13 minute read
DEMO
REID SHIELDS
MICHAEL CITRINO MAGGIE SHELTON
KAROL DIAZ
SAM WAHLI
KAIA YALAMANCHILI
SYDNEY VAKILI
JANE CHEN
SKETCHER DEMO
Working loosely with the ‘water-stain’ method
SPAIN-BASED TEACHER AND ARTIST RENATA LAHALLE SHARES HER GO-TO TECHNIQUE FOR KEEPING SKETCHES LOOSE AND FREE. IT’S GUARANTEED TO HELP TAKE THE FEAR OUT OF FACING THAT BLANK PIECE OF PAPER, TOO!
My aim is always to help my students and blog readers become confident and happy in what they are doing. I want them to enjoy the marvellous process of drawing – “le plaisir du dessin”, in French – and this is one technique that I use. I recommend that you don’t draw in pencil first, as this means you spend too much time drawing, erasing, drawing, erasing. Remember, ‘perfect’ does not exist; a beautiful sketch is only a point of view, a matter of taste. So here are my steps for working with the water-stain method.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
I used 13 shades made from eight colours: Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, Bladder Green, Phthalo Green, Cerulean Blue, and India Yellow. a: Transparent Red Oxide | b & c: Ultramarine Blue & Burnt Sienna | d: Sap Green & Ultramarine Blue | e: Phthalo Green | f: Burnt Sienna g: Cerulean Blue h: Sap Green i: Burnt Sienna, slightly diluted j: Ultramarine Blue & Burnt Sienna k: A mixture of a number of different colours l: Bladder green m: India Yellow
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ABOVE: My subject is a small bridge surrounded by greenery and a few houses. One by one, I mix my watercolours from the predominant colours and put them on the paper using quick strokes and a round brush. I start with one of the roofs in my scene – the reddish one that was nearest – done in one stroke! I then do the others – paf, paf, paf – in quick strokes. Then the bridge, the plants in the foreground and background, and a bit of sky. I change the colors depending what I have in front of me. I choose them ‘more or less’; I do not spend a lot of time in this.
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After finishing all the line work, I add some shadows in watercolour.
b
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RENATA’S MATERIALS:
• SKETCHBOOK OF MIXED
MEDIA PAPER • BLACK PILOT V BALL 0.5 PEN • WINSOR & NEWTON AND
VAN GOGH WATERCOLOURS • POSCA WHITE 0.7MM PEN
FOR THE FEW LINES OF
HIGHLIGHTS
RENATA’S TIPS:
• SKETCHING & DRAWING
SHOULD BE ABOUT TAKING
TIME FOR YOURSELF, DOING
SOMETHING YOU LIKE,
ENJOYING THE PROCESS – NOT SEEKING AFTER A
‘PERFECT’ FINAL RESULT • ‘PERFECT’ DOES NOT EXIST – A
BEAUTIFUL SKETCH IS ONLY A
POINT OF VIEW, A MATTER OF
TASTE.
This demo is based on one featured in Renata’s second book, Dessiner La France, published by Hachette in 2021.
PUBLISHING A BOOK OF YOUR CITY
THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE HAVING A BOOK OF SKETCHES IN YOUR HANDS – WHETHER YOUR OWN OR OTHER PEOPLE’S. BUT HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT IT? WE SPOKE TO URBAN SKETCHERS WHO HAVE TAKEN THE PLUNGE AND PUBLISHED IN PRINT OR ONLINE.
CREATIVE SYNERGY: APART, YET TOGETHER
DESPITE COVID RESTRICTIONS USK SEOUL CREATED AN EXHIBITION AND BOOK THAT WAS ALL ABOUT COMING TOGETHER. CHARLIE LEE SHARES THE PROCESS.
How did the this project get started, Charlie?
