Urban Sketching Part 01 “Just Do It”
Urban Sketching Part 01 – “Just Do It”
This post is about some recent urban sketching. I will be doing more posts like this in the future.
What Is Urban Sketching
Check out the Wikipedia definition
“Urban Sketchers (USk) is a global community of artists that practice drawing on location in cities, towns and villages they live in or travel to.”
Mild Winter – Real Life As a Movie
As many of you know, I’m influenced a lot by films and cinema and I plan to get more into this type of work in the future.
For me, Urban Sketching is an instant access to the world as a stage, a film set, people watching…
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;” William Shakespeare
And if you know my work, you will know that drawing is a fundamental core of my work.
I don’t strive for “photo realism”. Years ago my drawings were tight and fussy and I found more people preferred them.
My theory is that the more your art becomes your own personal voice, the lesser the audience and niche. However, those who love your work at this stage are your “true fans”
Some Of My Recent Urban Sketching
Below, here are some recent sketches.
Approach/outcomes
I’m always interested in movies. When I sit down to sketch, I try to make “cinematographic” compositions that make life exciting, as it should be! I try to get the energy of the street, the movement of all the people, the interesting characters, the street signs, furniture.
These drawings are original artworks in themselves and can be bought on request info@jamesabellart.com . I also use them as references for more finished street scene work both traditional and “tradigital” (mixing traditional drawing with 3D and 2D graphics). I also use them as references for my futuristic work and the 3Z City Of The Imagination universe that I am creating piece by piece, bit by bit.
The advertising signs that play a large part in our lives like it or not. I like to sometimes isolate words from adverts and they can take on a new meaning…
The sketch above was made during rush hour on Princes Street, the main commercial street in Edinburgh. As the lights come on in the winter evenings, things start to buzz. Workers head home and look in the shops with that “Friday feeling”.
In the shadows, street furniture tells stories and people can sometimes appear sinister as if from a horror film!
I went into Waverley Station Edinburgh where commuters get their trains to Glasgow, Dunbar and other small towns in the “central belt”, the name of the main populated area of Scotland spanning from the East Coast near Edinburgh to the West Coast near Glasgow. In the station, signs and arrows add to the general buzz of the environment.
Materials
For these works I used –
Sharpie for really quick work. For longer sketches, for these I used a set of Promarkers but Winsor and Newton, sketchpad (I usually buy a cheap one for quick pen sketches, for longer works I buy more expensive paper such as bristol board).
Taking Things Further
I will take some recent urban sketches further by scanning or photographing them and then dropping colour as a layer underneath the line drawings. This can be done in various ways, even with a standard smartphone as I show in a recent blog post about how I used Autodesk Sketchbook for smartphones.
The potential is really just limited to your imagination. With things like projection mapping onto objects, the ability to animated your sketches with 3D applications such as Blender and 3DSMax and even create laser-cuts and integrating 3D print work. We are lucky to be around with such technologies!
If you would like to learn more about urban sketching check out the urban sketching website.
Now Check Out The Accompanying Video…
You can do this too. Don’t worry if you think that “you can’t draw” There is no such thing, drawing is a communication tool from the most hyper realistic drawing to a simple stick person. If it communicates something you want to put across in visual form, then do it! Let me know how it goes…
Help To Support My Art
Join With My Journey Buy Supporting Me
Buy my artwork on my online shop .
You can also request to buy a sketch like the ones above or request a commision of a street scene or if you own a shop or bar e mail me at info@jamesabellart.com to discuss.
