Billed as what happens when cabaret meets art school, Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School started in New York three years ago, and now has franchises all over the world. Mel Knight, who started the Melbourne Dr Sketchy’s, recently told me how she got involved.

“I was a fan of Molly Crabapple’s art, and she used to keep an online journal. I saw her launch Dr Sketchy’s in New York in December 2005, and thought it was a really good idea and I started chatting to her on email, saying I’d like to set it up in Melbourne.

“At the time she was actually writing a how-to kind of thing, because other people had also emailed her saying they wished they had it in their own city. Melbourne was the first place outside the US that had asked her. So I went and spoke to The Butterfly Club and pitched the idea and they were really open to it and supportive. They’re very encouraging towards new ideas and performers and things like that. That was in July of 2006 and it’s run sessions every month since then. So it’s all started from knowing Molly’s illustrations and watching her set it up in New York and it just exploded.”

Most life drawing classes happen in a sterile environment with bad lighting and bored, naked, uni students trying to earn a couple of extra dollars, or older hippies trying to convince themselves they’re still beautiful by taking off their clothes for Art. In contrast, Dr Sketchy’s is about performance, a good time and trying to draw a person rather than an object. The nights involve a bit of posing, a lot of performance (usually burlesque) and competitions. “The models are always performers, either burlesque performers or circus performers,” Knight explains.

“We’ve had contortionists and tap dancers; we’ve had a strong lady from America come out to model who tore a phone book down the middle. That session was shared with a wrestler; there’s an event in Melbourne called Wrestle Rock with heavyweight wrestlers, so we had a big [piece of] beefcake come and model for us.”

According to Knight, Dr Sketchy is “about life drawing, but not just getting shapes and forms and things like that. It’s about capturing a bit of personality as well, and putting that on paper. Not drawing what the eye sees, but capturing what the performer has in presence. So as long as they’re a bit different and a bit exciting, we’ve had them booked. Generally, it leans towards burlesque and all the wonderful costumes and stuff like that, and a bit of boobs with pasties on them, but we’ve had a whole different range of people.”

While it helps to be an amazing artist, it’s not a Dr Sketchy requirement: “There’re all different kinds. The whole point is that people come along and have fun,” Knight says. “A lot of people don’t go to life drawing classes because it’s a bit sterile and there’s an expectation to walk out with a bit of paper that resembles the model. But at Dr Sketchy’s, just as much as the person on stage is not a still-life model, the people in the room don’t need to be artists. We’ve had comic book artists, I’ve had illustrators that exhibit in Melbourne come out, and just hobbyists; people that are curious. There’s no experience required, and it’s a really comfortable place. No art degrees necessary.”

While you don’t need to be Leonardo Di Vinci or Graeme Base to come along, it is important to note that you need to bring your own paper, whether it be a fancy sketch pad or an old exercise book, and your own drawing materials – whatever they may be.

Dr Sketchy’s Anti Art School runs every Saturday during Midsumma. Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com (03) 9690 2000, or in person at The Butterfly Club, 204 Bank St, South Melbourne.

www.drsketchymelbourne.com

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