What is Urban Sketching?

The Urban Sketching is a non-profit organisation, and a global community of artists at varying skill levels who observe and record the world around them. The urban sketchers must abide by the manifesto created by the organisation:

The Urban Sketchers Manifesto:
1: We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2: Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3: Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4: We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5: We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6: We support each other and draw together.
7: We share our drawings online.
8: We show the world, one drawing at a time.

The community is extremely heavy on supporting one another, and has hundreds of thousands of participants around the globe. Events called 'SketchCrawls' are held once a month by the community, inviting anyone to join for free as they sketch on location as a group. The aim of the event is to inspire and support one another, and to share the joy of urban sketching together. The hub of the international community is http://www.urbansketchers.org/ . It is entirely volunteer driven, and allows urban sketchers to share their work to the world, give advice, and share experiences with each other.

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Lynne Chapman.

While researching Urban Sketching, I discovered Lynne Chapman's website, and found that is a goldmine for information on anything concerning drawing on location, and that she directly works alongside the urban sketching organisation as a speaker, and teacher. She's an Illustrator from the North who travels around the world recording her experiences, sharing it all on her blog and websites. I found some posts to be particularly helpful:

• ​​lynnechapman.blogspot.com/2013/11/sketching-on-location-some-hot-tips.html
• https://lynnechapman.blogspot.com/2013/08/barcelona-symposium-sketches-that-sing.html
• https://lynnechapman.blogspot.com/search?q=Quick+on+the+Draw

Reportage/ Urban Sketching website:

• http://www.lynnechapmanurbansketching.co.uk/​​

Youtube channel:

• https://www.youtube.com/user/LChapmanillustrator/videos

This video in particularly discusses how passage and moments in time can be demonstrated through urban sketching. It also shows some of her process, and reasoning behind certain elements of her work.

Examples of work.