Savannah College of the Arts (SCAD)

by Claudia

Located in the former North Kowloon Magistracy Building, is Savannah College of the Arts (SCAD). The plain white walls and corridors are littered with abstract paintings and textured art installations, painstakingly curated by students and lecturers. Even the screensavers o

n the school computers flashed with photos of art, with every corner there was something interesting to ogle at. Not surprising in an arts school, considering how being exposed to other people’s work breeds one’s creativity.

SCAD had pledged to retain features of the historic building, while managing to add their unique twist. The former courtroom is now a lecture hall with projectors and screens where the judge’s pew is, they even hung a statue of a white horse, overlooking the space. The room still resembled a traditional courtroom, complete with teak floors, prisoners dock and an iron gate. Visiting felt like going on a school visit and heritage tour at the same time.

We were then led to a fashion illustration workshop, taught by Brigitte Da Silva, a fashion lecturer at SCAD. We perched on the wooden stools, lined around the tables full of drawing paper, colourful markers, pencils and others of the like.

Brigitte began the session with a short slideshow then a demonstration. We huddled around her and watched. She held the pen lightly and with deft strokes and sketched out a beautiful maxi dress with a flowy silhouette. She coloured it in with red copic marker and lined it too. All in less than 15 minutes.

Trust me when I say that I would not be surprised to see someone walking down the red carpet in that dress.

Then, it was our turn.

I could not help but feel a twinge of self-doubt; I enjoyed experimenting with fashion but I had never been good at art. I drew a few strokes to start off, then erased them in frustration. Seeing her effortlessly draw the dress, made me feel like I had big shoes to fill. I didn’t want my friends to look over and see me fail horribly at art or make fun of it (even though I knew they would not).

Her instructions were to start by tracing a template of a humanoid figure, also known as a croqui, onto drawing block. Then, we were to draw on our desired clothing pieces on the body.

I stared at my piece of drawling block, at a creative standstill, unsure of where to start. I looked around to see the others drawing their dream wedding dresses, others drew funky clothing pieces that they would like to wear.

“Fashion is all about expression, there are no rules!” she exclaimed. This confused me, if there were no rules, then who decides, what is fashionable and not? Bridgitte walked around, circling the tables, answering questions and guiding us in bring our visions to life.

I searched for inspiration on Pinterest, then conceptualised a simple a wrap jumpsuit, with a belt and flared pants. Something I liked in concept, but on paper…. looked a lot like a taekwondo uniform. Then I coloured in the jumpsuit with red and black copic markers and finished off the piece by outlining it in black pen.

I was in some sort of trance-like state trying to perfect my drawing, the three hours went past in a blink of an eye. I soon realised that the less I thought and fretted over the art, the more enjoyable the process was. I rolled up my (honestly, quite mediocre) illustration, to bring back to the hotel.

I left SCAD feeling fulfilled and thankful for the opportunity to let go of my inhibitions and draw. I may not ever be an artist, but I think I have found a new outlet to showcase my creativity!