An art lesson with Fisher & Lynn

Ever dreamt of drawing up quirky creations but don’t know where to start?

Pencils at the ready!

We caught up with our resident scribblers – Lynn and Fisher – who, when not making hop pizzas or piloting our beer flights, are a dab hand at that art malarkey.

Ready for your art lesson? Here we go…

Step 1: Find a place that makes you want to doodle

“When it comes to drawing, I work best when I’m at home after a day’s work,” says Fisher. “I use doodling as a wind down, and generally find myself sketching away with the TV on in the background.”

As for Lynn, this scribblista’s got to have a clean house before she can touch pen to paper:

“Weirdly I can’t draw if there’s clutter about me; it’s too distracting! I like to have my laptop to hand. I draw best after I’ve looked at a bunch of stuff for inspiration so working out what kind of environment you need to feel the most creative is important.”

Step 2: Get some top notch art stuff

“A good quality sketch book makes you take more pride in what you’re drawing. It may just be a doodle book but you’ll want to add nice things to it,” explains Fisher.

“I use a lot of spray paint in my work and it makes a difference buying cans from an art store. Big up to the local art shops! Hobby Craft and B&Q are not art stores, buy independent where you can.”

“I also like drawing on reclaimed or cut-out wood. There’s something pretty satisfying about creating gnarly looking dogs and weird blobs of paint on a surface that isn’t paper”

As for Lynn, her preferred weapon of choice is pen and ink:

“Pen and ink works for me because I do a lot of fine line work – fishermen, old people, stuff with a lot of texture. I drew the Hop Maiden that graces the walls in BrewDog Manchester…that’s a good example of my work and some of the detail I aim for.”

Step 3: Believe in yo’ bad self!

“A lot of people don’t think they’re ‘artistic’ because what they draw doesn’t look like a photograph,” say Lynn.

“In reality, some of the best artists are people with a distinctive style – take David Shrigley for example! His work isn’t ‘fine art’ but it’s incredible and has something to say, which is more important. Work on defining your own style and if you like it then nothing else matters.”

As for Fisher, his advice is to get a posse of art-lovers together, have a few beers and go wild:

“Art is a pretty socialable thing. There’s loads of legal graffiti walls up and down the UK so get a crew of your buddies together and get involved.

“Some of my favourite work is the stuff I didn’t overthink or overplan – like the dog-inspired designs we painted in the toilet hall in BrewDog Aberdeen. We created those after a few beers, totally off the cuff. Before long we'd created something awesome."

So what’s stopping you? You can tweet Fisher (@brewdogbarfish) and Lynn (@brewdogbarlynn) for more art advice or, if you're in Edinburgh, pop in to see them in person!