New Photo-sets: Lemonade by Laura Ryan (Patreon)

Over the past 18 months we have built a substantial library of photo reference comprising clothed, unclothed & portrait photo reference of 28 different Draw models. These have been funded by you, with the pay from those shoots replacing the lost Draw work for our models over the last year. We now want to build on that success to create the most substantial, affordable & ethical life drawing photo-reference library available!

So what's next?
In April we commissioned artist & Draw tutor Laura Ryan to art direct our latest shoot of photo-reference in collaboration with photographer Olly Hearesy; our aim was to create new and exciting resources that go beyond the straight-up life poses that we have in abundance. We'll be releasing the photo reference from that shoot,  Lemonade, over the next few months in place of our usual reference sets - this post provides a teaser of what to expect with Laura's account of the shoot, a full schedule of release dates and two photos from each set included here for you to draw from. If you'd rather work from more conventional life & portrait poses, you can find links to our Patreon database of 3000+ photos on the Draw Navigator here. Supporter Tier patrons will get access to 1 photo-set per month, Portrait Tier will get 3 sets per month and Life/Student Tier will get 4-5 sets per month, released on a Friday morning.  

What about the future?
From now on we'll send you a schedule of the upcoming photo releases every few months. After the Lemonade series we'll be releasing photos in our regular life/portrait series that we have shot with Adrian, Manko, Françoise, Ines & Mat, and sharing more monthly Drawing Circus sets.  We are planning another artist-led shoot later this year, directed by Jade Hylton, and a lighting focused shoot where we'll explore different lighting angles, colours and arrangements.

Happy drawing,

Jake 

--

About Lemonade

As an illustrator, I'm always keen to keep my observational drawing skills up to scratch, alongside regularly working from references to make more complete pieces of work. I’ve been fortunate to have been kept occupied during the pandemic with lots of creative projects, including conducting an interview series where I discussed with other artists their particular approaches to drawing from photo reference, which has given me a useful oversight into the kinds of things that make for good drawing and painting stimulus.

Photo reference of Urte from the 'Pensive' photo-set

Having interesting references to work from is so important for us as visual artists, and it was great to be given the opportunity by Draw to art direct their next photoshoot. The initial preparations involved some visual research and putting together mood boards,  culminating in a fast paced day of photo shoots with six models at The Brighton Studio where our photographer Olly made the magic happen. I wanted the photo sets to have atmospheric lighting and range in tone from absurd, humorous, irreverent, mystical and thought-provoking. Here at Draw we’ve curated the results of these collaborations between model, photographer and myself into conceptual photo sets which will be released in weekly sets here on the Patreon.

Pre-shoot mood board for Urte's photo-sets

During the initial stages of photo shoot planning concepts began to emerge, through mood boards and the gathering of materials and reference photos. I’ve kept the furniture and set design modern and minimalist in style, it seemed important for the model-led interactions with everyday objects like arm chairs and bowls of noodles to take centre stage, re-contextualized through characteristically unusual interactions with these props. The inner psychic worlds of the characters which the models inhabit can appear through these interactions. This is a theme visible in the paintings of Ruprect von Kauffman, whose figures have pink clouds floating past their heads, their inner worlds as much a part of the domestic interior as the patterned wallpaper and furniture they sit on.

Painting by Ruprecht von Kaufmann

The ways that models interact with props, and the particular directions given, can help to create a sense of wonder and strangeness in these photographed scenes. I included a huge bouquet of helium balloons as a prop, a bowl of noodles and some simple everyday objects. The contemporary painters whose work informed my research and planning for the photoshoot include Johan Barrios, Michaël Borremans and Justin Mortimer. A clear sense of theme and concept became characterized by a sense of something unexplainable or beyond reason occuring. This included traits of magical realism, a literary and cinematic genre which can be extended to painting . Magical realism served as a springboard for artistic direction, as well as an aid to help me to form characters for the models, these characters would have traits of levitation, telepathy or telekinesis and scenes may be phantasmagorical, dreamlike, fantastical, unreal, and shifting in appearance.

Folded by Johan Barrios

The spring day of the photoshoot itself was full of strange experiences, seeing models who are also wonderful friends, and the unusualness of not being able to hug them because of covid measures. I’d been up bright and early that day to inflate lots of helium balloons, which you’ll see in my Helium, Float and Summoning sets. The evening before, in the dead of night, I searched through our props storage to find the ghostly white death mask for the Ritual, providing props for my models, whose enthusiasm and vibrant characters shine through in the photos. Props were such an essential part of the success of the photoshoot - I particularly enjoyed the chunky udon noodles, where our character wears a cocktail dress and consumes noodles with a primal relish. The long, entangled characteristics of chunky udon noodles seemed like they could be drawn with a similar approach to that of hair, since they exist as long stringy segments.

Drawing from Urte's Noodles Reference photo set by Laura Ryan

I very much hope that you all enjoy these photo sets; it is interesting to imagine the different ways that these images will be interpreted. This particular patreon resource is driven by a collaborative principle, which is non-hierarchical and rhizomatic in structure where photographer, model and artists all contribute to the outcome. In my opinion this has resulted in particularly rich sets of images and I look forward to seeing the results of your artistic endeavours, your re-contextualizing of the initial concepts, and the latent possibility of this project.

Laura

--

Lemonade Photo-set release dates

Noodles (Urte)
Friday 4th June, 10am 

Released for supporters on all tiers

Hands (Priss)
Friday 11th June, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Ritual (Ellie & Ines)  
Friday 18th June, 10am

Released for supporters on the Life & Student Tiers

Possessed (Mark)  
Friday 25th June, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Float (Priss)  
Friday 2nd July, 10am

Released for supporters on all tiers

Smudge (Ines)   
Friday 9th July, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Abstract (Tilli)    
Friday 16th July, 10am

Released for supporters on the Life & Student Tiers

Smudge (Ellie)    
Friday 23rd July, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Summoning (Priss)    
Friday 30th July, 10am

Released for supporters on the Life & Student Tiers

Unboxing (Mark)    
Friday 6th August, 10am

Released for supporters on all tiers

Gravity (Urte)     
Friday 13th August, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Helium (Mark)    
Friday 20th August, 10am

Released for supporters on the Life & Student Tiers

Shoping Bag (Tilli)     
Friday 27th August, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Back to Front (Priss)     
Friday 3rd Sept, 10am

Released for supporters on all tiers

Pensive (Urte)  
Friday 10th Sept, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

Mirrored (Ellie & Ines)     
Friday 17th Sept, 10am

Released for supporters on the Life & Student Tiers

Inertia (Mark)     
Friday 24th Sept, 10am

Released for supporters on the Portrait, Life & Student Tiers

--

Use the Draw Patreon Navigator to find any of our past photosets and take a look at our blogs on how to gather, manipulate and translate photo reference. 

--

Guidelines for using the photographs

Please do:

• Download these pictures to your own computers and devices, downloading the Zip files for all images, or saving individual photos.
• Use the pictures to draw, paint, print and sculpt from, being as realistic or creative as you like
• Share the artwork you’ve made with us and the world - in books, in exhibitions, on social media, or on your fridge
• Tag us in work you make (@drawbrighton / #drawbrighton) – you don’t have to, but we love to see what you’ve made!
• Edit the photo files as reference for your own drawings - you can change the contrasts, colours and backgrounds to provide more tailored reference for yourself.

Please don't:

• Share these pictures with anybody else – they are between you and us
• Share the photos themselves online – thanks for respecting our models’ privacy
• Edit the photo files themselves for artwork – we want to see original work you’ve made

Thanks!