Keys to Drawing
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…
The journalistic illustrations of Robert Weaver
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…
The Melton Prior Institute for Reportage Drawing & Printing Culture
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…
Urban sketching as creative fuel
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…
The spirit of urban sketching
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…
Rendered Rooms: The Art of Mike Daikubara
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…
Greetings from Minnesota
Seattleites who normally plan mid-winter trips to Palm Springs or Hawaii may have a hard time understanding why I went to Duluth, Minn., of all places, just a week ago. (That’s one of the reasons there’s no Sketcher column in…
NYT op-art by Jason Polan
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…
Goya: ‘I’m still learning’
Reading Goya’s biography by Robert Hughes, I came across this exceptional black chalk drawing by the Spanish painter. Goya made the drawing not long before he died in 1828 at age 82. That’s an unusual longevity for its time, which…
Artists & Illustrators Magazine
Fellow urban sketcher James Hobbs asked me a few questions for an article he published in the summer issue of Artists & Illustrators magazine. Mainly, he wanted to know what was my original aim creating Urban Sketchers and whether I’ve been suprised by the…
Sketching workshop at corrections center in Gig Harbor
Last week, a group of Seattle urban sketchers and I visited the jail where these women are incarcerated, the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. About 30 inmates participated in our workshop and we shared a lot of laughs…
Puente de Gallicanta, Montemolín
Portraits of Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone, home to the oldest European settlement in the Americas, reminded me a lot of my native country of Spain. First you have the churches from the 1500s and whitewashed facades. It’s as if you were strolling…
The BBOOOOOOKKKK!!!
The title of this post comes from the subject line of an e-mail I received yesterday from my sketcher friend Teresa Lawson in Port Townsend, WA. Her excitement about The Art of Urban Sketching makes me realize that it was all worth…