Tomorrow at Burnt Bridge Cellars I’ll be signing copies of my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy” and doing a dog drawing demonstration. This means you can drink wine while watching me work. Here are 5 things I think about when getting ready for a dog drawing demo:
- What dogs shall I draw? I plan in advance, sketching lightly in pencil, what dog breeds I’ll draw during the live-action demo. In other words before I even go to the demo I’ve already done the largest part of the “creativity” and double checked my dog-breed drawing accuracy. This way people can talk to me while I’m doing the demo and I don’t need to be concentrating on getting a dog breed drawn correctly.
- Locate my demo apron. Ink is messy. ‘nuf said.
- Pack all necessary materials in one portable container in a “push-here-dummy” fashion. People will often start talking to me while I’m setting up to work. So I make sure to have all of my necessary materials packed – but I also take care to pack in such a way that I can unpack in a distracted manner and still be set up correctly to work. Keep it simple!
- Remember to smile and talk to people. A demo is about sharing – not about zoning out into creative never-land. So if a drawing isn’t “perfect” because I was answering someone’s question and not paying attention to where my ink was dripping – I don’t sweat it – in fact I’ll freely tell people that 90 percent of being an artist is knowing how to fix mistakes.
- When the demo is done I make sure to thank everyone for coming, for hosting the demo – for doing anything anyone did that helped me out. The world doesn’t owe me a thing. In fact I’m grateful I get to do what I love for a living – and people around me help make that possible. So in advance: THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Here’s me in my demo apron
And if you’ve just arrived at this party you can find copies of (or info about) my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy” on Amazon or here: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/Dogs-By-Sue-Clancy
Other relevant links:
Burnt Bridge Cellars http://www.burntbridgecellars.com/
Caplan Art Designs http://www.caplanartdesigns.com/
I’m impressed that you can create art while essentially conducting an interview. I think I zone out way too much when creating to be able to do that.
Thanks Laura. I tend to zone out too much too – that’s why when I’m asked to do a demo I choose to show something that I can do in my sleep! Even within the “draw dogs in ink” easy-for-me-to-do category I also choose to draw dog breeds that I know I do fairly well. Makes it easier that way to talk and draw at the same time – Lol! Btw today I posted the 6 pieces I did during the demo in a post called “demo dog done”
I saw them. They are all great.