little bit about his background in art, and give us a peek at some of the original sketches. And of course, he will pose for a portrait!

The National Portrait Gallery invited us to create some fun drawing challenges for the Bloomberg Connects app, designed to inspire people who visit the gallery to try drawing in Hockney’s style afterwards. We’ll be attempting some of challenges at this session, as well as using Hockney-inspired colour palettes as we draw 8 minute poses/portraits of each other.

Bring your colouring pencils!!

Tickets £6/£10

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions

Come make a splash at this playful 2 hour portrait class!

This is a chance to draw and be drawn - ink and be inked! An opportunity to experiment and challenge yourself to use ONLY ink - that means no pens, no pencils, no markers! Just bring a nib, stick and/or brushes and some black or coloured inks.

After a quick self-portrait to warm-up we’ll draw/ink 8-10 minute portraits (of each other) with a quick break half-way through. Feel free to wear something spooktacular, or bring a prop to pose with!

All ages welcome
NB: You’ll receive the Zoom link on the day of the event
Tickets £6 Concs £10 Standard

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions

Drawing wands at the ready!!

Join us for a friendly and playful portrait session - striking and drawing poses inspired by Tarot!

As ever, we’ll begin with a few quick warm-ups and then get into the main event - sketching 8 minute poses/portraits of as many willing members of the group as we can. We’ll have a quick break half-way through and share our favourite portraits at the end. We LOVE to see work but there’s never any expectation or pressure to share :)

This session is suitable for all levels and we welcome new faces with open arms! Dressing up and posing is completely optional. From the Ace of Cups to the Queen of Wands, there are plenty of cards to inspire a fun and easy prop/outfit!

Tickets £6 / £10
This is a ZOOM session and we will email you the link on the day

The above illustrations were done by ‘Pixie’, Pamela Colman Smith, for the Rider–Waite Tarot deck - still the most widely used today.

We’re excited to be hosting a FREE art club at Oxford House, every Wednesday throughout October and November.

We’ll be taking over the top table in the cafe of this historic hidden gem, in the heart of Bethnal Green. It’s a beautiful light-filled space and the coffee and cake is great too!

The aim? To boost midweek moods and nurture people’s confidence, social network and sense of belonging through regular creative actions and interactions! Everyone is welcome and participation is completely free - just drop-in and join on the day, or via the link below.

Weekly from 11am - 12.30pm:

Come get creative and connect with others at this free and informal art club - open to all local residents aged 18+. You'll have the opportunity to experiment with a range of materials, ideas and activities - from playful portraiture and zine-making, to 'drawing discos' and communal doodles!

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

NO NEED TO BOOK, JUST TURN UP

Email dulcie@sketchappeal.co.uk if you have any questions