Breaking From Your Daily Craft for Some Very Serious Arts & Crafts Time
How a few designers from New York created a space for everyone — from occasional doodlers to master drafts-people — to hang out, enjoy pizza & beer, and draw all over tables.
We’ve been following stories from those nights in New York (and in Barcelona) where drawers of every kind sit down together at giant tables covered in canary-yellow paper and draw all sorts of things while drinking, laughing, and eating pizza.
Finally, the duo currently behind NYC’s (and Barcelona’s) Draft & Draw, Shane Zucker and Jason Bacher, have taken their drinkers with a drawing problem show on the road and are bringing it to the drawing-on-tables capital of central Texas¹ and Handsome is lucky enough to host the gathering.
At the very start of planning Draft & Draw #14, it was clear that Shane and Jason aren’t just skilled at getting a bunch of people together to draw on tables while drinking alcohol. They’ve uncovered the hidden-in-plain-sight secret to slowing down the grind, ditching the ego, and getting back to the roots so many people in the design industry lose sight of: those roots we can all trace back to the endless possibilities and joy found inside a crispy 24-count box of Crayolas.
Why do they do it? How do they pull it off? Well, they can tell you that…
A Conversation With Shane and Jason²
What’s the Draft & Draw story?
Shane
In 2013 a good friend of mine, Chris Rushing, and I wanted to create an event that made it easy to hang out and draw together without the structure of other drink-n-draw events. Other events felt too individual, exclusive, or naked. We wanted the whole event to be the canvas, and for everyone to contribute together. Cover the tables in yellow paper, throw in pizza and beers, and you have the start of Draft & Draw.
Jason
I went to my first event at BuzzFeed back in 2015. It was sold-out but I had a feeling I could sneak in and I did.³ A few beers in, I realized how amazing the Draft & Draw experience really was.
Shane
Jason became part of Draft & Draw after relentless bugging.
How many Draft & Draw’s have you hosted?
Jason
In total, we’ve hosted 12 sold-out NYC-based events (editor’s note: and one in Barcelona), bringing together nearly 800 like-minded individuals to draw on tables together. 2018 was the first time we attempted to run the events on any sort of schedule, and we threw seven Draft & Draws.
Shane
We like to say that Draft & Draw is a meeting for drinkers with a drawing problem.⁴ The goal is to create a safe space to hang out, meet new people, and learn something new. Drawing, pizza, beer, and a loose format are simply the excuse.
Jason
As a one-time attendee and now co-organizer, I am always trying to recreate the experience I had at my first event — new friends, beer, and crayons.
What is it about Draft & Draw that keeps people coming back, or, like in one of the stories you guys share often, driving across multiple state lines to attend on a weeknight?
Shane
The most common feedback is that they are excited to draw and to be given the space and permission to do so. Our attendees have a wide range of skill levels and industry experience. We have people from finance to music, education to tech. We also have a lot of incredibly talented illustrators and artists who attend, and for them they tell me it is a chance to hang out and goof off without the pressure of work or clients.
With 13 other Draft & Draws under your belt, what’s changed over the years?
Jason
Our goals haven’t changed, the only difference is that we’re thinking about Draft & Draw on a much larger scale.
Shane
One thing that hasn’t changed is everyone still loves defacing tables… often with genitalia.
Jason
We don’t know that it’s necessarily changed, but we’ve noticed that people are becoming more inundated with swag. No one needs another tote bag.
Shane
Should we make tote bags?
Jason
Already in production.
You guys both work in the industry. Draft & Draw events attract all types of folks, but what does the community you’ve built mean to you when you’re wearing your ‘Capital D Design’ hats? What do you guys wish you could change in our field through the power of pizza, beer, and drawing?
Jason
There isn’t room for any more ego in the design community. Or maybe there is… Any time we’re able to come together as an industry we should also find a way to give back. This is a concept Shane and I come back to again and again as we continue to grow. Conversations less about “work” and more about each other.
Shane
It’s definitely a New York thing in general, but it’s even more prominent in the tech and design community I think — when you meet someone, the first question that’s asked is almost always, “What do you do?” I think the idea of what you do should be about whatever you actually like to do, not automatically defaulted to what company you work for or what you do for your means of income. I’d like to see more focus on individuals.
If you could have anyone host a Draft & Draw event, who would it be and why?
Shane
It’s almost impossible to pick a specific dream host for a Draft & Draw, and I think that’s almost the point — there’s a new Draft & Draw almost every month, which means there’s always is a new opportunity for a fresh voice. In picking a host, being talented and passionate about their craft is obviously an important factor, but we look for people with a unique point of view in their work, a unique story or experience to share, and who don’t necessarily look like Jason or me. Each host brings their own audience to the Draft & Draw community mix, and that is one of my favorite things to witness. There’s obviously a lot of regulars at every event, but there are so many new and interesting people that join the community due to the diverse backgrounds of the hosts.
Mike Tabie — the host of Draft & Draw’s very first event in NYC — will be hosting Austin’s first Draft & Draw (#14) Friday, May 10th. If you’re in Austin, be sure to RSVP⁵ to save your spot at a yellow-paper-covered table.
Shoutouts to Industry Print Shop, Independence Brewing, Spartan Pizza, and the whole Handsome team for helping make this happen.
¹ Not confirmed.
² Compiled and edited from email threads and Google Paper docs.
³ This is not recommended or encouraged.
⁴ Drinking is optional, of course.
⁵ If you’re reading this after May 10, you missed out! Keep an eye on @handsomemade and @draftanddraw social feeds for recaps.