USk Seoul could not gather regularly during the pandemic, so we devised an exhibition that showed 270+ great urban sketches by 50 artists during the pandemic period. As a separate activity, 80+ paintings were drawn all together at our ‘Big Sketch’ event. These were displayed on the same day at the Namsan Gallery in central Seoul. It brought us great pleasure to be able to share these sketches with Seoul citizens who in turn invigorated us with their warm reception. Having the exhibition made us feel that we were ONE team again. It was a valuable time for everyone who participated, helping us to better understand the Urban Sketch spirit and communicate through paintings. The book came together itself, almost by itself “one sketch at a time,” through events like the Big Sketch.
Did you have to get outside help to get the book designed and printed?
Some of our chapter administrators were designers and had experience in publishing books, so we proceeded without difficulty. All USk sketches in the exhibition were planned for layout, scanned, designed, and printed by USk Seoul Administrators. We included photos of the exhibition, and people’s feedback on my post after the exhibition – another interesting aspect of the book.
THE EXHIBITION & BIG SKETCH EVENT
At the top of each page of the book, you will see the Korean name of the urban sketcher who drew the sketches and the artist’s Instagram ID, for easy reference.
After the final version was inspected, we sent it to the publisher, who printed and bound the books. Printing is expensive and it can be difficult deciding how many books to print, so we asked people to pre order and pay for books in advance to cover our printing costs. We then ordered another 50 more books which we can take to future global symposiums and USk events.
I would like to give many thanks to all who’ve participated during this challenging time of the pandemic. CHARLIE’S TIPS
URBAN SKETCHING IS STORYTELLING. KEEP A GOOD RECORD OF THE STORY OF YOUR SKETCH WHEN YOU DO IT – EITHER BY WRITING DIRECTLY IN YOUR SKETCHBOOK OR USING THE POST IT APP OR SOEMTHING SIMILAR. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EASILY AND QUICKLY ORGANIZE THESE RECORDS TO PUBLISH BOOKS IN THE FUTURE. #MOMENTMATTERS. CHARLIE HAS GENEROUSLY SHARED A PDF COPY OF APART, YET TOGETHER FOR DA READERS, AND IT IS ALSO NOW AVAILABLE AT HIS ETSY SHOP.
THE VALUE OF COLLABORATION
USK GYEONGJU WANTED A LASTING SOUVENIR OF THEIR URBAN SKETCH FESTIVALS. MICHELLE JOUNG EXPLAINS.
Published on November 2021, 2021 Gyeongju Urban Festival is 80 pages long and printed in a conventional format. The book was not intended for commercial purposes so we only produced 500 limited-edition copies. As such, the book is also free from commercial advertisements. The book was generally given as part of a “goodie bag” to the lecturers or urban sketchers who attended the Urban Sketch Festival, as well as volunteers, sponsors, media / press members, and government/ city officials who helped support the event. Unfortunately, shipping costs are currently too high for us to deliver internationally so the book’s distribution is limited to customers in South Korea only. However, if anyone is interested, please email me and we can see what is feasible.
Michelle, how did you develop your book? We first gathered the central administrators of the event – Jeong Dong-sik, Jasmin Lee and Michelle Jeong – to figure out the general framework of the book. Afterwards, we asked the Gyeongju Urban Sketch members if anyone would like to volunteer. Depending on their own interests and skills, they would write texts for the book, edit, or draw. In this manner, we were able to have all members participate in a way that best suited them. It was a valuable opportunity for us to bond as a group too.
What challenges did you face along the way? A big difference with the 2021 Festival, compared to earlier ones, was receiving and displaying video messages from the Executive Board members, and then translating these messages into
Korean to include in the book. By doing this, we hoped to show the connection between the urban sketchers in Korea and the rest of the world.
