Show and Tell | Gabriel Campanario

Keri Smith: "Perspective is everything."

2013-05-13T00:03:00.003-07:00

What stood out from my Internet consumption this week, visually speaking:

1. A charming and thought-provoking set of hand-drawn signs by guerrilla artist Keri Smith, of Wreck This Journal fame.

By Keri Smith

The captions Keri writes to each sign on flickr are just as good if not better. "Move over a little bit," reads the one for the sign above. I'm going to remember that, not just for sketching, for anything.

If we all "moved over a little bit," instead of being set in our own ways, we'd see things differently. We'd be more open-minded and tolerant, wouldn't we? Perspective is everything.

2. Fifteen cartoons that changed the world, some of them inked more than 100 years ago. [Via Cartoon Movement.] Powerful stuff ... Share it with anyone who may think cartoons are silly or irrelevant!

3. A post on Craftsy.com by Paul Heaston on how to draw those ellusive ellipses. That's how it's done!

Keys to Drawing

2013-05-05T21:49:00.005-07:00

I often check out art instruction books from my neighborhood library. But I never spend enough time with any one in particular before they are due back. Keys to Drawing, however, has me hooked from the start. I'm enjoying it so much I may just end up buying a copy to own.

Dodson emphasizes a fundamental principle: Drawing what we see, not what we know. Such simple advice, right? Yet it doesn't get old. Trust your eyes, he says, and spend more time looking at the subject than at the paper.

"Our goal in drawing from observation is to capture the richness and variety of the visual experience. We should draw, for the time being at least, as if we know nothing, and were obedient to only to what our eye tell us to draw."

In other words, forget that people's heads are positioned above their shoulders (what we know.) If the person we are drawing is bent foreward and looking down, that anatomical knowledge won't help. Just draw what you see.

Or forget that hands have five fingers. Try drawing your hand with your fingers pointing directly at you and think only about shapes, lines and angles. Below is my own result from doing that exercise suggested by Dodson. (In case you are curious, the unrelated sketch on the top left is my son looking at the iPad.)

Here's another excerpt of great advice to cope with the frustations that often arise in the process of drawing:

"At each point of frustration or confusion, ask yourself: What do I see?"

The journalistic illustrations of Robert Weaver

2013-04-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

The late Robert Weaver is known for his journalistic approach to illustration. The artwork he published in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Life and Esquire was based on sketches he drew on the field.

This week I especially thought of Weaver's work when I was making some behind-the-scenes sketches of Opening Day at Safeco Field for my Seattle Times column. Back in 1962, Sports Illustrated sent him to Florida to cover spring training and he produced a series of paintings for the magazine (see a tearsheet in this post on D. B. Dowd's blog Graphic Tales.) Above is a screengrab of a slideshow of his spring training sketches published by the New York Times in 2008.

The idea of creating new images based on my sketches had never crossed my mind until I discovered Weaver's work. Now I can't wait to give it a try.

Here's my list of links to Weaver's work so far:

Leif Peng: Rober Weaver flickr set
Today's Inspiration: The incursion of the Avant-garde: Robert Weaver
Today's Inspiration: Robert Weaver: "It was the ponytail period in American culture."
Today's Inspiration: Robert Weaver The anti-Wyeth
Today's Inspiration: Robert Weaver: "Illustration is an essential to a great painting."
Today's Inspiration: Robert Weaver: "The artist... should be the reactor.".
Today's Inspiration: Robert Weaver: "I saw illustration as a real calling."
Graphic Tales: Drawing Lines––Robert Weaver at Olin Library
Graphic Tales: Robert Weaver, ACL Game 7 special
Graphic Tales: Super Tuesday: Robert Weaver's Kennedy Suite
Graphic Witness: Robert Weaver
Art Directors Club: 1990 Hall of Fame Special Award
PourPorter: American illustrator Rober Weaver
Washington University St. Louis: The Work of Robert Weaver, by Noah MacMillan
New York Times: Spring training sketches slideshow.
New York Times: Obituary

And here's a pic from one of my sketches in progress last Monday during Opening Day. Drawn from Safeco Field's press box.

The Melton Prior Institute for Reportage Drawing & Printing Culture

2013-04-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered the existence of an institute dedicated to reportage drawing: The Melton Prior Institute.

It is named after Melton Prior, an English artist who worked for the London Illustrated News back in the days before photography, when newspapers relied on artists to produce visual records of news events.

The institute's website is a gold mine of resources about illustrated newspapers, war artists, reportage illustrators and graphic arts in general.

Artists keen on the narrative powers of illustration will enjoy digging deeper into the site. It's a real time sink, but certainly inspirational for those of us who work in the crossroads of art and journalism.

The Melton Prior Institute also has a page on Facebook. I hope it gets a few more likes after this post!

Drawn together in North Carolina

2013-04-06T21:47:00.002-07:00

Meeting fellow urban sketchers when you are away from home can be a very rewarding experience.

I recently met two of them during my spring break vacation in North Carolina: Jessie Chapman, an architect from Charlottesville I first met at the Santo Domingo Urban Sketching Symposium last summer; and Steven White, a web designer from Blacksburg, Virginia.

Though it was only the second time I met Jessie in person and the first time I ever shook hands with Steven, the connection was instantaneous. It felt like meeting dear cousins or old college friends.

Steven was just as funny and genuine as I expected — I've known him since the early days of the Urban Sketchers flickr group. "C'mon, give me a hug!" he said in the characteristic friendly style of his online persona, "SketchySteven," as soon as he saw me. And Jessie was just as excited as Steven and I about our little sketching meetup, which took place under beautiful sunny skies and pleasant spring temperatures.

The meeting location was Statesville, a small town about an hour north of Charlotte where my brother-in-law, Jeff Archer, opened his mountain bike shop more than two decades ago.

Jeff's First Flight Bicycles business now occupies a historic building in the heart of the city and attracts customers from all over the region and beyond. Sketchers? Not so much. That's probably why he tipped off a local newspaper reporter who promptly showed up to interview us for this story.

After a quick lunch, we set out to sketch across the bike shop as Jeff was busy attending customers who pop up from everywhere. For instance, a New Yorker who took a detour on his trip back home from Florida just to visit the bike shop; and a father and son from Charlotte who spent three hours browsing the shop and Jeff's collection of vintage bicycles, also known as the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology.

The bike shop and other impressive buildings in downtown Statesville kept us busy sketching all afternoon. Then we wrapped up the day in typical sketcher fashion, having a drink at a local bar, the Wine Maestro, that Jeff recommended.

If you ever find yourself near Statesville, make sure to stop by First Flight Bikes and get a sketch or two done along South Center Street. Like Jessie said, it's a town that ranks high in "sketchability."

Picture it: The art and teachings of Fred Lynch

2013-03-19T23:47:00.003-07:00

11:10 a.m., July 25, 2007. Viterbo, Italy, by Fred Lynch.

Sometimes you find artwork on the web that stops you on your tracks. That was my experience when I first stumbled upon Fred Lynch's timeless and peaceful scenes of Viterbo on flickr.

Fred didn't turn out to be an English or American ex-pat living in Italy. He is an artist and educator who teaches at some of the best illustration programs in the U.S., at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass., and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.

My curiosity about Fred's art and teachings, which he generously shares on his blog Picture It, led me to do this Q&A with him that I first published on the Urban Sketchers blog in 2009.

Though the post is four years old, Fred answers' are just as valid today and I think you may enjoy reading them again, or perhaps for the first time, in this new "Show and Tell" phase of my blogspot.

How did the idea of drawing and documenting Viterbo come about?

Montserrat has been taking art students and enthusiasts to Viterbo, Italy, for many years to study landscape painting and photography as well as art history and journal writing. The director of the summer program asked if I'd like to create a drawing course … and I jumped at the chance. That's when I came up with the course "Journalistic Drawing in Italy."

