1. The Big Draw October 2005 Why Draw?

2. “When once we see keenly enough, there is very little difficulty in drawing what we see. Drawing is a means of obtaining and communicating knowledge. I would rather teach drawing that my pupils may learn to love nature, than teach them looking at nature that they may learn to draw.“ John Ruskin

3. “If you work with words and pictures, you find that there are hundreds of things for which drawing is wonderfully economical and efficient – from physical likeness and the play of gesture to how a deckchair works (or collapses). For me, it’s information with feeling. Drawing is a most effective tool for thinking, for seeking out solutions, practical or visual. Ruskin was brilliantly right about one aspect of drawing – it is that there is nothing like drawing for teaching you to see: once you have drawn something you discover that you have really looked at it – perhaps for the first time.” Quentin Blake, Campaign patron

4. “The campaign is aimed at all of us who don’t draw. It believes not only that we can locate our suppressed visual instincts, but that the experience would be good for us, giving us an expressive and emotional outlet and improving our perception of the world.” Martin Plimmer, The Evening Standard

5. “If you can draw, even a little bit, you can express all kinds of ideas that might otherwise be lost – delights, frustrations, whatever torments you or pleases you. If you look at things with a pencil and paper in your hands you are going to see far more. The world has lost so much with the demise of drawing.” David Hockney, Campaign patron

6. “Drawing can help us feel – a language, within everyone’s grasp, that can make us think and feel.” Julian Spalding, Master of the Guild of St George “To young children, drawing is as natural an activity as running and playing but, as we grow and develop, in general we drop the drawing – why? It’s sad that so many people lose this ability: for me drawing has always been a natural form of expression.” Gerald Scarfe, Campaign patron “As Ruskin knew and taught, there is no better way to see than to draw, and this is no less true in the digital age than it was in his day.” David Barrie, Chairman, Ruskin To-Day

7. “To be creative is a mentally healthy thing, and drawing is naturally creative because you’re creating something out of nothing.” Jonathan Hare, Director, Creative Science Centre, University of Sussex “When I draw I retire into this inner person, and it’s wonderful because it’s very whole. It’s a health-giving exercise.” Robert Tear, Campaign patron

8. Drawing keeps you sane. It’s dancing, on paper. Elaine Arkell, mature art student, The Guardian In pictures you can express things you can’t say in words. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, it adds another dimension to life. Robbie Catterick, kitchen fitter When you get drawing, you’re young again. Stan Foot, pensioner (aged 80) Drawings are very fun and they’re very easy to do. And that’s it. George Samuel Coward (aged 6)