If you thought October was all about Halloween or the clocks going back then you’d be wrong. It’s also the month of The Big Draw, a festival which aims to promote:
“visual literacy and the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention.”
Which is why SEVEN found ourselves dancing and doodling with kids and their families at Leigh Community Centre one Friday afternoon during the half term break.
- Go to the bottom of this post to check out our top tip for doodling alone too!
What is Disco Doodling?
SEVEN believe everyone is creative, we just need to be given the opportunity to explore in a fun and supportive atmosphere. Cue: music.
If you check out artists like Piet Mondrian of Broadway Boogie Woogie fame or James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s Nocturnes you’ll see that art and music have long inspired each other.
But for our workshop, we simply asked kids and their families to:
“Come draw to the beat of a funky soundtrack and create a giant doodle.”
What happened next?
SEVEN provided a huge roll of paper, an assortment of art materials, and, of course, the music. While local kids and their families drew anything their imagination – inspired by the music – might conjure.
A simple premise, drawing in this way gets some really interesting results. From the relaxed style to the collaborative nature of working onto one large sheet of paper, drawing to music is an easy and accessible creative technique.
Do it yourself
What’s more, you don’t have to disco doodle in a group. You can just as easily doodle to music alone.
Simply line up a few of your favourite tracks (think variety: upbeat, melancholy, playful, serious, exotic, old, new, etc) and start playing around on a single sheet of paper or even in your art journal – SEVEN have found pastels are a great medium for doing just this. Happy doodling!
