Underground Life Drawing with Holly
The Underground Sketch Club started up last year in Brookvale, and due to demand is now back for another semester in 2025.
Artist Holly Mahoney has helped to create a community of sketchers who kick-start their week with a Monday evening 2-hour life drawing session in a basement in Brookvale.
Holly studied art at the University of Ballarat, and has a Bachelor of Art double major in Painting and Drawing. For her artworks she is always trying to bring her drawing into her paintings. Her first art sale was at the DY FOUR exhibition in 2010, and she is a Gallipoli Art Prize Finalist, 2021.
For over 20 years life drawing has been an important part of her skills development and she is keen to bring this to the Northern Beaches. She wants to give local artists the opportunity to enhance their drawing skills with a live model.
She loves drawing with charcoal:
“Charcoal is a beautifully expressive medium – perfect for playing with line, shaping form, and bringing light and shadow to life. It’s all about adding, subtracting, and letting the drama unfold on the page. The best part? You don’t need hours to capture a moment – just a stick of charcoal, a sheet of paper, and a willingness to embrace the unexpected.”
Here are Holly’s top 10 life drawing tips to help you get the most out of a session:
HOLLY’S TOP 10 LIFE DRAWING TIPS
Let go of perfection. Observe the model more than your paper. A great warm-up trick is to sketch multiple quick poses on a single sheet – this helps loosen up your marks and keeps you from getting too precious.
Plan your composition. Take a moment to step back and see how the model fits into the space. Use your charcoal (or pencil) to help interpret angles and lightly sketch these on the page before diving into details – this also helps with tricky foreshortening.
Create interest with line variation. Mix up your line weights, especially on curved forms, by varying from thick to thin to add depth and movement.
Break it down into simple shapes. Look for triangles, circles, and the negative spaces between them. Seeing the figure as abstract shapes makes it easier (and less intimidating) to capture a pose.
Block in shadows. This is a wonderful way to give a sense of form and weight on a 2D surface.
Negative space is your friend. Struggling with a tricky arm? Instead of forcing it, focus on the space around it – sometimes the answer lies in what’s not there.
Switch up the background. Add a splash of colour, a horizon line, or even just a strong shadow to ground your figure in the space.
Use a kneadable eraser as a drawing tool. Pressing into dark areas and lifting out highlights creates beautiful depth and contrast.
Experiment with mixed media. Try layering ink, drawing with a sponge, or sketching over a wash for interesting textures.
Struggling to connect with the pose? We’ve all been there. Shift your focus to a portrait, or zoom in on the hands or feet – there’s always something intriguing to draw.
And most importantly... remember it isn't just about what's in front of you – it's about creating something that stands on its own. Once you walk away, your drawing is what remains. Make it speak for itself.
Starting Monday February 10th, sessions are being held fortnightly on Monday evenings from 6.30pm to 8.30pm for a 9-week semester.
Dates for terms 1 and 2 of the semester are:
Term 1
10th February
24th February
10th March
24th March
7th April
Term 2
5th May
19th May
2nd June
16th June
Single session, 5 and 9 session multi-passes are available. The cost includes a complimentary beverage.
Sketchers are asked to bring their favourite art supplies, with charcoal and newsprint provided to get people started.
Only 10 places are available for each session. Ages: 18+
More details:
@undergroundsketchclub
@hollymahoney.artist
