As dedicated fans of the dark side, we've been avid followers of Art Macabre's imaginatively themed life-drawing events for years now. And with Halloween approaching, what better time to catch up with Art Macabre founder and hostess, Nikki Shaill. We talk about where she gets her inspiration from, London's most macabre venues and what it's like to celebrate Halloween all year..

RR: What inspired you to set up Art Macabre?

NS: I was running life drawing workshops in 2010 and after our Halloween themed special got such a good response, the concept of "death drawing" was spawned. I hope that we inject some fun, curiosity and drama into the experience of drawing- inspiring everyone to give sketching from nude and costumed models a go, no matter how confident they are with paper and pencil.

 The death theme has proven to be a popular one, and we'll stick with it as long as it keeps inspiring us to come up with imaginative themes and scenes for people to draw, and as long as there's demand from people for us to keep creating the events. It turns out there's a rich tradition of the nude body being contrast with skeletons, skulls and symbols of mortality- with "Memento Mori" artwork assisting people to reflect on the beauty yet fragility of life. We hope we can update this tradition with a twist- and help people to enjoy drawing, express themselves creatively and ponder death in a different way.

There's definitely a resurgence of interest in death, the macabre, the gothic- as illustrated beautifully by the Victoriana Revisited exhibition that we're proud to be part of this Friday, and I hope we can play a small part in allowing people to think about and explore ideas of death in creative ways and help put an end to it's 'taboo' nature.

RR: Do you pose for life drawing classes yourself, or do you just draw- or do you not even get a chance to do that now you're so busy running the events?!

NS: I've posed in costume a few times before, but I am yet to pose nude. I've said that I'll take the plunge and pose nude for the very first time at Art Macabre's 100th event which I may regret as it is approaching quite swiftly now! 

We have so many amazing models that take part in Art Macabre, who bring such style, grace, character, strength and presence to the events- it really is a skill.

As my Death Drawing alter-ego, Raven Rouge, I am much more comfortable in my roles behind the scenes and hosting the events. I'm the macabre puppet-mistress pulling the strings and directing the models, creating the props and costumes, doing the models make-up, dreaming up the themes and everything else that goes in to making an Art Macabre Death Drawing salon come to life. I really enjoy the opportunity that hosting Art Macabre events allows me to get in to character, dress up and create stories through the tableaux, narrative, music and visuals that we share.

 I love to draw whenever I get the chance and try to do at least a few sketches at each event (Sharpie drawings are my favourite) but often I do find myself running around so much making sure everything is running to plan that I don't get time to do as much drawing as I'd like.

RR: What are your favourite drawing materials?

NS: I really enjoy drawing with marker pens, creating bold lines. My drawings tend to be quite graphic and illustrative in style. I've recently experimented with watercolour painting alongside biro and pen drawings, which I'm enjoying too.

RR:  Where do you come up with your themes?

NS: Inspiration can come from all over the place, and often the themes are literally dreamt up. A lot of ideas will really take shape just as I'm falling asleep or in the middle of the night I'll wake up, not be able to get back to sleep, and end up scribbling down Art Macabre ideas in those twilight hours. I'll often take inspiration for themes from the cultural calendar, as the seasons, traditions and rituals offer such a rich source of festivals and themes to play on. Equally, I'll always have my Art Macabre ideas hat on when watching a film, looking in a magazine, visiting a museum or in an antiques shop. I love researching ideas too, over the past three years I've learnt so much about death rites, rituals and traditions around the world and throughout history. Even whilst at my friends' wedding this weekend I was noting down ideas from the occasion that could feed in to future events, so I rarely switch off.

Cynth Icorn by Wickedandsexy

RR: You use some fantastic props to set the scene for your themes- where do you source them from?

NS: Everything is either hand-made, found or borrowed. My bedroom now resembles a prop store, with fake ravens, skeletons and masks hanging everywhere- I'm running out of space. If anyone needs a fancy dress costume, they can come to me! We're very DIY at Art Macabre, with a resourceful spirit running through everything we do, so more often than not the props and costumes are hand-made by myself and also my girlfriend Linsay Trerise - who is Queen of the Glue Gun. Linsay makes props and puppets professionally for TV, so she's been a very welcome creative addition to the Art Macabre team. We have fun together transforming things we can find in the house, scavenged out of skips or rescued from charity shops, turning scraps of fabric, tin foil and eggboxes into weird and wonderful props, Blue Peter style. It's one of my favourite elements of the job and an outlet for my creativity.

RR: You've hosted Art Macabre events in some gorgeous venues- if you could hold a life-drawing class anywhere in London, where would it be and why?

NS: Well indeed, we've already been lucky enough to take Art Macabre to some pretty spectacular spaces- such as the Museum of London and Barts Pathology Museum which were really exciting places to be. Being in museums after dark fulfils lots of childhood dreams for me and helps to get people's imaginations running riot. It never fails to be thrilling to be surrounded by so much history, curiosity and objects that hold so many secrets and stories- so I think I'd have to say the Natural History Museum.

We often have models posing with my prized leopard skull and animal bones, so just imagine how spectacular it would be to see nude models posed alongside the gigantic dinosaur skeletons and grand architecture of the Central Hall? Or a model posed amongst the darkened, spooky galleries of animals, birds and butterflies in their glass cases?I used to always be convinced that the birds where going to come alive and start pecking at the glass when I was younger. It would be pretty darn macabre and magnificent to be able to hold an event there after dark.

RR:  You also appeared at a number of festivals this summer like Standon Calling and Festival no 6- what do you think makes a good festival?

NS: I love a good festival and now that I've been to quite a few, I've realised that the more I participate, contribute and feel a part of a festival, the better it will be. My ideal festival lets you feel part of it, takes you somewhere new and magical, helps you escape from reality, allows you to play freely, gives you space and time to breathe and dream, create connections with people, and gives you new ideas to take home with you back to your own reality.

RR: How should people get involved if they fancy posing for you? Is there something particular you look for in models?

NS: Anyone 18 and over can model for Art Macabre- we love having a really diverse selection of ages, body types, styles and characters of models so everyone is welcome to get in touch at deathdrawing@gmail.com and apply. I cast models dependent on the themes and roles, and I'm always looking out for people with striking, interesting looks or special talents to bring to posing. Being comfortable in your own naked skin helps, but equally we've had people model for the 1st time with us who grow in confidence through posing too. At the moment we're looking for more male models, especially those who would like to be part of our Movember team and commit to growing moustaches in November, ready to model them at our fundraising event on 28 Nov. I'm looking for heavily tattooed models at the moment too for a future special- get in touch if you're interested?

RR: What Art Macabre events do you have lined up in the coming months?

NS: October is our busiest time of the year- we love it when Halloween and Day of the Dead season comes around. It's like Halloween all year round for us, so it's fun when the rest of London joins us in focussing on all things macabre! We're celebrating our 3rd anniversary with lots of events- including a Day of the Dead Mexicarnival, Hospital Halloween event and Whitechapel themed special. We've got some chilling winter events planned too- with Victorian ghost stories and our first Christmas panto planned for the Hackney Attic- watch this space!

Keep up to date with Art Macabre's latest events here