triggerfish: The Ultimate Drawing Tigers

They come out at night, when the studio lights are out and the only sound is the soft hum of sleeping computers. Eyes glowing, pencils sharpened… they are The Ultimate Drawing Tigers. Here are ten things you need to know if you find you've fallen victim to these Triggerfish animator's predatory instincts and are roped into drawing class:

1. Bring paper and a pencil - preferably a light blue or taupe Faber Castell - it's the ultimate "next level" drawing tool.

2. Also bring a sharpener. Blunt pencils make for good shading, but terrible outlining.

3. If you don't heed numbers 1 and 2 you can beg, borrow and steal from your classmates. However, this is not acceptable on a weekly basis. Grrrrr. Eventually you are going to have to fork out.

4.The warm-up is only a warm-up when you're already a fairly experienced artist. For others it's more like an I-have-no-idea-where-to-even-begin- up.

5. Do not despair, despite number 3. Someone (with 10 years animation experience. gulp) will be kind enough to show you some insider's tips.

6. Be prepared to have to pose for the class. Models are flighty and tempermental and may not show up, in which case you will be called upon to lend your services.

7. In lieu of number 6, practise maintaining different poses without moving. If you can manage six minutes you're good to go.

8. Your hand is going to cramp up about halfway into the lesson. You have two options: (1) pretend that someone is calling you on your cell phone and discreetly leave the class for five min, or (2) start drawing with your other hand. No-one will be able to tell the difference.

9. Don't sneak a peek at the person sitting next to you. Besides it being demoralising, you will become entranced and it will be near to impossible to tear your eyes away and focus on drawing your own.

10. If you can't resist and do look at the person next to you and do become demoralised, don't give up. Most of these tigers have been drawing for years and apparently it's not so much natural God-given talent as training yourself to draw what you see, not what you know.

*The Ultimate Drawing Tigers meet every Tuesday evening. To peruse their drawings, take a look at http://www.ultimatedrawingtigers.blogspot.com