Meet the Correspondent: Marina Grechanik > Tel-Aviv, Israel$show=/search/label/Marina%20Grechanik

"Sketching is one of my passions. I don't feel comfortable when I leave home without a sketchbook and some pens in my bag. I think that my way to put things in my memory is to draw them. And taking pictures isn't the same thing.

I live in a very dynamic surrounding — Israel is a warm country with warm weather and warm people. Of course, we have seashores, which calm us a little bit. I love to sit in a corner of some Tel-Aviv coffee shop and explore relationships: between people, their environment, between myself. All this unique local mix of cultures, languages and styles is always a great source for inspiration. You need to be fast, because, as I said, everything is very dynamic. But that's why I love it so much.

Sometimes, I look around, and I find some usual items like sugar bags or napkins. I use them in my drawings to show the atmosphere. Sometimes I draw directly on placemats."

• Marina's art on Flickr.
• Marina's website.

Meet the Correspondent: Tina Koyama > Seattle$show=/search/label/tina%20koyama

"The dictionary says that a hobby is “an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation.” Although urban sketching certainly provides both pleasure and relaxation, I don’t think of it as my hobby. I think of it more as a way of life – something that has become such a normal part of my everydayness that it shapes how I view the world.

For most of my life I had both the fear of drawing as well as the desire to draw. In 2011, inspired by Gabi Campanario’s Seattle Sketcher column, I finally decided to overcome the fear. His drawings of Seattle – my birthplace and lifelong home – were of sights that I had seen many times, yet had never truly seen. I wanted to learn to see, and therefore experience, those locations (and any new ones that I travel to) more completely. Part 8 of the Urban Sketchers Manifesto, to “show the world, one drawing at a time,” has a flip side: Sketching enables me to see my own world, one drawing at a time.

In the last four years, it is not an exaggeration to say that Urban Sketchers has changed my life. I have met and sketched with many wonderful people around the globe, either at symposiums or during other travel, because the USk network brought us together. I sketch almost weekly with my local group, sharing sketches, art supplies and friendship. Even when I stay home and enjoy sketches online, I am still a part of that rich network, learning with every sketch about other people’s lives.

In May, my husband Greg and I went to France for the first time, and I sketched the Eiffel Tower. Sketching one of the world’s most famous icons felt like a dream come true – the ultimate in urban sketching. But although I can’t resist sketching world-famous icons whenever I’m fortunate enough to see them, for me, urban sketching is much more than that.

Urban sketching is a tree with its middle chopped away to accommodate Seattle’s ubiquitous power lines. It’s about a couple of women chatting over coffee, or about workers roofing the house next door. It’s about an excavator filling a hole where a cherry tree once stood. Or the Tibetan monastery I drive by frequently that I couldn’t resist because it’s bright orange. Urban sketching is a string band performing at a local farmers’ market – or perhaps in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Celebrating the mundane as well as the famous is what urban sketching is all about. My sketches are not necessarily about “special” moments; they are moments made special because I sketched them."

Tina has been editor of Drawing Attention since 2013 and now serves on the Urban Sketchers editorial board. See more of her sketches on her blog, on Flickr and on Instagram.

Meet the Correspondent: Pete Scully > Davis, Calif.$show=/search/label/Pete%20Scully

Meet the Correspondent: Suhita Shirodkar > San Jose, Calif.$show=/search/label/Suhita%20Shirodkar

"I was born in Mumbai (Bombay) and lived in different parts of India until I moved to San Jose, California, where I now live.

Travel inspires my art, but, traveling or not, I try to view the world around me as a traveller would; so whether I’m capturing a moment of calm on the banks of the Ganges in India, or sketching over coffee at my local coffee shop, I aim to look deeply, and with wonder, at both the everyday and the exotic, the old and the new.

I love color. My sketch kit consists of Extra Fine Sharpies (the fact that they bleed into the paper as soon as they touch it works really well for me—it forces me to work super-quick), a small set of Prismacolor pencils and a little watercolor travel set".
• Blog
• Flickr

Meet the Correspondent: Omar Jaramillo > Berlin$show=/search/label/Omar%20Jaramillo

"I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I studied architecture. I moved to Kassel (Germany) in 1999 to accomplish a master degree. Although I have always drawn and paint, it was not until I started studying in the Uni-Kassel, that I started keeping a travel sketchbook. I had a teacher there who used to do a lot of sketches when he travelled on university excursions. When he retired, I helped to organize an exhibition of his sketches. He brought a huge box full of sketchbooks he had filled since he was an architecture student. I spent a whole day selecting the most interesting drawings. It was a wonderful experience that opened my eyes to a new world. In the last 10 years I have the feeling of being in a long journey. I like to discover the cities where I live, to understand why a place is the way it is and what makes it different and unique from others. Drawing is for me a way to learn to love a place, to become part of it. I like to draw architecture but I am more attracted to urban scenery, portraying how people live in the city. Since I’m a foreigner, everything that locals find normal and taken-for-granted, for me is exotic. I always carry a small watercolor travel set from Windsor and Newton and my sketchbook in my bag. I always thought that drawing was a solitary experience until I found Urban Sketchers. It was amazing to find so many people doing the same thing. It is a great place to share!" • Omar's blog. • Omar's art on flickr. • Omar's website.

