DRAWING
Attention
The official zine of Urban Sketchers SEPTEMBER 2018
Drawing Attention Mandate Drawing Attention, the official monthly zine of the Urban Sketchers organization, communicates and promotes official USk workshops, symposiums, sketchcrawls, news and events; shares news about USk chapters; and educates readers about the practice of on-location sketching. Thanks to this month’s Drawing Attention contributors: Managing Editor: Brenda Murray Mailchimp layout: Jane Dillon Wingfield ISSUU layout: Anne Taylor Writers: Sarah Minty; Pedro Loureiro; Leslie Akchurin; Ann Schwartzwald; Mark Anderson; Mark Leibowitz. Proofreaders: Patricia Chow; Leslie Akchurin. Contributors: Parka; Amber Sausen; Maria Regina Tuazon cover image: Back Lane of Canon St, Penang by ‘KK’. Subscribe to Drawing Attention. Read the August edition of Drawing Attention. Circulation: 10,452 Readership: 16k+ Web: urbansketchers.org Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Click here to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. © 2018 Urban Sketchers. 2 DRAWING ATTENTION
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Urban Sketchers, Great sketchbooks are created on a foundation of quality paper and careful binding to hold the book together. After that we Urban Sketchers get to make our marks, filling each page with our own unique stories. The book becomes something special. I think there’s an analogy between our treasured sketchbooks and Urban Sketchers. The exciting work of Urban Sketchers happens in the context of wonderful people around the world and with the help of modern technology we are bound together to create something wonderful, a treasured community.
Urban Sketchers is currently working on some behind the scenes upgrades to our email servers. Please keep an eye on the Contact Us page for new email addresses for the board and committee coordinators. And if you don’t hear back from me or any of us at Urban Sketchers, please try again. Please know that our allvolunteer team is working hard to ensure we don’t miss any messages from you! Happy sketching, Amber Sausen, USk President
MANAGING EDITOR’S MESSAGE It amazes me the variety of sketching media urban sketchers use and this month we are able to focus on three very different tools and techniques. Ch’ng Kiah Kiean from Penang works his magic with a twig and a bottle of ink, Sebastian Koch from Berlin captures the ebb and flow of people in their daily lives, and Kelly Medford in Italy bathes us in the warm sun and cultural richness of that country. And while we’re flying around the globe we’ll visit USk chapters in Kansas City and Quito. Many thanks to our writers, proofreaders, layout designer and tech team for pulling together another great edition of Drawing Attention! Brenda Murray, USk Communications Director drawingattention@urbansketchers.org
CONTENTS 4
USK NEWS & EVENTS
10
18
32
USK KANSAS CITY
JOURNEY BACK TO SIMPLICITY – CH’NG KIAH KIEAN
CAPTURING LIFE & LIGHT IN ITALY – KELLY MEDFORD
14
25
40
USK QUITO
ENLIVENING SCENES WITH FIGURES IN MOTION – SEBASTIAN KOCH
REVIEWS | ENDNOTES
HOW TO READ DRAWING ATTENTION AS AN E-ZINE FOR EASIER READING ON ISSUU.COM SELECT FULL SCREEN.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ISSUU APP FOR IOS DEVICES
A PDF VERSION IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ISSUU APP FOR ANDROID SEPTEMBER 2018 3
USk News & Events
PLACE YOUR AD HERE
URBAN SKETCHERS SYMPOSIUM IN AMSTERDAM 2019 Call for Programming
and reach
16,000+
artists & art lovers For more information about ad placement, sizes and costs for corporate sponsors, email Raylie at raylie@verizon.net
4 DRAWING ATTENTION
This year’s Symposium faculty in Porto had the biggest to date lineup of new instructors from across the globe! Inspiring teachers and ideas can come from anywhere. Do you have a passion for teaching and have ideas to share with our international sketching community? This is your chance. From September 1 to October 7, we will be accepting submissions for Workshops, Skit Sketches, Demonstrations and Lectures for the 10th Urban Sketchers Symposium happening from July 24-27, 2019 at Amsterdam, Netherlands. Selected proposals will be announced in January. (You can see programming for the past Symposiums 2018 here, 2017 here, 2016 here and 2015 here) There’s no limit to the number of proposals you can submit. To get you started, click here to check out the Education Committee’s article on how to prepare a good workshop proposal. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the requirements and differences between Skit Sketches, Lectures, Demos and Workshops. Deadline October 7, 2018.
