With collaborative murals and a session to freehand live posing models, Robert McCann, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Art and Art History, said the event has attracted students across campus with no major experience necessary.

“It’s just nice to have an opportunity to bring together different areas of the art field,” McCann said. “Drawing is something that connects to so many — designers, architects, whomever — (that we try) to make it an event to get a chance to (have) a bigger group than what might happen in a studio class.”

During the day, students who did not hear about the event joined in the festivities. Charcoal, graphite, oil sticks, chalk and more were on hand for passers-by to take part in sketching.

Some students, such as studio art sophomore Whitney Orth, attended class as usual — until she discovered the class session would be drawing outside. The opportunity to work together in a large group and have various subjects to sketch were added benefits and a welcomed change from the norm, she said.

“It’s fun to be able to see other people’s drawings, not just people in our class,” Orth said. “Looking at other people’s techniques is really interesting.”

Working in shifts every 10 minutes, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities sophomore Persephone Kruszewski and biological science freshman Chris Thomas held their stance as a group of about 15 students sketched the scene in front of them.

Although posing was easy, holding still proved to take more than just an effort.

“I honestly try to get into a mediated state, because you don’t want to start thinking about your knee locking up,” Kruszewski said. “You just kind of think into those body parts and make that feeling go away.”

Thomas said being drawn as a model for the Kregse Art Museum is more of a comfort.

“Well, (it) was relaxing,” Thomas said. “It was like 10 minutes so I was kind of counting down a little bit because there’s not much else you can do.”