Urban Sketchers is a very simple concept. People from all over the world who can draw (and you have to passed as “good enough” to become a part of Urban Sketchers) sketch their surroundings, wherever they are, and then post their pictures up onto the Urban Sketchers website, tagging their images by subject, location and by artist. The artist often writes a few words about the sketch. The drawings have a simplicty and organic informality that is usually charming and relaxed. If photography is “fast food”, Urban Sketchers is firmly part of the “slow food” movvement. Not surprisingly London is one of the most featured and tagged places. Here are a few of the London images.
This picture of St Paul’s Cathedral from the Tate Modern is by Rene Fijten from Holland. You can find all of Rene Fijten’s Urban sketches here and his blog with more pictures here.
This simple snapshot of an unidentified London bridge is by Barry Jackson, whose website is here.
And this final one of our namesake the London Eye is by Adebanji Alade. His Urban sketches are here. His website is here.
The site is very unpretentious. It focuses on the drawings themslves and makes a real change from photography. A great site which is worth a regular visit to catch up on the progress and whereabouts of the artists.
Paddington by James Hobbs
Spitalfields by James Hobbs
James Hobbs is a freelance illustrator who lives and works in London. You can find out more about him on his website, here.
I like his pictures. They are, as you can see, very nice to look at. The images are clean and easy on the eye but their simplicity is deceptive and the more I look at them, the more I notice things going on. I also like this snippet that shows James’s approach to his work:
“When it comes to drawing, though, I am often taken by the more mundane things going on. I like to stand before the great city sights, remove the workbook from the bag, uncap the marker, and then turn around before starting to draw. It’s the street furniture, the everyday, the ubiquitous stuff that is easily overlooked that makes a city what it really is. It’s a kind of anti-celebrity view of the world that I like. They creep in, of course: the Post Office Tower, Canary Wharf or the Gherkin crane their necks to get a look in, but I try, at least, to keep them in their place.”
He can do simplicity as well. Possibly my favourite picture is this one called Obama day from when the US President visited London. Its just a fly-like helicopter above a slice of the London Eye. When I look at it I can hear the blades rotating and imagine the hurly burly of the motorcade that is happening off-stage. The picture captures a point of calm at the centre of a wheel of frenzied activity. Its reminds me of a Japanese Haiku poem.
Obama Day by James Hobbs
Oh, and whatever he says, he can indeed do “celebrity” London buildings as well as this waterscape proves.
Waterloo Bridge by James Hobbs