USk News & Events
BRING A WORKSHOP TO YOUR CHAPTER
Urban Sketchers organizes workshops taught by our top instructors in collaboration with USk chapters around the world. If you would like to bring an official USk workshop to your chapter, start the conversation with our Education Director, Mรกrio Linhares at education@urbansketchers.org.
10X10 WORKSHOPS USk 10x10 Workshops are an excellent opportunity to learn new sketching skills from a top USk instructor and to meet a new community of sketchers in a location near you. To see the list of 10x10 classes around the world click HERE. SEPTEMBER 2018 5
USk News & Events
HOW TO DESIGN A USK CHAPTER LOGO BY PEDRO LOUREIRO
If you’re the Admin of a newly-founded chapter, and are eager to design your regional logo, or are leading an existing chapter, and realize that your chapter logo might not be in line with the USk logo guidelines, you might find it helpful to read the USk Logo Design Guide. The Logo Design Guide summarizes the dos and don’ts of USk logo identity usage, contains all its construction rules about color, spacing, size and typeface and provides practical applications of the logo to both regional chapter identities and business cards. While the typeface and USk logo are fixed, there’s still a lot of room for individual chapters to be creative. Check out some of the logos designed by USk chapters. Regional Chapters are not required to design or use a logo but if they do use a logo it should be one that is in alignment with our Logo Design Guide. Our logo, created by Italian designer Franco Lancio, is our brand. It helps identify us as being part of the USk community. We’re really proud of it and we hope you are too!
FOLLOW USK ON TWITTER 6 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk News & Events
SYMPOSIUM PIX Still basking in the afterglow of a fabulous symposium??? Click HERE to view the photo albums of the 2018 USk Porto Symposium’s official photographer, Marc Van Liefferinge from Belgium who graciously shares them with you. Great job Marc! Thank you!
FOLLOW USK ON FACEBOOK SEPTEMBER 2018 7
USk News & Events
Urban Sketchers is currently seeking volunteers to fill the following positions: • Volunteer Fundraising Director • Volunteer Sponsorship Administrator • Volunteer Communications Director For more information click HERE
SUBSCRIBE TO THE USK YOUTUBE CHANNEL 8 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk News & Events
SHARE YOUR CHAPTER’S NEWS WITH OUR READERS Contact us to share your chapter’s news, special events, joint meetups, and exhibitions with our readers. You don’t need to write the story yourself. We will assign a super fun writer such as Mark Anderson to cover your story! Contact us at drawingattention@ urbansketchers.org.
SEPTEMBER 2018 9
Featured Chapter
USK KANSAS CITY: THEIR FIRST YEAR URBAN SKETCHERS KANSAS CITY JUST PASSED THEIR FIRST ANNIVERSARY THIS AUGUST AND THEY HAVE A LOT TO CELEBRATE. BY ANN SCHWARTZWALD
10 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Kansas City
T
he chapter has a robust membership with over 300 in their Facebook group. They meet on the first Saturday each month for sketching and have a turnout of about 20 artists. They also coordinate to meet with another group of artists every fourth Thursday giving their members two outings per month. Admin (and member of the USk Instagram team), Liz Vargas says they typically sketch “architecture, street scenes, people, daily life, Kansas City landmarks, festivals or events.” Their main focus is to “capture different moods and moments” in their vibrant city. USk Kansas City enjoys hosting out-of-town sketchers. They took a visitor from London to Union Station, “one of the most beautiful and remarkable places in Kansas City” and a New York visitor was introduced to the KC City Market “where we had great vistas from a lively neighborhood.” “When you think of Kansas City you imagine cows and cornfields,” Liz said, “but it is a city full of surprises. You can have city scenes, but also we have country life surrounding us. We are in the heart of the nation and a lot of things about art happen here. It’s a charming city!” We wish USk Kansas City many more exciting years sketching together in America’s Heartland!