Throughout history artists were valued correspondents for every publication that featured visuals. They recorded visions of wars, foreign lands and historic events. Paul Hogarth, the great British illustrator, wrote well of the history of this genre in his book, The Artist as Reporter. But, until recently, it seemed that the value of on-site, journalistic drawing had been decreasing, losing prominence in the editorial world to photography.

Now I see that eyewitness drawing appears to be enjoying a renaissance, particularly online with blogs, websites and image sharing sites such as Flickr. Urban Sketchers is certainly a great example. My class in Italy aims to discuss the history and contemporary trends of sketchbooks and visual journalism and to use Viterbo as the subject (and inspiration) for visual essays and observational sketches.

Top: Drawing by Heather McCoy. Bottom: Leeza Masia drawing in Viterbo. More students' sketches at Drawing Viterbo. Photo by Deb Venuti.

How is Viterbo like? How is it like to sketch there with your students?

Viterbo is a small ancient city, with a population of about 60,000. The old part of the city is contained in walls that were constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries. The city is both old (with a wonderfully preserved Medieval Quarter) and new, with modern shopping, fashions and lifestyle. What makes Viterbo particularly great for us is that it is off the beaten path of tourism. As visitors, we get a pure Italian experience and have no competition for interesting sites.

Students draw constantly throughout the month long trip, both in and out of class. They are encouraged to act as sponges soaking up everything and wringing it out in their sketchbooks! They visit Rome, the Mediterranean and Florence with their sketchbooks. In a foreign place, one’s senses are heightened and almost everything is interesting to draw. We talk about how we need to take that quality of seeing back home to our own ordinary lives.

What is your sketching process and technique. How long do you spend on each drawing. Why is it important to caption them with exact time and date?

Ordinarily, I'm an oil painter, working slowly and making many corrections and changes. But when I sketch, the focus is on the moment and on the place.

Because light changes as the sun crosses the sky, I work as quickly as I can (shadows move quickly in the city). I want very much to finish the work on-sight in one sitting. Each drawing ends up taking about an hour to complete. At the end of the drawing, I write the time and the address of the spot where I am. I don't revisit the works later. The work represents its point in time, an eyewitness account.

I currently sketch with either ink (Windsor Newton, nut brown) or black ballpoint pen. The ink drawings are washes and are created with brushes and ink watered down to start and darkened as I go. From time to time, I'll paint with watercolors from a small Windsor Newton travel kit. I work in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook or on a small, 7x10" Arches watercolor block (hot pressed). Pencils, erasers, a quill pen, a rag, a big water bottle and sunblock are essential supplies too!

Each sketch starts with a 10-minute inspirational light pencil drawing to interpret the scene, followed by 50 minutes of perspiration. I work the entire surface from the general to the specific and from the light to the dark. While I strive to capture the scene as I see it (to get it "right"), I'm not all afraid to impose my personality to the works and to be comfortable with the work’s overall lack of finish. Each and every time I sit and draw I wonder if it will work out in the end. Happily it almost always does and I usually feel satisfied in the end. That said, I don't love all of my drawings and I wish to push myself further each time I work, which is easier said than done! I’m never comfortable. I'm drawn to the difficult, I guess.

• Drawing Viterbo on Flickr.
• Drawing Viterbo students' blog.
• Fred Lynch's website.

P.S.: Fred will be giving a lecture at this year's Urban Sketching Symposium in Barcelona. If you are planning to attend, make sure not to miss it!

Urban sketching as creative fuel

2013-03-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Urban sketching is mostly a hobby, but it can also benefit many people in their professional occupations. In his new book, Freehand Drawing and Discovery ($65, Wiley & Sons), urban designer and educator Jim Richards gives urban sketching his stamp of approval as a tool that can help architects, urban designers and creative professionals throughout their careers.

Jim, an associate professor at the University of Texas School of Architecture, makes a simple but powerful point in this beautifully illustrated, 265-page manual, that the more we draw the things we see, the better equipped we are to draw what we think, to translate abstract concepts into easy to understand visual communication. That's why he defines urban sketching as "creative fuel," offering this quote from professor Frank Ching to further illustrate his point: "If you draw 1,000 trees from life, then the tree you draw from imagination will have integrity."

