26 March 2011 – Toy Stories

Over a year ago now, but this romp through the children’s toy box threw out a number of interesting  costumes and poses, including Cherryfox‘s Wonderwoman doll (a costume previously seen at the one-off Heroines and Villains Sketchy’s at BICS), the delightfully odd Marnie Scarlett‘s toy soldier, Fanny Divine’s Jack in a box, host Liberty Pink‘s ballerina doll and rounded up with Parma Violet‘s portrayal of Jesse the Cowgirl from Toy Story 2. You can see more playthings on the Facebook page and Flickr set.

28 May 2011 – Fantastical Creatures

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make this one, but you can get a flavour of the event on the Facebook page and Flickr set.

9 July 2011 – Americana

Dr Sketchy’s returns to it’s Stateside roots with an American-themed series of outfits this week. To get things up and running we had a medley of rock and roll hits from Johnny and the Speedos, who also posed for a few sketches. Other models on the bill included two sets from Dante Posh – that of a 50s styled nurse and a High School majorette. Host Liberty Pink and maid Fleur du Mal posed for us as well; and rounding things off was knife-wielding housewife Sherry Trifle.  More on Facebook and Flickr.

24 September 2011 – Rocky Horror Picture Show

Another one I couldn’t make, sadly (I think I was on an oh-so-rare holiday). Facebook link.

26 November 2011 – Winter Wonderland

On this unseasonally cold April evening, (it was snowing earlier) I’m reminded of the warm reception we had from this Winter Wonderland themed set. Wintry costumes were worn (and removed) by the likes of our host Liberty Pink, Dani California, Vendetta Vain, Parma Violet and were cooled off by Sherry Trifle‘s chilling Judderman. Facebook link. Flickr link.

28 January 2012 – Eastern Promise

Another one I couldn’t make (I was all geared up for this one, but was struck down on the morning by a particularly skull-splitting headache). Anyway, you can get a taste of Eastern Promise on the Facebook page.

31 March 2012 – Comic Book Capers

And finally to last Saturday’s event, which follows in the footsteps of the aforementioned comic-themed event at BICS a couple of years back. It was nice to see a few costumes again, notably Parma Violet‘s Harley Quinn routine, our host Liberty Pink‘s Tank Girl outfit (which we didn’t get chance to draw last time), and maid Tiffany Beau‘s Silk Spectre (aka Sally Jupiter from Watchmen). We had a rare pair of male models in the shape of Batman and (apparently a last minute) Robin, who were then joined by Liberty in her Catwoman costume. Velma Von Bon Bon revealed her secret identity and Ivy Wilde played true to her name as Poison Ivy. More pics on Facebook and Flickr.

And that, hopefully, brings me bang up to date! Phew! It’s all on again soon though as Dr Sketchy’s Birmingham returns with Spring Has Sprung on the 26th March 2012. More details when I have them…

Making a splash with her opening number was our mermaid compère, Liberty Pink, after which we were straight in to our first model, Dani California with her balletic Bird of Paradise routine. Dr Sketchy’s organiser Candee Handful shivered our timbers with her pirate queen outfit, and was swiftly followed by Missy Malone, who stood for two poses.

Mysti Vine performed a grass-skirted hula for us, and finally Liberty Pink lowered the tone a bit with her rendition of sweary Saturday Night Live track I’m on a Boat! Reluctantly rescued from our desert island, we made our way home…

If this sounds your sort of thing, then the next Dr Sketchy’s happens er, tomorrow (sorry, this post is a tad late) 29th January, upstairs at the Victoria in John Bright Street, Birmingham, tickets £9.50 on the door. This month’s theme is Rococo Rocks, so expect a bit of the baroque with the burlesque.