f
FOLLOW USK KANSAS CITY ON FACEBOOK
SEPTEMBER 2018 11
Featured Chapter
SKETCH BY PEGGY WILSON 12 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Kansas City
SKETCH BY MARK ANDERSON
SEPTEMBER 2018 13
Featured Chapter
EXTREME Perspect 14 DRAWING ATTENTION
Extreme Perspectives in the Andes
WELCOME TO A WORLD OF EXTREME PERSPECTIVES: QUITO, THE CAPITAL CITY OF ECUADOR, LOCATED HIGH IN THE ANDES. BY MARK ALAN ANDERSON
Starting from a core group of three teachers in 2013, USk Quito has grown into a thriving chapter of enthusiastic sketchers who’ve met twice a month for over sixty sketch outs. The topography of Quito is one of very tall places juxtaposed against very low. From some vantage points, the streets seem to climb straight up into the sky. One’s view of houses in the mountains are like overlapping dominoes, each seem to be stacked right over the next, and the only way to do justice to them in a sketch is to really understand the rules of perspective! The topography also provides an urban sketcher with a spectacular bird’s eye view of the city.
Due to its equatorial position, Quito has been called “the center of the world.” A UNESCO World Heritage site, Urban Sketchers in Quito are privileged to be surrounded by many monuments, churches, parks, and examples of colonial architecture. They proudly feel theirs is some of the best examples of historical preservation in all of Latin America. During Habitat III, the third United Nations conference on housing and sustainable urban development, USk Quito had an important artistic contribution, creating “three-meter sketches,” large format watercolor sketches made in group collaboration. The sketches, when presented together, created a holistically complete view of their urban location. For another event, 100 urban sketchers descended upon nearby Guápulo, a Bohemian and
artistic neighborhood of winding cobblestone streets, graffiti-covered walls, and brightly colored flower boxes. Most recently, the chapter collaborated with the Numismatist Museum to stage a group exhibition. Visiting urban sketchers who wish to discover sites beyond Quito can find themselves straddling a tall mountain in under half an hour or reach the coast and beaches in about four hours. Or for a totally different world and culture, one can travel a few hours in the opposite direction to explore the Amazon. With mountains, jungle, rivers, beaches, and architecture at the ready, urban sketchers in Quito have a rich canvas on which to paint.
b
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN QUITO HERE
SKETCH OF LA TOLA BY MAURICIO LÓPEZ
tives in the Andes
SEPTEMBER 2018 15
Featured Chapter
“H
OUSES IN THE MOUNTAINS ARE LIKE OVERLAPPING DOMINOES, EACH SEEM TO BE STACKED RIGHT OVER THE NEXT.”
16 DRAWING ATTENTION
SKETCH BY MAURICIO LÓPEZ
Extreme perspectives in the Andes
SKETCH BY TOLA IVAN
SKETCH BY NANCY CARCHIPULLA
SEPTEMBER 2018 17
SKETCH BY MAURI VIRTANEN
Journey back to
MALAYSIAN ARTIST AND URBAN SKETCHER CH’NG KIAH KIEAN – BETTER KNOWN AS ‘KK’ – WAS BORN AND HAS LIVED HIS WHOLE LIFE ON THE SMALL ISLAND OF PENANG. HIS UNPRETENTIOUS BUT IMPACTING WORKSHOPS CHALLENGE SKETCHERS AROUND THE WORLD TO USE THE SIMPLE TECHNIQUE OF PAINTING WITH A DRY TWIG AND CHINESE INK. BY PEDRO LOUREIRO SKETCH OF JALAN KAMPUNG KOLAM, PENANG 18 DRAWING ATTENTION
Simplicity
USk Instructor
SEPTEMBER 2018 19
USk Instructor
Like many urban sketchers, KK recalls drawing from an early age. Later, during his architecture studies, he felt an inclination to graphic design. “I liked to prepare and do presentations.” Soon after, his own design business was running, which he kept for 14 years. In 2009, KK became the Penang correspondent in the USk blog, and together with his friend Khoo Cheang Jin, founded and administers the seven-year-old USk Penang chapter. The “small island in the north of the Malaysian Peninsula is a very multicultural place”, KK reports. “You can have a mosque and a church right next door to each other. I spent my childhood there, so getting to sketch it is a very emotional experience for me.”
