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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Life drawing as a hobby - weird?

18 replies

patchworkq · 09/12/2023 07:55

I've been going life drawing for several years, I love it, I've made many friends through it and find it relaxing and a helpful discipline/ practice to work at my drawing skills. I get so many benefits from it!

Some of my family/ friends think it's a very strange hobby to sit and look at/ draw a naked person. I don't share my work with them because they think it's weird.

AIBU to feel this is a normal hobby and not 'weird' or sexual? I'm just interested in how non-artists really see it, and whether it's something people will be interested in hearing about me, or will they be in some way judging me if I tell them this is how I spend my evenings?

(I'm female if that seems relevant to anyone - I draw both men and women).

OP posts:
Santaiswashinghissleigh · 09/12/2023 07:57

Better than dating a gamer...

Original poster
patchworkq · 09/12/2023 07:58

Santaiswashinghissleigh · 09/12/2023 07:57

Better than dating a gamer...

Haha. Well actually I am a gamer myself. But I did meet my DH through drawing, and he is not a gamer 😂 He's the one dating a gamer, poor sod!

OP posts:
mambojambodothetango · 09/12/2023 07:59

Not at all weird. If anyone judges you just move on.

msmatcha · 09/12/2023 08:01

Sounds like a lovely thing to do. Not weird at all. The human form must be a fascinating subject to draw. Life drawing is offered at my child's school.

persisted · 09/12/2023 08:01

It's not weird, it's art.

People think anything they are not into is weird. I run long distances for fun - plenty of people think that's mad 😆

NChance · 09/12/2023 08:02

Not weird. It's like swimming outdoors in winter
Some people will be Confused why would you want to do that, others will be interested

PinkflowersWhiteBerries · 09/12/2023 08:03

I have 3 paintings by a life artist. I think they are stunning ( not as in classic beauty, more in the sheer skill involved in capturing that form).
So if I was sitting with you, I would be fascinated , listening to how the art takes shape.
Its a more interesting thing to talk about than knitting ( disclosure : I knit)

EBearhug · 09/12/2023 08:04

No, it's fine. I went to my first life-drawing class a couple of months ago, and it was so interesting seeing what everyone else did, like just focussing on one part of the body such as the feet.

I found it interesting that you literally objectified the body, focussing on the shapes and light and shadow, perspective and foreshortening.

I can also understand that others who've not done it won't see that, but who cares? You enjoy it, get a lot out of it. Keep going!

LlynTegid · 09/12/2023 08:23

Perfectly normal hobby. Mind you the only thing I can draw is breath!

gannett · 09/12/2023 08:30

The weird ones are your family members who tell you to your face that your perfectly normal artistic hobby is strange. Quite toxic behaviour on their part.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 09/12/2023 08:32

My family (4dc, 1dh) ask me if I’m off to strip club when I go to my evening classes. Doesn’t matter to me.

Elleherd · 09/12/2023 08:59

I draw, especially anything that will stay still long enough. (and a few things that wont) Life drawing is an excellent hobby or practice, and puts you into circles of more creative people.
Amongst my real friends it's perfectly reasonable normal thing to do, but in my background it's viewed prudishly as unnatural and somehow sexual.

You have to accept that people not only come in many different shapes and sizes, but also different beliefs and cultures and social acceptances. People who have issues with it are less likely to be compatible friends with creative people generally, but some may change as they learn more about other worlds.

Catza · 09/12/2023 09:13

I am an artist and have never met anyone who would think what I do is weird. I have people who didn’t understand/like my work specifically but not a single person who objected art in principle. This may be just a circle I am in, though. I imagine there are people out there who haven’t been brought up with interest in art so would probably find it strange to be sitting for hours drawing “naked people” or going to a museum as a Sunday activity. To each their own.

Grendalsmum · 09/12/2023 09:21

They're weird, not you!

I've been to art school and done time as an artists model - it's not sexual at all in any way shape or form, it's one of the oldest forms of art and a useful way of honing your hand/eye co-ordination ... lgnore them and crack on!

MagpiePi · 09/12/2023 09:24

I did life drawing as part of my art A level, and absolutely loved it.

I think the problem is that nakedness is assumed to be sexual whereas in a life drawing, for me anyway, it is all about the form and interpretation of the subject.

ReviewingTheSituation · 09/12/2023 09:28

Totally normal hobby! It's exactly like taking any other evening class.

Mabelface · 09/12/2023 09:29

I love life drawing, and the more lived in the body, the better. Sex has nothing to do with it.

10HailMarys · 09/12/2023 09:29

Not weird at all - I mean, life drawing is a really important part of an artist’s training. It was even part of A-level art when I was at school; both my siblings did it. And I know people who have done it as an evening class and so on.

I think maybe the idea of sitting in a room with a naked person just feels like a really awkward thing for some people, which is understandable, but that doesn’t make it weird or in any way sexual! It just means it’s not for them.

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