Finally, I hinted about the presence of some Channel 4 folk in my last post from Dr Sketchy’s. Well, this involved a bit of filming for an upcoming TV show and a slightly different life-drawing class. Of which, more details soon…

Then, in a bit of a break with tradition from Dr Sketchy’s past, Fanny Malone (aka Crimson Skye) led us into a bit of an old Cockney knees-up with a few music hall songs (there were song sheets – sadly, I’ve misplaced mine). Events were brought to a close by Red Sarah‘s strongman routine, complete with swinging spheres and a giant set of weights – and an equally impressive moustache. All in all a great night out, with a bit more variety (although, presumably in keeping with the strait-laced Victorians themselves, a bit less shedding of clothes) than the usual Dr Sketchy’s. Also in attendance this time were fellow cartoonists Cathy Simpson and Gerard ‘Ger’ Whyman. There’s even photos over on Flickr (er, including a couple of me…)

The next Dr Sketchy’s is this coming Saturday 20th March, at the Victoria pub, with doors opening at 3pm. The theme this time round will be the Caberet-inspired Berlin, set in the inter-war years. I believe tickets are still available, so maybe I’ll see you there!

The exhibition was not without controversy, particularly with doubts expressed as to the origins of some of the bodies. It’s certainly not for everyone, but speaking as an artist, I found it a fascinating exhibition offering an invaluable insight into what happens ‘under the skin’, and took the opportunity to do a little, er, very still life drawing. Fellow Brum Blogger and photographer Karen Strunks was also there, and snapped a few pics for her blog too. The show has ended now (yes, I was a bit slow in blogging this one), but you can still see my impressions below.

Proceedings were comperéd, as ever, by host The Decadent Gent, who was accompanied by assistant Ditzy Diamond. First up, as last time, was a song from Cherry Fox who, appropriately enough, sang her take on the Altered Images track Happy Birthday, followed by a short 10 minute pose. The birthday theme continued with Willow Blue‘s routine, to the tune of both the traditional Happy Birthday To You and burlesque classic The Stripper, in a rather elaborate birthday cake outfit.

Suzie Sequin brought Hollywood glamour to proceedings (as she had at a previous Dr Sketchy’s), this time perfoming to Marilyn Monroe’s infamous rendition of Happy Birthday, Mr President. Cherry Fox returned for her second song of the evening, Lesley Gore‘s It’s My Party (probably better known in this country by it’s 80s cover version by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin). The final set of the night was Sherry Trifle performing, er, How to Make A Sherry Trifle (and yes, there was whipped cream…). After posing for one set, Sherry returned for our last pose alongside the Decadent Gent and Ditzy Diamond.

In between proceedings, there was Pass the Parcel, where I won my only prize of the evening (er… a knitted Swiss Roll), but the cartoonists weren’t letting the side down, as fellow scribbler (and PCO member) Cathy Simpson won two rounds (admittedly with one of my brush pens. Again). There’s also some lovely photos of the day’s proceedings (and if you look carefully enough, you might find a few of me).

So, raise a glass to Dr Sketchy’s 1st birthday, and here’s to many more… starting with the next one, Victoriana, at the Victoria (where else!) on 16th January 2010.

Donning the dressing gown and comfy slippers of comperé was, as ever, the Decadent Gent, who switfly ushered us into the first act of the night, a short but sweet performance of Dream a Little Dream of Me sung by Cherry Fox,who incidentally has put together a pair of books of her photography of  the current UK burlesque scene, featuring many Dr Sketchy’s performers. Next up, performing to the tune Misirlou (probably best known as the music from Pulp Fiction) was Missy Malone, who sat for two poses. Prior to rushing off to film an advert for a well-known High Street bank she also took time to pick one of my sketches as her favourite.

Missy was followed by a pair of scarlet women – founder of Dr Sketchy’s Nottingham the appropriately crimson-clad Scarlett Daggers performed her routine with a parasol and was followed in turn by the Gent’s frequent co-host (and star of TV’s Faking It) Scarlet Fever in one of those elaborate hoop-framed dresses (erm – not quite sure what you call them…).

The last act of the evening was a fan-dance by Frankii Wilde, who posed for two drawings and then returned to pose again with Scarlett Daggers, for I which I won my second prize – a fez! Luckily, there doesn’t appear to be any pics of me wearing the aforementioned fez in this set. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s burlesque life-drawing – and I’m looking forward with eager anticipation to next month’s first birthday bash on the 21st November at the Victoria.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, or last Saturday to be precise, the anti-art burlesque life-drawing class known as Dr Sketchy’s beamed back down to Birmingham. And boldly going where no life-drawing class has gone before, the theme this time was X-Files. Hosted, as ever, by the Decadent Gent, this time regenerated into the form of the Fourth Doctor, we were treated to a selection of broadly Sci-Fi related routines, starting with Rouge Rum the Murderous Mare, featuring Crazy Horses by the Osmonds, a persuing policeman and, er, a horse’s head.