SKETCH OF BOON SAN TONG KHOO KONGSI, VICTORIA STREET 20 DRAWING ATTENTION
“I
Journey back to simplicity
ENCOURAGE PARTICIPANTS TO RETHINK THE OBJECTS’ SURFACES, TO READ THE SHAPES, AND TURN EVERYTHING INTO FREE, CONTINUOUS LINES”.
SEPTEMBER 2018 21
USk Instructor
MALAY HOUSE, OLD TANJUNG TOKONG ROAD, PENANG 22 DRAWING ATTENTION
Journey back to simplicity
SEPTEMBER 2018 23
USk Instructor
KK recalls that “in the old days, Penang was famous for its watercolor artists”, and a watercolorist society still thrives there. “But urban sketchers see different things, use different media”, so the USk chapter brought diversity to the local art community. KK transitioned from being a graphic designer to a full time artist after he became an urban sketcher. “I had a solo exhibit of my sketches, and the response was not bad”. This was the moment he became confident enough to sell and live off his art. “I get a lot of inspiration from the crossover of different religions, different types of people, in Penang”, KK explains. He’s mostly “influenced by traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy, especially when saving white space in the paper.” A true urban sketcher at heart, KK explains that “although sometimes I work from my studio on bigger abstract projects, most of my artwork comes from sketching outside, on location.” He makes his studio his own gallery, and sells mostly from there or from his blog. 24 DRAWING ATTENTION
Now, making a living from his art, KK smiles and describes this sort of life as “simpler, with more free time to do my own stuff.” In his workshop in the Porto Symposium - Sketching with Dry Twigs and Chinese Ink KK introduces a new medium for sketchers to try out. But the actual concept is using this simple medium to discover an ulterior side to our artistic vision. “I encourage participants to rethink the objects’ surfaces, to read the shapes, and turn everything into free, continuous lines”. KK explains the concept further: “Nowadays you have so many art materials. But when you go back to something simpler, to the basics, the effect is surprising. It’s difficult to control the first time, but people have fun. You find something different about you when you use simple tools like the twig.” Now, as a Symposium veteran, KK recalls “my first Symposium was the one in Barcelona. Porto was my sixth. I’ve done demos in the first two and have been an instructor since Singapore.”
KK concludes by emphasizing that “Urban Sketchers really changed my life!” His current occupation stemmed directly from his activity as an urban sketcher. “USk gave me the chance to go out from Penang to the world, teaching and learning. I hope this spirit will keep on and inspire more people.”
b KK’S BLOG FEATURES
BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED PRESENTATIONS ON HOW TO USE THE TWIG & INK TECHNIQUE, & MANY OTHER RESOURCES.