Jim's book offers a great mix of thought-provoking narrative about the value of freehand drawing in the digital age and practical drawing instruction. In the section titled "Learning a Language," urban sketchers of any skill level will find useful step-by-step sketching tutorials and drawing tips (work small, simplify technique, draw people first.) Jim has gone as far as redrawing his own sketches to reveal the steps he took to make them while on location.

Work by several urban designers (i.e. Michael Vergason, Kevin Sloan) and sketchers (i.e. Luis Ruiz, Liz Steel) is also featured in the book. I am honored to be one of them, but even more delighted that someone of Jim's professional standing has given a nod to urban sketching in such a prominent fashion.

I first met Jim in person at the 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon and I have followed his artwork online ever since. Jim has a long career as an urban design consultant and this is his first year stepping into the world of academia, where he is sure to get students excited about drawing on location. Jim also serves on the board of the Urban Sketchers nonprofit and is founder of Urban Sketchers Texas.

The spirit of urban sketching

2013-03-14T00:26:00.004-07:00

The way I see it, being an urban sketcher isn't merely about drawing cities, big or small, urban or rural, with a pen or with your fingers on an digital tablet. It's about drawing places that can be put on a map, and everything that happens in those places. It's about showing the world with drawings, taking people to locations they may never go through artwork only you can create. You were there, you saw it, you sketched it, you told us what happened with your hand drawn art, sketched in the moment but perhaps touched up later because you ran out of time or can't resist the urge to fix something up. What matters is that you "draw what you witness," as my fellow sketchers in Indonesia like to say.

Those beautiful vases of flowers or the bowls of fruit on your kitchen table are sure great subjects to draw, but do they tell me something about a place I can put on a map? There are countless of beautiful sketching subjects to be drawn from observation that don't quite fit the spirit of urban sketching: an out-of-context portrait of my friend or her cat or her baby or her baby's shoes, for example.

But there's no point in making lists to define what urban sketching is or is not. You know what it is already, you've probably been an urban sketcher for a long time!

Rendered Rooms: The Art of Mike Daikubara

2013-03-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

Daikubara attaches a sheet of hotel
letterhead onto a clipboard
and gets to work. This photo was
taken at Le Meridien Pyramids
in Cairo, Egypt.

Urban sketching enthusiasts relish the opportunity to draw a new city while on vacation or on a business trip.

Mike Daikubara, an industrial designer based in Boston, took up the hobby in 2000 and is no exception. But he also likes to add another dimension to his travel sketching.

At whatever hotel he stays for the night, the first thing he does is ask for a sheet of stationary to draw his room. He may only have time for a blueprint-like sketch. Or he may spend several hours to create full-blown three-dimensional diagrams in striking bird's-eye perspective. Either way, his rendered rooms are full of detail. Bathroom tiles, wall decorations, and even the refreshments inside the fridge are carefully sketched in ink and watercolor.

The result of eight years of hotel-room sketching is Hotel Sketch Mike Sketch, a book with 67 sketched rooms and other drawings from his travel journal, and an exhibit which opens March 14 at Gallery 263 in Cambridge, Mass.

Mike's goal is to create a record that will help him remember what most of us forget: how the rooms we stayed in looked. His drawings, though, have a bigger effect for those who see them for the first time.

"Each room tells stories about the hotel, the country, the culture and I hope to share those stories with everyone," says Mike, who has sketched rooms in 11 countries spread over several continents.

Mike and I share the same birth year, 1969, and I have followed his work since we met at the 1st International Urban Sketching Symposium in Portland in 2010. The news of his exhibit gave me a good excuse to say hello and do this little Q&A about his fascinating world of rendered rooms:

What prompted you to start sketching hotel rooms?
I've been urban sketching since 2000, mostly in the beginning as a practice to be able to sketch faster and communicate better in my day job. In a matter of no time, that turned into a passion and hobby.