Following was Meg La Mania performing (and singing) Science Fiction/Double Feature from the Rocky Horror Show, with 3D glasses and retro ray-guns. Next up was Scarlet Fever, taking a break from her normal co-hosting duties to perform an alien-headed routine to the tune of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (thankfully posing without the alien mask!)

Miss Rose Thorne’s appearance in a long overcoat with a sack over her head served to introduce her Elephant (Wo)man set, complete with prosthetic trunk. Our final act of the evening was the Chantilly Belles with their simply stunning Bride of Frankenstein themed disco set, to the tune of Le Freak by Chic. The evening was rounded up with a final pose from the Belles alongside Miss Rose Thorne. All in all a thoroughly entertaining evening, at which I was accompanied by fellow cartoonist Cathy Simpson, who managed to run off with two of the evening’s prizes (using one of my brush pens, I might add). I myself won one round, for my drawing of the Chantilly Belles, which was, appropriately enough, a Cyberman, of which I’m very proud!

Roll on the next Dr Sketchy’s in September! The theme next time, I’m told, is Boudoir, and is expected to be a popular one, so book up your tickets as soon as you can.

JEECamp – 8 May 2009

JEECamp (or, to give it it’s full title, the Journalism Enterprise and Experimentation unconference) was an interesting experience. An attempt for journalists and other media types (including one or two cartoonists) to gather and discuss how the digital revolution has changed (and continues to change) the news media, and how we as journalists (and cartoonists) are adapting to the changes.

Hosted and organised by digital media uber-guru and BCU lecturer Paul Bradshaw, the event took the BarCamp/Unconference model, which was a refreshing change from the more formal events I’ve attended as a live caricaturist in the past, although I was here as an attendee on this occasion. Activities included a talk by scoopt.com founder Kyle McRea, speed-networking, group discussions and a couple of panels, chosen at random from the audience. Myself and fellow cartoonist Matt Buck (of whom more later) were also interviewed for the BBC podcast Pods and Blogs. There’s a few sketches I doodled whilst I was there in the gallery at the bottom of this post.

Some other coverage about JEECamp: Created in Birmingham, Martin Belam, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph (part 2), Journalism.co.uk, Jo Geary, and pictures from Flickr.

Tormented Premiere – 21 May 2009

Later in May I was asked by Ruth Ward of Rewired PR to come along to the Birmingham premiere of the locally produced movie Tormented, a British take on the American High School slasher flick, so in keeping with the academic theme of the film, I was working on a chalk black-board drawing some of the text smileys that appeared in the film. And yes, that is me posing at the entrance to the party in a hastily-arranged school uniform (including a Prefect badge).

More coverage on Tormented: Internet Movie Database, Wikipedia and a review from the Guardian.

WxWM 2 – 28 May 2009

About a year and a half ago, a bunch of Brummie bloggers went to SxSWi (that’s South by South West Interactive), an annual tech and social media conference held in Austin, Texas that started as an offshoot of the SxSW music festival. These bloggers set up a website to record what they did – titled SxSWM (South by South West Midlands). This year, a larger bunch of Brummie bloggers went out again – so a group of other Brummie bloggers (lead by Shona McQuillan) decided to set up a parallel event here in Birmingham to connect with the USA bound bunch – this was WxWM (West by West Midlands… still with me?). That was earlier in the year, and unfortunately I couldn’t make it, but I could make the follow-on event, WxWM 2 – Sue Ellen’s Almighty Hangover on the 28 May at the Spotted Dog pub in Digbeth. This one was a little more experimental (for me at least), as I was drawing the speakers (and others) on my tablet PC hooked up to a projector for the room to see. The discussions were drawn from the general area of the social media, with a less business-oriented tone, and as it was held in a pub, well, things were a bit more relaxed all round…

There’s a few of my sketches from the evening in the gallery below, but all of the pics I drew on the night feature in this Flickr set.