How did you fund your project? In terms of funding the production and publication of this book, we received tremendous support from the city of Gyeongju. Because the Urban Sketch Festival also served as a tourist event for Gyeongju, we found ways to collaborate with the city council and make the event beneficial for both. We had agreed beforehand that, if the city’s political or broader social interests did not align with the Urban Sketch manifesto, we would not receive any donations in order to avoid conflicts of interest. Fortunately, no such problems or conflicts occured and we were able to successfully collaborate together, but in general, relationships with sponsors or supporters can feel like the most sensitive and tricky part of organizing such events. And of course, for non-professional writers or publishers like ourselves, we made many mistakes during the publishing process. However, because we first started making this book in 2019, we found that the process in 2021 went much more smoothly. We hope this means that for 2022, the book will be even better.
What did you hope to achieve with
your book? We started to make this book in order to document and commemorate the Urban Sketch Festivals at Gyeongju. For us, it is a document that records the participating artists’ and members’ joyful times spent drawing and sketching. For the 2022 Festival book, we plan to include stories and sketches from more members and participants.
Do you have any advice for others?
This experience has taught me the importance of collaboration. This book would not have been possible without the help and support of our members, and all their talent. By aiming to exhibit the variety and talent of our members, we also learned how to also work well together.
Gabi’s growing ‘ZINE’ store
SIMPLE ‘DO-IT-YOURSELF’ ZINES ARE A GREAT WAY OF GETTING YOUR SKETCHES OUT TO A WIDER AUDIENCE, AS USK FOUNDER GABI CAMPANARIO DISCOVERED
What appeals to you about this small ‘zine’ format? Sketches printed in zine format feel extra special. If you’d like to create a stronger bond with people who follow your work, they’d appreciate getting a zine from you. It doesn’t have to be a big production. A simple Google image search for “how to make a zine” –here is one – will land you many visual instructions on how to make a small zine just by folding a single sheet of paper. If you enjoy the process, the result of seeing your sketches printed as a mini publication is very gratifying.
What was your goal with this project? I love seeing the work of other urban sketchers on social media, but the digital experience of sketches is too fleeting. I’d rather sit down to browse through a real sketchbook or, in its absence, through a publication like a book or a zine. Seeing works of art on paper, especially if they have been reproduced in actual size, is as close as you get to holding the real work in your hands. My goal with the zines has been making people feel as if they were browsing through my own pocket sketchbook.
How did you get started? My first zine was simply titled 2021 Travel Sketches. It included sketches from trips I was lucky to take in 2021 after pandemic travel restrictions were lifted. It was 16 pages, with actual-size color reproductions of eight spreads from my pocket sketchbook. I only printed 100 copies, customizing each by adding a splash of watercolor to the cover. When I offered it for free to subscribers of my mailing list (about 600 people back in January), all the copies were claimed fast, which was really exciting.
My most recent zine focuses on sketches drawn with ballpoint pen. It is 24 pages, including a brief writeup about the history of ballpoint pens and why I enjoy using them. This zine required more effort and investment on my part so I have offered it for $10 on my website to be able to recover the cost. My mailing list subscribers got a discount. Both zines are the size of my pocket sketchbook, 3.5” by 5.5” inches, with round corners to make them look like the original notebooks.
How did you make your zines? These are not the kind of do-it-yourself, handwritten and xeroxed publications that proper zines are supposed to be, because I used software to design them and had them printed and stapled at a local commercial printer. As a former newspaper designer and art director, I couldn’t resist the
temptation of producing something a bit more polished, with captions set in typography and carefully proofed. I used my Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner to digitize the sketches, Adobe Photoshop for image correction and Adobe InDesign for the layout.
I have not researched print-on-demand online platforms yet. I just went with a local printer I already knew — you can never go wrong supporting the local economy!
What were the challenges along the
way? It’s easy to underestimate how much time and effort goes into producing a little zine. It’s not just the design and the printing —that’s the fun part— it’s also the promotion, the packaging, the shipping and so forth. Even when you think you are done, an email from a subscriber who has not received their copy may pop up in your inbox, and you have to deal with that. Was the address wrong? Is the mail too slow?
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