Since I used to travel a lot personally and on business, I used to sketch parts of the hotel room I stayed in, then started to sketch plan views by freehand which didn't capture the room very well. This lead me to buying measuring devices to start measuring for accuracy.

How long do you spend on each sketch and how do you measure the rooms?
This varies anywhere from about 2 hours to 5 or 6 hours. Have a look at this image showing a flow chart on how I make decisions on this topic.

In the beginning I used to measure by just using a tape measure. When the distance got long, I sometimes had my wife hold the other end. Then I heard about a laser measuring device where I just point to the opposite wall and gives me an exact digital reading of the distance! This was a little expensive but well worth it and I love it.

Do you ever show your sketches to the hotel staff? Have you ever been approached by the hotels later?

Not really. For some reason I've always been somewhat scared of showing people my hotel sketches. For years I never even told my co-workers whom I traveled with that this was what I did at night in the hotel room. After a long day of working, they would go out for a drink and a nice time out in town and I would head back to my room to sketch — I know how antisocial this looks so I've kind of kept it a secret.

Since releasing my book "Hotel Sketch Mike Sketch" things have started to change though. Everyone knows this is what I do and they encourage me.

Recently the design director of Marriott bought my book and even sent me a nice note about how much he liked it.

With my current employer, we also do business with numerous hotels in providing custom bathroom fixtures (including Marriott) so this relationship with him turned into a good thing.

How can someone explain to their travel companion that they want to sketch the hotel room instead of being outside?

Haha, this is a tough question and something I'd like to learn more from fellow sketchers that have non-sketching partners.

During the daytime when I'm traveling with my wife, this can be tricky in finding the right timing to sketch.

Sketching the hotel room on the other hand is actually easier. The time I sketch is at night after we come back to our room after a long day outside or I wake up 3~4 hours earlier than my wife in the morning to sketch while she's still sleeping. I'm a quiet sketcher so she never wakes up.

Any fun anecdoctes from hotel sketching?

Wow, I have too many since each room has a story to tell! But most of them relate to my findings, which I would never have found out if I had not sketched the room.

An example is with the Kotosankaku hotel in Japan. No matter how many times I measured and remeasured the area around the bathroom, the numbers did not add up and it was driving me crazy. I eventually found out that there was a small hidden space between the bathroom and the toilet containing pipes for plumbing and it was accessed through a small wooden panel with rice paper hanging in the toilet wall, which I originally thought was there just for decoration.

I think Hotel Arena in Amsterdam would have been a great one to sketch in perspective view, especially with the 14-foot-high ceiling in the bedroom, but I decided to do just a plan view drawing. This relates to my sketching flow chart in that I had too little time and the room would have been very complex.

Mike's great grandfather was an urban sketcher.

What's your next project?
Once again I have too many and need to start giving priority. I want to do Part 2 of "Sketch Mike Sketch." I want to complete translating and publish my great grandfather's diary containing tons of brush sketches — I have four books made by him. I also wrote a graphic novel with my friend 20 years ago, which I want to bring to print too.

Follow Mike Daikubara:
Blog.
Flickr.
Website.
At urbansketchers.org.

EXHIBIT INFORMATION

Gallery 263 (www.gallery263.com)

Rendered Rooms: Hotel rooms drawn on location by measuring
On view:
March 14–April 6, 2013
Reception:
Saturday, March 16, 5-7 PM
I'll be at the gallery every Saturday from 2:30 PM -5 PM

Gallery hours:
Th/F, 1-6 PM; S/Su, 12-5pm

Pulling no punches

2013-03-08T19:47:00.001-08:00

"I'd love to sketch a boxing match!"

That's what I replied to Roy Winterbottom when he recently e-mailed me.

You see, Roy is a student at Worcester University and has been boxing for a few years now, but he wasn't inviting me to fly to England to sketch him on the boxing rink. I wished!

He was reaching out with some questions about reportage illustration for a school assignment.

"I have been looking at where commercial reportage exists," he wrote, "and I have found your work to be very successful ... I would appreciate if you have the time to reply as I understand the industry requires a lot of work."