Zero to Hero with ipad and Procreate - San Francisco, CA, USA

August 16, 2017 Edit this post

Zero to Hero with iPad+Procreate

Workshop Information

12:30pm - 7pm
2 September, 2017
San Francisco, CA USA

Instructor: Rob Sketcherman

Workshop Description

Sketching and painting on an iPad is relatively new. Artists, illustrators and creatives of all stripes around the world have been turning to Procreate to conceptualize, sketch and paint on their iPads, and now you can too.

Like any tool or medium, there is a learning curve, so this workshop is structured in small steps to get you comfortable with Procreate through a series of demonstrations and exercises. Consisting of two 3-hour sessions over a single day, Zero to Hero with iPad+Procreate is a carefully-paced immersive deep-dive, designed to get you up and creating art on your iPad, even if you've never dabbled in digital drawing before.

You'll learn to understand the user interface and best practices for available tools. Discover gloriously juicy brushes and rich organic textures, all without having to clean another brush or pen!

By the end of the workshop, you'll have a very clear idea of the potential of Procreate + your iPad as a fantastic mobile digital studio for doodling, visualizing, sketching on location and a whole lot more. Print samples will be shown so you know how screen translates to paper.

Time to sketch on location is liberally integrated into the workshop so you can begin to master skills learned, ask questions and get guidance as you work. You'll leave Zero to Hero with iPad+Procreate feeling much more confident about whipping your iPad out whenever inspiration strikes!

Workshop Learning Goals

Working digitally is relatively new, even for very advanced sketchers, so this workshop is designed to help you get really comfortable with Procreate, especially if you’re new to digital sketching. You can expect to:

See how to customize the interface for whether you’re right or left-handed
Collate your favorite digital tools for easy access
Learn to customize digital brushes
Create inﬁnite palettes of custom color
Think in layers for ultimate ﬂexibility
Understand how your work goes from screen to print
Learn to handle the 3 challenges of sketching digitally on location: glare, power and weather
Explore various helpful accessories; styli, cases, tablet holders etc
Adapt your analog style to digital media

Workshop Location

This workshop will be held at the arty hub and second home to creative souls in the City by the Bay, Arch Supplies in the Mission area, San Francisco. (And we’re happy to announce that workshop participants will get a special discount too!!

Workshop Schedule

Session One: 3 hours total (12:30-3:30pm)

Introduction and Gear (10 min)

Introduction of the instructor and potential of Procreate. Discussion and demonstration of helpful gear and accessories, especially styli and tablet holders.

Getting to Know Procreate (60min)

A series of demonstrations and quick exercises will familiarize participants with Procreate and its interface. They will then learn how to customize important settings, set up favorite tools for optimal use, see what effects are possible, and learn to create their personal digital toolkits.

The Digital Workﬂow (20min)

Participants use what they've learned to do some quick 5-min sketching exercises that help cement the concept of a digital workflow. This prepares them for sketching outdoors on location.

We will also look at print samples and preparing your artwork for print.

Sketching Exercises (50min)

Participants apply what they've learned and sketch while the instructor goes among them to offer guidance. The session ends with a review of work, sharing and Q&A.

30 min break

SESSION TWO : 3 hours total (4-7pm)

Replicating Analog styles in Digital Media (20min)Most users of Procreate want to know how they can get the look of their favorite traditional mediums before exploring other aspects of digital potential. This segment explores the most common media styles and how to replicate them digitally. We then look at ways to go beyond that.

Advanced tools in Procreate (20min)

Demonstrations and exercises to introduce participants to advanced tools in Procreate for various purposes, including useful layer effects, object manipulation, rendering accurate perspective, lettering & calligraphy.

Sketching on Location (140min)

Participants apply what they've learned and sketch while the instructor goes among them to offer guidance. The workshop ends with a review of work, sharing and Q&A.

Workshop Registration and Cost

Workshop Fee: $130

Please contact Louisa at louisa@sketcherman.com for space availability and PayPal link.

Maximum number of participants 15 (minimum 10) All levels welcome
In the event of too few registrations, all monies will be refunded less Paypal Fees.

Please note: cancellations up to Aug 25, 2017 will be refunded the full amount minus a cancellation fee of $15.00, and no refunds will be granted after that date. Thank you for your understanding.

Supply list

An iPad (iPad Air or newer highly recommended. You will probably be frustrated with the performance of anything older.)
Preinstalled Procreate app (USD 5.99 or equivalent on the iOS App Store)
A stylus (You may use any stylus, although I highly recommend one that supports pressure-sensitivity.)
A stool / chair for sketching if you have one.
Sunscreen
Sun protection: Hat / umbrella

You're also welcome to email questions to rob@sketcherman.com

About the Instructor

Rob Sketcherman is an artist and illustrator from Hong Kong who has been using the iPad exclusively as his creative device for the past 4 years. He is one of the 5 administrators of Urban Sketchers Hong Kong. While not sketching on the streets, he handles illustration commissions of all kinds, and is occasionally asked to speak, demonstrate and run workshops on his artistic and professional work on the iPad, including at Apple and educational institutions.

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