Students drawing in Trafalgar Square

"Drawing in the street tends to demand a very different language to that of the life room: nothing here is fixed, the world is in flux. You have to take many leaps-in-the-dark, space is no longer measurable or finite. Big city alienation is often a problem faced by students, but the activity of drawing allows a fight back – a kind of participation, even. Standing one’s ground, pencil in hand, everything falls into place – and then, if we’re lucky, one epiphany follows another. Even the most modest act of drawing – plotting the counterpoint of figures and traffic as they move along the street – can deliver a wonderful sense of release and renewal. Timothy Hyman RA, tutor