I was flattered, and Roy's interest seemed genuine. He is graduating in May and wants to start looking for jobs that will support his illustration career. Right now, "I work part time as a scaffolding labourer whilst at university," he wrote.

The industry sure needs people who don't pull any punches. If Roy applies the stamina he shows on the rink to the business of illustration, I'd say he's off to a good start.

Here are my answers to his questions:

What do you feel reportage gives the viewer that photography does not?

For the reportage illustrator, the pen is the extension of his hand. A drawing carries the artist’s emotions in a way a photograph can’t. Photographers can produce wonderful imagery as well, but they are always one step removed from the creation process. That step is the camera itself. The reportage illustrator, however, has no other tool but his brain to process colors and shapes and put them on paper. That process usually translates into artwork that feels very honest and authentic. A sketch drawn on location can also depict the activity happening before us over a period of time. We’ll draw people coming and going, for example, when sketching a street scene. A photograph, on the contrary, can only capture a moment. Franklin McMahon describes this aspect of reportage illustration as “seeing around the corners.”

With the economy in an unhealthy state and access to photography and images easier than ever via the web, how is it that an illustrator can be paid to produce reportage illustrations?

I wish I knew the answer to that question! I’m fortunate to work for a newspaper that appreciates what I do and has given me the opportunity to practice reportage illustration as part of my job in the News Art Department. I encourage illustration and journalism students to pursue this field and try to break ground for generations to come. Knock on the door of newspaper and magazine offices and show your work. Don’t give up. If it’s good, you’ll get paid for. Very important: Don’t give your work away for free or in exchange of “exposure.” Exposure will not pay your rent.

Would you agree that reportage is a viable commercial Illustration genre?

I would like to believe it is, more and more illustrators are doing this type of work or similar these days. Paul Madonna does wonderful on-location sketches for the San Francisco Chronicle, Richard Johnson has drawn in the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan for the National Post, Olivier Kugler’s work for The Guardian feels a lot like reportage even if he draws from his own photographs.

Who's work do you find inspiring that has encouraged you to become an established reportage illustrator?

In addition to the names I just mentioned, I’m inspired by many of the artists who contribute to Urban Sketchers (urbansketchers.org) sites. Isabel Fiadeiro contributes sketches to a weekly in Mauritania; Pete Scully has been published by The Davis (Calif.) Enterprise; Richard Sheppard contributes to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. There’s a lot an artist can offer to a local publication in terms of drawing the community and everything that happens in it. From my own experience in Seattle, I can tell you readers connect with drawings and just want to see more of them!

Where else does commercial reportage exist that is successful?

I think businesses and organizations looking for illustrations for their company literature would be smart to commission reportage illustrators more often. New York-based Veronica Lawlor and Melanie Reim; Lapin, a French illustrator based in Barcelona; and Swasky, another Barcelona-based illustrator; all have experience producing reportage illustration for commercial purposes.

And the first Democratic donkey

2013-03-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

Thomas Nast also popularized the donkey as a symbol of the Democratic Party. This is the first cartoon where the donkey appeared. It was published in Harper's Weekly on January 15, 1870, as commentary on the relations between the Northern Democrats, also known as "copperheads," and Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.

More about Thomas Nast

The first Republican elephant

2013-03-05T23:43:00.002-08:00

Ever wondered why an elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party? A newspaper artist came up with that.

Thomas Nast, considered the father of political cartooning, first depicted the GOP as an elephant in this full-page cartoon published by Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874.

Ronald Searle Tribute

2013-03-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

We can thank Pixar artist Matt Jones for creating the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, the most comprehensive online collection of work by the late British artist and cartoonist. Since 2006, Jones has published more than 200 posts with hundreds of scans of Searle's delightful cartoons and illustrations. Even Mr. Searle himself shared photographs and videos with him. For anyone interested in drawing, cartooning and reportage illustration, Jones' blog is a must-follow.

L'art du croquis urbain

2013-03-02T22:24:00.002-08:00

It's not everyday that I have the opportunity to post something in French on this blog. Here's the press release for L'art du croquis urbain, the French edition of The Art of Urban Sketching. It's available online at Eyrolles.com.