enlivening scenes with
Figures in Mo tion
DRAWING ON HIS BACKGROUND IN ANIMATION, SEBASTIAN KOCH HELPS SKETCHERS FIND THEIR OWN WAY WITH PEOPLE WHO WON’T STAY STILL. BY LESLIE AKCHURIN
SEPTEMBER 2018 25
USk Instructor
M
odest and soft-spoken, Sebastian Koch explains that he prefers to work individually with sketchers when he teaches a workshop: “It’s so interesting to see how people draw differently, so advice is something that should be tailored to each person.” For him, “Urban drawing is mostly about learning from what other people do rather than working from set theories.” Sebastian brought this perspective to the recent Vor Ort—“on location”—weekend of workshops that he gave in collaboration with Lapin and Marina Grechanik in Mainz, where he grew up. He felt encouraged by the results. “I never thought this would happen, all these inspiring people coming to my hometown,” Sebastian recalls. Each instructor gave a workshop for three days, with participants rotating among them. While Lapin showed how to represent architecture in a curvilinear perspective, Marina and Sebastian both focused on drawing people –instruction that meshed nicely as Marina taught close-up portraiture while Sebastian dealt with figures in motion. Sebastian used his knowledge of film animation to help his students. He sketched some standard positions that figures assume in animated “stills” and explained how to use broken outlines and gestures to convey a group. He walked in a circle while his class sketched so they could flesh out a position by seeing it repeated. Then the class hit the streets to combine people with their element, each day having a different dynamic: the first at a busy shopping center, the second at an outdoor festival, and the third, a quiet Sunday, by a
26 DRAWING ATTENTION
Enlivening scenes with Figures in Motion
SEPTEMBER 2018 27
USk Instructor
A SCENE IN MAINZ 28 DRAWING ATTENTION
Enlivening scenes with Figures in Motion
SEPTEMBER 2018 29
USk Instructor
queue of customers outside an ice cream shop. Working one-on-one with his students, Sebastian was pleased with the ways they responded to these various settings and how they shared their work and advice: “If someone wants to contribute something, that’s quite nice.” For instance, one student grew frustrated trying to capture full figures and so tried drawing “all the shapes where you can see the skin,” which the class found to be a useful approach. During his university years, Sebastian became acquainted with some notable practitioners of on-location sketching like Felix Scheinberger, with whom he sketched on field trips, including one to Istanbul. When he moved to Hamburg, he joined other artists for weekend sketching around the city. Recently, he edited a well-received collection of sketchers’ depictions of several German cities, entitled Urban Sketchbook, Volume I. Now Sebastian has moved to Berlin with the idea of working with a publishing company to gain more insight into economical book making. While he plans to continue his career in animation, he also hopes to promote urban sketching. Sometimes he lacks inspiration to sketch in his free time because he draws so much at his job, but he’s philosophical about the natural wax and wane of motivation: “It comes and goes. I’m not worried if I don’t draw very much for a month because the next one [month] will be better. In any case, I think you must have some curiosity to make a good drawing, and if it’s not there on one day, it will probably be back on the next.”
30 DRAWING ATTENTION
SEBASTIAN’S TIPS: I ENJOY THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ARCHITECTURAL SOLIDITY AND EPHEMERAL SUBJECTS LIKE PEDESTRIANS, BIKERS, AND ANIMALS. IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE DRAWING SOMETHING THAT WILL BE GONE IN A SECOND, PRACTICE DRAWING AT HOME FROM PHOTOS OR PAUSED VIDEOS. AFTER YOU FILL SEVERAL PAGES WITH PEOPLE ON BIKES, YOU’LL BE MUCH MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT DRAWING THEM WHEN YOU SEE THEM ONSITE.
Enlivening scenes with Figures in Motion
SEPTEMBER 2018 31
USk Instructor
SKETCH OF MONTI 32 DRAWING ATTENTION
Capturing
Life & Light in I taly
KELLY MEDFORD MOVED TO ITALY 14 YEARS AGO TO STUDY AT A FLORENTINE PAINTING SCHOOL, AND SHE’S NEVER LEFT. SARAH MINTY TALKS WITH THE USK INSTRUCTOR.
SEPTEMBER 2018 33
USk Instructor
“I
really feel completely at home here” Kelly Medford says of her adopted city of Rome, with its urban sketching community that became her family “instantly”. “I went through years of training in these dark, serious studios and, after a year in Florence, I thought: ‘I’ve been in Italy a year and I’ve basically spent the entire time inside!’” “I started taking my easel outdoors to paint on the street so I could actually learn Italian and meet Italians.” Then, when Kelly was back in Orlando to visit her mother, she met the infamous urban sketcher Thor (Thomas Thorspecken) who put her in touch with Rome’s urban sketchers. The rest is history, and this September Kelly is running another workshop with Majid Modir called ‘Discovering Abandoned Places in Tuscany’. “Last year the focus was on composition. This year, we’re going to focus on values, so learning about tonal relationships and really focusing on that as the bones of painting.” “Italy is so much about the light and play of light and shadow, it is the perfect place to learn about and really study values – it’s something that gives life to your paintings quickly.” Kelly’s excitement is palpable as she describes the places Majid has gained access to, including an old abandoned hospital and abbey, where no one has sketched before. “Italy is full of these places” Kelly explains, “they’re kind of beautiful, they have a soul to them, this living past.” Her love of Italy and its architecture is so apparent when looking at her work. “In Italy all of life happens outdoors… so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on anything if you’re
34 DRAWING ATTENTION
Capturing Life & Light in Italy
PENNE STREET SEPTEMBER 2018 35
USk Instructor
“I
TALY IS SO MUCH ABOUT THE LIGHT AND PLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, IT IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT AND REALLY STUDY VALUES – IT’S SOMETHING THAT GIVES LIFE TO YOUR PAINTINGS QUICKLY.”
