The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around The World Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 2012

This is a great book. We're lucky here in the Seattle area where author Gabriel Campanario holds forth in the Seattle Times with his fascinating and colorful "Seattle Sketcher" column. I've lived here for all my 82 years, long before Campanario moved here from his native Spain and other places he stopped along the way. In time he's been here however, he has somehow managed to grasp and express the heart and soul of this city and the uniqueness of its people and culture.The Art of Urban Sketching is an anthology of the works and thoughts of others like him around the world who have managed to do what Campanario has managed to do, using the tools of art--pencil, pens, watercolor, ink, and all kinds of mark-making media-- to investigate and define the worlds we live in. While some call that urban sketching, others call it reportage, and either way it is a dazzling way of penetrating the essence of things that is quite different than some more literal, more mechanical way of SEEING than simply recording an uninterpreted image unsullied by human intervention.I'm only about one-third of the way through this book, but I am totally captivated by the wonderful images of dozens of urban sketchers around the globe. And I am equally moved and informed by their descriptions of what they do, what they seek, and what they receive from their efforts. These various testimonies are even detailed down the eminently practical level of identifying the specific tools they use which is particularly useful to anybody else who wants to start with how-to-details. Here's where I scratch "thoroughly" and bring up a significant annoyance.This book is comprised of wonderful images and rich, useful text. The text type however in the great majority of places insanely small, maybe as small as 5 or six point type, sometimes skinny, sans serif, light-bodied font version, overprinted on maybe 30% tone panels of gray that make the text an absolute b------ch to read. Elsewhere fonts printed in shades of GRAY make reading as hard as trying to read in a coal mine with the lights out. The typography in this book make reading and truly enjoying this book and its messages a real challenge for anybody with anything other than 20/20 vision.As a lifelong advertising creative director responsible for supervising both writers and artists in creating communications upon which clients were spending huge amounts of money, I had a constant battle with art directors and graphic designers who regarded words as "gray matter," not something to be understood and responded to, but as a design element that in their minds only needed to make a page look nice at a glance and not get in way of the graphic art.The pages of Campanario's wonderful book do look nice. But they are an absolute bugger to read if you care to find out what the artists have to say other than in their drawings. Too bad. But don't let it stop you from buying this fine book. Get a magnifying glass or annoy some artist by getting him or her to read it out loud to you.

I have admired the sketches of author Gabriel Campanario ever since they started appearing weekly in The Seattle Times. Known as the Seattle Sketcher, Campanario takes even the most commonly photographed, iconic Seattle scenes, such as the Pike Place Market, and gives them his fresh, personal perspective that no camera can capture. I was so inspired that I became an urban sketcher myself. As I dug for more of his work on his personal blog, I was led to the local and then the international Urban Sketchers blogs (initiated by Campanario), which showed me the world "one drawing at a time" - and further compelled me to explore my city (and any city I visit) with a sketchbook. Now The Art of Urban Sketching brings to print the same types of visual expressions that I have been admiring online.The 300-plus pages are divided into three parts. The first helps beginning sketchers gather the right tools and attitude to adopt the urban sketchers' manifesto.The second, and largest, section, the meat of the book, compiles the work of more than a hundred artists worldwide giving us their unique urban views. It's nothing short of amazing to see the variety of styles, media and perspectives. Some sketches are casual and loose, while others are intensely detailed. Some are completed in minutes; others in many hours over the course of weeks. All are the result of careful observation and the desire of the artists to truly know a place by sketching it.I especially enjoyed the artist profiles, their first-person anecdotes about the scenes they sketched and the photos of those artists sketching (usually standing on a street corner, sitting against a building or on a bench). I also appreciated brief technical tips the artists offered to make outdoor sketching more comfortable or make drawings more interesting, and information about how long the sketch took and media used. Some sites depicted are easily recognizable because they are widely photographed, yet the sketches are more intimate and personal than most photos. Other cities are less-often seen in the media, so these glimpses of faraway neighborhoods seem led by personal tour guides.The third section covers themes - architecture, seasons, nighttime sketching - that urban artists are compelled to sketch. "People in Action" - my personal favorite sketching subject that I also find most challenging - includes helpful tips on how to capture movement, mood and energy when you only have a few minutes or seconds before the "model" is gone.As a long-time wannabe sketcher, I have read and admired many books on nature sketching (Hannah Hinchman's fine work comes first to mind), but as a city dweller, I don't often or easily see the breathtaking landscapes and wildlife shown in those books. Finally, a book of sketches for the rest of us that makes it clear that the urban landscape can be as compelling, moving and ever-changing as nature. If you have any desire to capture your urban life in a sketchbook or view how others have captured theirs, you will love this book.