Communiqué de presse

FIN JANVIER 2013

Carnets de voyage
L’art du croquis urbain
Dessiner le monde, de ville en ville

Gabriel Campanario
Traduction anglaise
Quadri – 29,90€ – 21,6 x 25,4 cm

Best-seller en Grande-Bretagne et aux Etats-Unis, ce bel ouvrage a trois objectifs : permettre à chacun de devenir un dessinateur urbain, voir le monde en dessin et trouver l’inspiration.

L’auteur barcelonais, Gabriel Campanario, est dessinateur au Seattle Times et également le fondateur d’Urban Sketchers, une association à but non lucratif dont l’objectif est de promouvoir l’art du dessin d’observation in situ.

Les « Urban sketchers » ou dessinateurs urbains sont des croqueurs amateurs ou professionnels que l’on peut croiser dans les rues du monde entier. Ils dessinent leur ville et celles qu’ils traversent. Puis, ils diffusent leurs œuvres en ligne auprès d’une communauté toujours plus nombreuse.

Cet ouvrage est donc avant tout un voyage. 500 instantanés de dessinateurs urbains chevronnés parcourent près de 50 villes de 30 pays. On y découvre les toits de Paris, les habitants de Saint-Domingue ou les zones industrielles de Stuttgart, représentatifs de la diversité des cultures, des gens, des paysages mais aussi des styles artistiques.

Ce tour du monde invite le lecteur à entrer dans cet univers. Il n’est nul besoin de formation académique ni de matériel hors de prix pour devenir dessinateur urbain. L’auteur propose alors de se laisser guider par les conseils avisés des croqueurs expérimentés. Il incite à aborder sans craintes toutes sortes de sujets, lieux banals ou étranges. Ainsi, armé d’un crayon et d’une feuille de papier, chacun pourra aller se balader, croquer ce qui lui plait pour découvrir une ville nouvelle ou s’émerveiller devant chaque détail d’une ruelle déjà connue.

A mi-chemin entre le manuel de croquis du globe-trotter et le beau livre, cet ouvrage est unique. Il donne envie de voyager mais surtout de participer à ce carnet de voyage mondial. Les apprentis croqueurs comme les plus confirmés sont invités à poster leurs œuvres et à rejoindre ce mouvement mondial.

Facebook Urban Sketchers – Site français Urban Sketchers

Contacts Presse:

Eva Tejedor - etejedor@eyrolles.com - 01 44 41 46 21
Marion Marin Dubuard - mmarin@eyrolles.com - 01 44 41 41 64

Wet-on-wet watercolor ...

2013-02-13T15:42:00.001-08:00

... it's a good fit for sketching the rainy Pacific Northwest. The sketch and the story: Where Tully's coffee broke fresh grounds.

Centerpiece

2013-01-21T22:44:00.001-08:00

My Saturday Seattle Times column usually runs across the bottom of the local news cover, but every now and then I pitch it for centerpiece position. The "centerpiece," in newspaper jargon, is the story with the largest photo or artwork on a page.

As you can imagine, that is a coveted spot that every reporter and photographer wants. It's not a given for me to get it. Editors make the decision. In this case, since no other stories about this movie theater had been published after it reopened a few weeks ago, my chances of being "centerpieced" were pretty good.

The lesson for me: The more "newsy" or "timely" my sketching ideas are, the better chances I have to get my work displayed larger on the page. It's also good to sketch people who haven't had a lot of media exposure, "unsung heroes" doing things the community should know about.

See the full story: Film buff gives Columbia City theater an encore.

International editions of TAoUS

2013-01-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Amazing, surreal, exciting, motivating. How could I describe the feeling after seeing The Art of Urban Sketching translated to other languages? My publisher just sent me copies of the French, Korean and Chinese versions. Wow!

Sunday night links

2013-01-06T23:45:00.005-08:00

Check out Fabio Barilari's sketches, illustrations and paintings on his blog and flickr. Excellent draftsmanship. I'm hooked.

