London College of Communication, London, 21 January 2025

I wasn’t quite feeling 100% as I returned to London College of Communication – a part of University of the Arts London (UAL). A curious array of mild cold symptoms had been taking turns to appear without ever manifesting sufficiently to be a big deal. Today it was the turn of slight snuffles.

I arrived to find tutor Anne Noble-Partridge of London Drawing sounding very husky courtesy of her own cold’s tail-end effects. Everybody seems to have had something. Worse than snuffles, however, I was also experiencing painful stomach bloating. The timing of this was regrettable as Anne wanted students to see me as a skeleton.

Mercifully, the whole session was to be one of imagination. Students were not tasked with drawing me as they saw me. Rather, they were to consider what lay beneath my skin and muscle (and bloat) to draw only my inner frame – pelvis solid, spine curving, ribcage twisted, shoulders tilted – either in stick-figure form or assembled bones.

After warm-ups and a demo, there was time for five poses. As I continued to manage stomach pains, I was relieved to be told two reclining poses were required at the end. I’m afraid the standing poses were not my best dynamic work, but maybe this was an accidental kindness to students struggling with the challenge. We all survived.

Pose minutes, 6pm-8pm

Part 1 : 5, 5, untimed demo, 10, 10-15, 10-15.
— break —
Part 2 : 20-25, 20-25.

Artworks

With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.