Wild Life Drawing Recording: Humpback Whales

Breathe in, and take a deep dive with us into the watery world of Humpback Whales – the empathetic, filter-feeding songsters of the ocean. Our guest for this online class is award winning writer and nature filmmaker Tom Mustill who has made it his business to know a thing or two about these whales, after a close encounter in Monterey Bay. After being breached upon whilst kayaking on a wildlife spotting tour, Tom was keen to find out if his whale had deliberately turned mid-breach in order to avoid hurting him and made a documentary film exploring the theories, both scientific and spiritual, from all angles. 

Tom's filmmaking career has seen him make documentaries with the likes of Greta Thunberg and none other than Sir David Attenborough himself. In 2022, Tom's first book How to Speak Whale was released exploring the pioneering discoveries and latest opinions at the forefront of animal communication.

Drawing humpbacks from life is a bit of a tricky task to arrange, so for this class Jennie will be guiding you through a step-by-step tutorial from the pack of beautiful reference images of humpbacks, and a few other cetacean species. As we draw we will be chatting to Tom about all things whale – from what their breath smells like, to how land dwelling whale ancestors found their way into the ocean – and you'll have the chance to ask him your questions. We'll also be pausing the conversation for a while, so Tom can play us some recorded whale songs while we draw – a whale sound bath, if you like.

The class is open to all abilities so whether you haven’t drawn since school or you draw on the daily, you’ll get loads out of the session. The basic materials you need to take part are some paper, a pencil, a sharpener and a rubber, but if you’d like to experiment with other materials, please feel free to get creative! 

After purchasing this recording you will receive instructions, the reference images and the video of the full class that you can watch it back as many times as you like.

25% of this recording sale will be donated to Tom's nominated charity World Cetacean Alliance.