In an article titled "Captar la vida de la ciudad amb dibuixos" ("Capturing city life through drawings,") Catalan newspaper Ara writes about "Barcelona Dibuixa," a city-sponsored initiative that invites locals to draw the city guided by local urban sketching instructors. The program will lead the city into the 4th International Urban Sketching Symposium to be held in July. The Symposium, organized by the Urban Sketchers nonprofit, is a project I've been spearheading since its first edition in Portland in 2010. Can't wait for this year's edition in my hometown!

"Code Words," the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Committee blog, is a new addition to my Google Reader.

Can just one sketch tell a story?

2013-01-05T15:46:00.001-08:00

I think it can, but several sketches can tell a more complete story! In this case, there's more to this tool library than the instruments resting on the shelves. To start, the people behind the project and the building that houses the library.

Do you keep the story you are trying to tell in mind when you are sketching? Do you try to show both the place and the people connected to it? Do you do close-up sketches to highlight specific aspects of the story?

I tried to do all that to tell readers the story of the NE Seattle Tool Library.

The art of Jason Polan

2012-12-30T21:27:00.002-08:00

The New York Times includes contributions from artists in its Opinion pages, a practice I wish many newspapers followed. These contributions are called
"Op-Art" and consist of artwork that stands by itself, unlike the usual spot illustrations used to accompany articles. You can say that in the "op-art" pieces, the artist is the columnist. The column just happens to be drawn, not written.

An Op-Art columnist I've been following recently is Jason Polan, who makes delightful annotated drawings of everything he sees. Seeing his work makes me want to start drawing everything compulsively. It also makes me want to slow down and appreciate the little things in life. His column is called "Things I Saw." You can see more of his work at jasonpolan.com.

Multimedia storytelling

2012-12-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

The New York Times sets the bar for multimedia storytelling really high with this report, Snow Fall. The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.

The story written by John Branch is so powerful, you could argue it doesn't really matter how you read it or what other elements run with it. But there's no denying the power of rich media in this presentation. Once you start looking at the photos, playing the videos or interacting with the graphics, you are hooked.

I started reading it in on my iPad one evening and finish it on my iPhone the next day during my commute. As much as I love holding a newspaper in my hands, I didn't miss it one bit in this case and found the reading experience equally enjoyable.

By the way, if you are a skier, be safe out there!

Urban sketching videos

2012-12-22T23:53:00.002-08:00

Belgian architect Gérard Michel and French illustrator Lapin are becoming the Hollywood stars of urban sketching. Go grab a bag of popcorn and watch them perform in these cool videos:

Sketching in Liège. Video by Werner Van den Bulck

Sketching vintage cars at Museu de Caramulo in Portugal. Video by Patrícia Pedrosa

More urban sketching videos

The Urban Sketchers Vimeo Channel created by Tommy Kane also has a great collection of videos. Contact Tommy or me if you want to add your video to the channel.

I also recommend Parka's videos on Vimeo. Parka is a member of the Singapore Urban Sketchers and blogs at parkblogs.com.

'Seattle Sketcher' blog upgrade

2012-11-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

Allow me a selfish "Sunday Night Link." Earlier this week, my Seattle Sketcher blog at the Seattle Times website went through a nifty upgrade.

The full archive going back to 2009 is available now, and posts can be searched by thematic categories (i.e. boats, bridges, history, portraits, etc.) and geographic tags corresponding to Seattle area locations.

You can check it out (and subscribe!) at http://seattletimes.com/seattlesketcher.

Sunday links: A website full of cartoons and a book on writing

2012-11-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

#1
Cartoon Movement
http://www.cartoonmovement.com

#2
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer By Roy Peter Clark

SNL Nov. 11

2012-11-11T23:45:00.001-08:00

#1. The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression is a book by Gary Faigin, the founder of Gage Academy of Art, a prestigious independent art school in Seattle where I gave a talk last Thursday. So much to learn!

#2. Jillian Tamaki on drawing and illustration and the difference between the two.

#3. Crosshatching, this is how you do it! (Via Leif Peng's blog.)