The author, Gabriel Campanario, is a staff
artist at The Seattle Times and
the founder of
If you don’t already follow the Urban
Sketchers Blog, go there (after you’ve finished reading this post, of course)
and add this blog to your RSS feeds. The blog hosts a vibrant community of
urban sketchers, which are also featured in the book.
Just browsing the book and looking at sketches
by various artists, with different styles and techniques, makes already this
book special.
The author, in the introduction, set-out
his goal:
“In this handbook, I lay out keys to help
make your experience of drawing architecture and city spaces fun and rewarding.
These keys—composition, depth, scale, contrast, line, and creativity — are my
own gold standards. I put a premium on composition and getting proportions
right.”
And the book delivers on this promise.
The style is pleasant and very clear. Here
is, as an example, a good quote on composition:
“A
well-composed scene has a sense of balance and completeness. Every piece seems
to fall in the right place. Move one and the harmony gets lost.”
The tips are down-to-earth and always practical. Gabriel Campanario has a good way
to deal with busy cityscapes where finding the horizon is difficult: “Forget the word horizon and just identify
your eye level the line where your eyes rest when you look perfectly straight
ahead.”
I also liked his take on adding people to
your sketch:
“Add
people to create a sense of scale. The height of a person is something everyone
can relate to. Add at least one passerby to every sketch. Without that
individual, it may too hard to know how big the setting really is.”
The
verdict
This book is a quick read, but has a lot of
substance. The author gives you practical advice in a concise way.
Beginners will have everything they need to
get started and more experienced sketcher will still enjoy this well written and
beautifully illustrated book. The collection of different styles will renew
your appetite for urban sketching and may stir you in new directions.
Another feature that will delight
practicing artists is that, for each sketch, the author specifies the titles
and dimensions, but also lists the material the artist used and approximate time spent on the sketch.
The list of material is informative if you
want to try new ways to sketch. For instance, the author uses a Lamy Safary fountain pen (Lamy Safari Fountain Pen - Charcoal - Fine
) loaded with Noodler’s black ink (some of Noodler’s inks are
waterproof, so you can paint over watercolour washes without any problem - for instance the Noodler's Black Waterproof Fountain Pen Ink - Bulletproof,3 ounce
). I
will give it a go.
) loaded with Noodler’s black ink (some of Noodler’s inks are
waterproof, so you can paint over watercolour washes without any problem - for instance the Noodler's Black Waterproof Fountain Pen Ink - Bulletproof,3 ounce). I
will give it a go.
The
Book
If you are in the US (Amazon affiliate
link):
If you are in the United Kingdom (Amazon
affiliate link):
(Affiliate link – Amazon US)
(Affiliate link – Amazon UK)
