Hey Mickey!

Before I decided on my career I always wanted to be a Disney illustrator. From the age of 5 I would draw everyday as much as I could and often copying the illustrations of my favorite Disney characters.  Reality did however set in and I realized this may never become a reality, so I went down an alternative career path. 
Earlier last week I was going about my day-to day business when into my inbox popped a very exciting invitation, I was asked to be part of a Disney's Drawing Masterclass.  I couldn't actually believe my eyes as one of the few Disney illustrators would be teaching us how to draw Mickey Mouse!  
The day was in conjunction with Moleskine who had just released a limited-edition Mickey  Mouse notebook.  This particular notebook is the 9^th in a series of notebooks that feature cultural icons of our time and these notebooks are a great tool for drawing or writing in. I have previously used a Moleskine book for sketching and I assure you they are as good as they look! The event was being hosted at the exquisite Saatchi Gallery off Kings Road in London.  We arrived to a lovely breakfast spread, a table set up in a U-shape, a big screen and Moleskine notebooks with drawing pencils, rubbers and sharpeners for each person. 

Inside the notebook there is a step by step guide on how to draw Mickey Mouse

I couldn't quite believe I was about to learn how to draw the 1928 phenomenon, that put Walt Disney's career on the map.

Seiji Lim showing us how it's done

 We had the lovely (and not forgetting to mention extremely patient) Disney illustrator, Seiji Lim to guide us. We were drawing Mickey Mouse in three different ways, the first on the drawing agenda was a side view, then a front head view and finally followed by a full figure. It was quite a challenge and I must admit I truly had to concentrate, but I couldn't believe I'd actually made my pictures looks nearly like Mickey Mouse. I'll admit the entire journey back on the train I continued to draw him! After we'd been drawing I got a chance to chat to Seiji Lim and he said my sketches were better than his when he first started - well that just made my entire day! An actual Disney Illustrator complimenting my work? Amazing! 
If you want to get hold of one of the limited-edition Moleskine Mickey Mouse notebooks, they come in two different sizes; the large notebook is priced at £18.50, and the small pocket-sized one is £13.99.  You can get them from Moleskine or Amazon. If anyone reading this does get a notebook and draws there own Mickey Mouse, I'd absolutely love to see it!  Get your pictures over to me via twitter @missanniebean Thank you to Disney and Moleskine for a wonderful morning.    xoxo