outside.” It’s being out with other likeminded people which she loves too, “we go outside all day long, draw, hang out, have a beer. It’s nice to share that with someone, you can be both together and apart and that’s kind of rare to find.” In terms of her style, one thing she’s learnt is to not be too concerned: “I’m not an architect so I don’t draw like an architect, I’m an artist and I like anything that has free expression.” Kelly leaves a lot of white when painting in watercolour, “I’ve found that it’s something that gives the sense of the really harsh, strong sun that we have here, that’s one thing I go back to a lot. It also kind of simplifies the image…details never make a painting or a sketch interesting for me.”
KELLY’S TIPS: FIND YOUR OWN VOICE AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING. LEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE AND ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE – YOU ONLY GET BETTER BY DOING OVER AND OVER. 36 DRAWING ATTENTION
SPANISH EMBASSY SEPTEMBER 2018 37
USk Instructor
KELLY’S TIP: SCRAP THAT IDEA YOU HAVE THAT AN URBAN SKETCH SHOULD LOOK A CERTAIN WAY – THIS IS ‘TOTAL DEATH TO ENJOYING YOURSELF’ BECAUSE, ULTIMATELY, IT’S ALL ABOUT ENJOYING THE EXPERIENCE.
KASBAH STREET 38 DRAWING ATTENTION
Capturing Life & Light in Italy
PENNE STREET
VOLTERRA CITY ARCH
w VISIT KELLY’S WEBSITE HERE w AND READ MORE
ABOUT KELLY & MAJID’S ‘DISCOVERING ABANDONED PLACES IN TUSCANY’ WORKSHOP HERE SEPTEMBER 2018 39
Reviews | Endotes
COOL GEAR BY MARK LEIBOWITZ
Julie Kessler with NYC Urban Sketchers has a cool idea. She creates a portable drawing table for her on-location sketching. The stool and her art supplies go in the small carry-on luggage. The handle converts to support her drawing board. The board itself is cut from a stiff postal mailing envelope and fits the luggage handle. If you have some Cool Gear you’d like to share, email me at markleibowitz810@gmail.com.
CORRECTION: THIS PHOTO OF MEMBERS OF USK LANGUEDOC (FEATURED ON PAGE 58 OF THE JUNE ISSUE) WAS INCORRECTLY LABELLED USK BREST. 40 DRAWING ATTENTION
USK LANGUEDOC
PARKA REVIEWS BY TEOH YI CHIE
Teoh Yi Chie is an infographics journalist who joined Urban Sketchers Singapore in 2009 – better known as Parka from Parkablogs. com a website that reviews art books and art products. This month Parka video reviews the Schmincke Aqua Granulation Spray. Check it out!
FOLLOW USK ON INSTAGRAM
CORRECTION: LAST MONTH THE FOUNDERS OF USK STOCKHOLM WERE INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED. THE CORRECT FOUNDERS OF USK STOCKHOLM ARE NINA JOHANSSON, DAVID MELDRUM AND IDA ARSINE BELLARIAN. SEPTEMBER 2018 41
Our Manifesto
• We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation • Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel • Our drawings are a record of time and place • We are truthful to the scenes we witness • We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles • We support each other and draw together • We share our drawings online • We show the world, one drawing at a time.
© 2018 Urban Sketchers www.urbansketchers.org