Some further coverage from WxWM:  Speakers Jon Bounds (audio), Gavin Wray, Dave Harte, and Rhubarb Radio (who also did live audio),

My Dad’s on Twitter (#mdot) – 11 June 2009

A bit of a change of direction for this one. Conceived by Karl Binder and held as part of the Fazeley Digital festival, there was no clever techy tablet PCs here as the plan was to create a mind-map as a way of explaining the social media phenomenon, based around the theme ‘My Dad’s on Twitter… and he doesn’t know why’. The mind map was where we (myself and the aforementioned Matt Buck) came in, as it was drawn on one of the large, white walls of the Fazeley Studios complex in marker pen, pastel and whatever else we could get to work and was based on the conversations that the invited speakers sparked off. The drawings and notes were also added to by members of the audience, broadcast live over the internet and twittered and live-blogged, and so was a truely interactive event. There are a few more snaps I took below in the gallery, but all my pics are in this Flickr set.

#mdot (as it was known in Twitter hash-tag speak) also acted as the (un)official launch for myself and Matt Buck’s latest project – drawnalism. Drawnalism is our name for a form of visual reportage, where we cover an event through the medium of drawing (as opposed to photography or text), to provide a unique form of live visual commentary. Contact us at alex@drawnalism.com or matt@drawnalism.com for more details as to how we could cover your event.

Further coverage of My Dad’s On Twitter: the thinking behind MDoT, video of the event,  Jon Hickman (and the response from Karl Binder), usual suspect Dave Harte (again), reflections (part 2), another Flickr set, and, finally, the wall in more detail.

Moseley BarCamp – 28 June 2009

…aaand finally we come to what I was up to at the weekend, namely Shona McQuillan’s latest project – the Moseley BarCamp. Held in the upstairs room of the Cross bar in the leafy Birmingham suburb of Moseley on a sultry summers afternoon, the BarCamp ran on similar lines to the aforementioned WxWM2, and again I was drawing sketches on my tablet hooked up to a projector (courtesy of Jon Bounds of Birmingham It’s Not Shit, amongst others). This was a bigger event though, with more speakers, a larger crowd and even food laid on by the bar (thanks!).

Phew! I reckon that’s about everything covered. I’m off to another event this afternoon, so there’ll be more to add soon!

Gallery

Here’s a selection of images from all the events above… for more pics, see my Flickr photostream.

After the Gent regained his composure, we moved on to the first set of the night – a slightly nervous Trixie Rose, in a saucy sailors outfit. Theme for the drawing was ‘South Seas’, hence the desert island backdrop in my sketch. Trixie was followed by Ruby Fortune, bizarrely emerging from a shark, hence the Jaws scene referenced here, but giving me a chance to try out my new set of PITT Artist Brush Pens. Next up was Ditzy Diamond with her Beatles inspired routine – starting with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, before tripping off into Yellow Submarine (with submarine costume). The final girl to perform was the aforementioned Mysti Vine, who did a wonderful Jolly Roger balloon popping set (which probably broke one or two regulations, but that’s another story…) for which I won the prize  – an inflatable fish from Finding Nemo, and her pose had a harbour theme. To round things off we had a pose from Ruby Fortune and Ditzy Diamond, and finally a pose with Trixie Rose and Mysti Vine. There are loads of photos over here (including a couple of me – eek!).

All in all a great afternoon’s drawing and burlesque! Roll on the next one – X Files on the 25th July.

First up was Cherry Fox, who, in keeping with this time’s theme of ‘Garden of Delights’  performed her set as a pink butterfly. She was followed by Fleur de Mal with her dragonfly set, complete with long, gossamer-like ‘wings’. Next came the highlight of the evening – Parma Violet with in her garden gnome outfit, complete with disturbingly red beard. Host Decadent Gent posed alongside assistants Scarlet Fever and Ditzy Diamond next, and the evening continuted with a few other poses, culminating in Parma Violet’s Christine Keeler-inspired pose (right), for which I won a prize – a bunch of inflatable tulips!

Much as I enjoyed the event, I do feel that if Dr Sketchys continues to attract new followers they may have to think about leaving the Victoria (which would be a shame, as it’s a lovely pub) for a larger venue, or seriously consider limiting numbers.

Bonus pic: you may spot that one of the pics below doesn’t quite fit – it’s my dad, drawn napping the following day after Sunday lunch.