Sketchcrawl Sunderland

SketchCrawlUrban Sketching Sunderland

with Keith Nevens & Kevin Petrie14th November 2016

URBAN SKETCHERSSEE THE WORLD ONE DRAWING AT A TIMEThis is a group for all sketchers out there who love to draw the cities where they live and visit, from the window of their homes, from a cafe, at a park, standing by a street corner... always on location, not from photos or memory.The group was created in November of 2007 by Gabi Campanario and set the foundation for the Urban Sketchers blog (Nov. 2008) and a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing (Dec. 2009.)On our website, you can learn more about Urban Sketchers, our mission and activities.

Urban Sketchers 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.

We aim to maintain the group's pool focused on location drawings from every corner of the world. We reserve the right to remove any drawings that don't fit our mission. We also encourage members to write descriptions and stories associated with each sketch.

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Breakfast sketch, purely watercolour. The sketchbook is an adapted credit card wallet and the sketch took less that 30 mins.

Watercolour sketch over a lunchtime glass of wine and a salad. It helps if you choose a table with a good view.

A collection of small watercolour sketches, sometimes preparatory, sometimes just purely for fun.

3 hours study in pencil, mainly an exercise in observation and concentration.

I generally carry a small sketching kit everywhere, the sketch on the right was completed on the afternoon of my neice's wedding and later presented to her as a gift.

The first time I spent any time with my future wife's parents was this beautiful summer afternoon in their lovely garden. As ever I had a sketchbook with me and beauty abounded but the contrasts within this subject, an old rusty oil drum used for burning garden waste, really appealed to me. My now mother in law could not understand my fascination, and indeed still dislikes this sketch, but my wife loves it as do I and it hangs in my house to this day.

When you're sketching never discount the mundane or ordinary and you will never be short of a subject.

Six quick sketching tipsPractice, practice and practice: If you want to be the best, you have to sketch all the time; you will never stop learning and improving on your skills, even as an expert.

Drawing is a skill: Never get demoralised, people can learn to draw. If you are a beginner and can’t get the hang of it, stick with it and eventually you will learn to become a master of sketching.

Speed over quality: Sketching is all about speed so when first starting put speed before quality. As you get faster the quality of your sketch will improve with practice.

Find a spot people linger: Finding a place where people linger will help you to practise your real life sketching, cafes or waiting rooms provide great places you can draw living people.

Leave out details: Remember you are only jotting down your ideas so at first it’s important to get down the scene. Details can be added afterwards.

Learn from the best: Although sketching is often a method of recording ideas rather than art itself, many famous artists’ sketchbooks have become works of art in their own right. Check out sketchbooks of favourite artists such as Edgar Degas or Leonardo da Vinci to find out how these masters recorded their ideas.

Today's potential subjects as seen by on my pre-sketchcrawl.From Prospect to Sunderland Museum in 2.5 hours via 14 rapid sketches.

As a beginning what struck me her was the shape and form of the building, the sweeping curve of the roof, the spiral staircase, the colour, textures and abstracts.

The cranes offered a complete contrast to the previous subject, all angular and mechanical. Interesting for the detail and contrast of colours against the sky, quite poetic in a strange way.

At first impression this looks like a really complex subject, the amount of detail is daunting but it's also quite fascinating. It's very futuristic in style, almost science fictional. The key is always careful observation, it's actually a great example of 2 point perspective.

Everyday items that generally we take for granted but someone somewhere designed this, and however long it took to arrive at the required solution, you can guarantee that it all started with design sketches.

A much more obvious subject for a sketch

Here I like the man made elements that echo nature, but the complexity of the metal work requires intense observation.

One rule, always look behind you, quite often you'll find a rather rewarding view.

This was the biggest surprise to me on the day, I found it visually exciting and if I'm honest it probably speaks to the graphic designer in me. Abstract art isn't really me at all but I really love the strong lines and shapes created in this 'crop'.

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http://www.urbansketchers.org/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithnevens/