Why I love Peter Draws

Illustration BA(Hons)

My mum was an Illustration student at Falmouth University when I was between the ages of 10 and 13. I can't think of anything I found more exciting at the time than going to Uni with her. I'm not sure if it's the same now, but back then, each student got their own desk at the campus to work at. The desks weren't huge, they had a wooden divider around them and each of the students had decorated their own space accordingly with a mixture of their own illustrations, and reference materials.

I remember being truly astounded by the thought of an institution that allowed encouraged you to draw and paint all day. With wide eyes, I walked around the nests all covered in pencil, ink and gauche treasures.

On a few occasions I got to go with my mum to other illustrators houses, or to the pub with them. What colourful, varied and deeply intriguing people illustrators are! Their clothing, their sketchbooks (always scribbling wherever we were), such fantastic imaginations, so playful. There was often a patient, observant element too, I guess from spending hours alone in front of blank paper and canvases, or soaking the world in through their eyes to use in their pictures.

I used to like thinking how so many illustrators look like their work, much like people resemble their dogs in some way. Illustrations are like a physical embodiment of illustrators if you know them. I remember getting to meet Dave McKeen at the Quayside in Falmouth and thinking how much his fingers looked like the fingers he draws in his books, like graphite and carrots.

For quite a few years I was really sure that I wanted to do the Illustration degree at Falmouth Uni. Why didn't I? Well, one reason is teenage rebellion, when I turned 15 I didn't just want to do what my mum did. Another reason, I foolishly compared my drawing capabilities to my mums. Obviously she was 21 years ahead of me so I'm never going to win that competition, but this fact seemed to elude me when I was younger.

Anyway, this leads me back to the title of this post...

Why I love Peter Draws

Watching Peter draw, listening to him talk, I'm transported back to being with Illustration students again. He has such a playful outlook on the world, he notices things. Even the way he talks, he enjoys talking as much as he enjoys drawing. He reminds me of Cuber from Adventure Time, or Peter Gregory from Silicon Valley, it's like the words have textures that he's feeling as they come out of his mouth, he contemplates the tones.

He doesn't just draw either, he does 3D architectural models, he's experimented with painting, and making music. He just generally enjoys messing around with stuff, it makes you feel like you could just go and do the same.

He also does a fantastic selection of sketchbook and media reviews. People send him things to review and he's brutally honest about them, it's pretty amusing. I ended up ordering a Crescent Rendr sketchbook based on his recommendations (I got it around Christmas last year and I've not actually drawn anything in it yet, shhh!).

I miss being around arty people

The first video I ever watched of Peter's was Draw Your Feelings (sent to me by my mum of course!), and it's still my favourite of his videos. I've watching quite a few of his uploads whilst I was drawing because it recreates that vibe of being around creatives. 

I work at a software company, and whilst a lot of people are very creative and talented, there's not much of that tongue-stuck-out-to-one-side-whilst-humming-and-scribbling doodling going on that I love and miss. What with covid, and children, and having a big garden, I've been enjoying a bit of a hermit lifestyle which is kind of heaven really, but I do miss the surrealism of creative babble.

I'd like to find more artists like Peter that chatter on whilst they create, though better still I'd like to find some events (online or in person) where I can bask in the productive energy.