Drawing out Local Voices: How Illustrated Reportage Can Bring Your Urban Sketches to Life

Workshop Description

Drawing architecture on the spot is a challenge, but capturing people - both sight and sound - within that urban environment can prove even more intimidating. How can you bring them to life through a few pen strokes and snippets of conversation? How can you overcome the challenge of approaching strangers, or distilling their words into a series of speech balloons? In this workshop graphic journalist Dan Archer will share his tricks for incorporating live sketched interviews and conversational snippets into your urban sketches, adding a new level of rich storytelling and local color. Starting within everyone’s comfort zones, we will gradually increase the challenge until participants feel con dent enough to approach strangers one-on-one and translate their conversation into a live narrative urban sketch.

Students will need to feel comfortable working quickly, as well as multitasking, such as holding a conversation while drawing, and drawing straight to ink with only a basic pencil underdrawing

WORKSHOP LEVEL: Intermediate/Advanced

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

Dan Archer has been working as a graphic journalist for over a decade since graduating from the Center of Cartoon Studies in 2009 with an MFA in Cartooning. His work focuses on human rights-related topics and he uses illustrated reportage and comics to protect the anonymity of his Interviewees. His graphic journalism has been featured by the BBC, CBC, Vice, the US State Dept, CNN,Associated Press, the Nib, the Colombian government, Open Society, European Journalism Centre, Die Zeit Online, Der Speigel, and he has a Maynard Institute Award for mental health reporting. His debut graphic novel, Voices from Nepal: Uncovering human tra cking through comics journalism will be published by University of Toronto Press in June 2024. @archcomix

Supply List

. Preferred tool for inking: pressure-sensitive fountain pen and a brush pen for thicker lines

. Watercolors with reservoir brush pen

. Palette for adding spot tone color

. Watercolor Sketchbook (non-textured, as you’ll need to write text)

. Mechanical pencil for under sketches and eraser 0.3 and neliner markers for text