Wild Life Drawing Online: Seahorses

As we enter the year of the fire horse, let's take a dive to meet some of the smallest and mightiest of them all – seahorses!

Seahorses are storytellers, indicators of ocean health. Our guest for the evening, Neil Garrick-Maidment, has been reading those stories for over 50 years. Founder of the Seahorse Trust and creator of the world's first seahorse database, Neil's life has been shaped by these small, curly-tailed fish since aged 14 growing up on the Devonshire shores of Torbay. Neil has used the data collected to support the categorisation of British seahorse species, therefore protecting them under UK law. He's also written courses for divers on seahorse etiquette and how to behave around these shy, easily stressed animals.

Our class will focus on the two British (thanks Neil) seahorse species – the spiny and the short snouted. Artist and nature lover Jennie Webber will host the class, and will begin with a nose-to-tail run through of seahorse anatomy followed by a step-by-step guided demo from amazing underwater reference images (taken by Neil himself) meaning you can relax and enjoy learning as we draw. 

Jennie will have top tips on how to capture the speckles and the spines, to make sure your artwork comes out looking superb. The class is open to all ages and abilities – especially beginners – so whether you haven’t drawn since school or you draw daily, you’ll get plenty of joy out of the session.

All you’ll need to take part is some paper, a pencil, a sharpener and a rubber, but feel free to experiment with other materials if you’re feeling adventurous. We’ll email you an event link along with instructions, material options and reference images ahead of time. And as with all our online sessions, you’ll receive a recording of the class afterwards so you can watch it back whenever as many times as you like.

50% of profits will be donated to The Seahorse Trust.