Urban Sketchers offer an original world view

If you like seeing the urban scene through the eyes of illustrators, artists and sketchers, then you may want to check out a new site.

About a year ago, Seattle journalist and illustrator Gabi Campanario formed a group on Flickr to collect interesting sketches from different places. Today, he launched Urban Sketchers, "a community of artists around the world who draw the people and places of the cities where they live and travel to." It's a place of colour and personal expression; a great way to experience world cities through the eyes of those who live in them. The site has an interesting section which features an up-close look at each of the contributors. See Meet the Correspondents.

My sketch here is looking north from the marina at Queen's Quay near Spadina Avenue in Toronto. The Island Airport is at my back from this position. It was a cold, windy day Wednesday and in the few minutes I had to draw this, I had to keep putting my hands back in my gloves. The boats won't be here for long. Most of them will be moved to winter storage within the next week or two.

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Urban sketchers

If you enjoy sketching or viewing the drawings of others, you might be interested in a new web site that will soon highlight the work of some creative observers from around the world.

A Spanish illustrator living in Seattle, Gabi Campanario, who has a popular site of his own, Seattle Sketcher, has joined up with like-minded artists in many countries who like to draw local people and places.

A lot of these urban sketchers do their drawings in the streets, often between appointments and with little time to spare. So some of the drawings are quick and loose, but they convey a real sense of place and mood. Participating artists will be from Lisbon, New York, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Bologna, Stockholm and Naples, just to name a few of the cities. In short, I think these personalized glimpses will give us a sense of the street level character of some very interesting places.

If you'd like to meet some of the artists, Campanario has set up a site preview. See Urban Sketchers. It will launch November 1st.

The sketches above on this page were drawn by me, while waiting at the airport one day during the summer. This one, at a coffee shop in Toronto; also while waiting.