Urban Sketchers Celebrate One Year Of Drawing Around The World

A year after making its debut in November 2008, the Urban Sketchers group blog has drawn more than 1 million visits and established a network of hundreds of members in more than 50 countries.

From Venice to San Francisco, Greece to Bhutan, readers of the blog can travel vicariously through the thousands of drawings posted by 100 invited correspondents. Admire a breathtaking 360-degree panoramic of Liège, Belgium, drawn from a roof. Take in a driver's view of Bangkok traffic or the atmosphere of a flea market in Mauritania. It's all captured by the artists drawing scenes from their daily lives on location in cities across the globe. Sketches from concerts, airports, cafés or even cemeteries, show the world one drawing at a time, as the Urban Sketchers motto goes.

A sister group on flickr, the popular image-sharing site, has attracted more than 2,000 members and inspired people to draw their surroundings and share their sketches online. "It was amazing to discover other people doing the same thing," says Omar Jaramillo, an urban sketcher in Catania, Italy. "Since I have been in the group I have learnt a lot from other fellow sketchers. You get a lot of feedback and inspiration from the community."

"Urban Sketchers has been my homepage since Spring 2009. It has changed the way I look at the world — everywhere I look now, I think about how I could draw it!" said Isabelle Laliberté, a member in London.

Looking ahead to the coming year, Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario intends to formalize the project as a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing. "As a nonprofit, we'll raise money to give grants and scholarships to artists," said Campanario, a Seattle-based journalist and illustrator. "We also aim to do an annual book and organize an international meetup every one or two years."

Urban Sketchers by the numbers
• 100 correspondents.
• More than 3,500 blog posts with drawings from 56 different countries.
• More than 3,000 blog subscribers.
• More than 2,000 members on sister flickr group.
• Nearly 20,000 drawings on flickr.

Site:
http://www.urbansketchers.com

On Twitter:
http://twitter.com/urbansketchers

On Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Urban-Sketchers/29343218911?ref=ts

Email:
urbansketchers@gmail.com

opener page for CG! website

This is the new opener for CosmoGIRL! indonesia's website. I use the theme digital scrap for this design. I enjoyed mixing many things on this page. You can see this page online at http://cosmogirl.co.id/ . Check it out! :)

sneak peek

This is a sneak peek of my artwork for Sitta Karina's short story at CosmoGIRL! Indonesia November 2009 edition. Hmm..., kiss kiss kiss...

Saturday Sketches

These are my drawings last Saturday. I drew this at St. Theresia church after the class of Sr. Agatha Limin, OSU. I had lunch in the sidewalk outside the church. And drew these sketches. The trees are full with beautiful branches and leaves. I plan to draw it next time.


Below is my sketch of my room at Kampung Bali... Full with misc things and you can see the rice-cooker on the floor. This is the multi-function room, I think. :)
Well, you can see my lovely plastic bamboo trees in the corner of the room. Some of my friends thought that it was real tree. Hehe...

October illustration

A part of illustration I made last month for CosmoGIRL! Indonesia October edition. I drew some fashion things for the article Fake Spotter. You can see the complete artwork at CG! indonesia October 2009.

lebaran holiday sketch

I spent this holiday in Tanjung Priok, at Bagus' house. Really want to make more sketches but I didn't bring my sketchbook. :(
So I drew some sketches in my HP notebook with a grapic tablet.
This is a part of Bagus' house. The old refrigerator with green chairs.
The refrigerator is put on a short desk.

virgo

I use the mannequin head as the wig display for this virgo horoscope. I tried to make a feminine head figure decorated with azalea and lavender flowers as the flowers of virgo zodiac. Published in CosmoGIRL! indonesia magazine, September edition.

food traveler

Miscellaneous things about picnic in the park. I prepared this random things so the designer can use them to decorate the layout of Food Traveler spread. You can see how Vera, the designer, put them around the text.
You can see this yummy things at CosmoGIRL! Indonesia magazine, July 2009.

"go green!" things

Set of cup and buttons I made last year for CosmoGIRL! indonesia. For CG!s go green! campaign in 2008. Really love these cute stuff! Here they go! ;)

calla lilies mirror

An illustration for CG! magic - horoscope, gemini. I drew a mirror with yellow calla lilies around the frame. I love calla lily lately. It's so cute and beautiful. Very pretty and romantic. I think about make a hand-bouquet of white calla lilies for my wedding. But I'm not really sure of this, since white calla lily is so expensive and hard to find here. I think I will use roses anyway... ;)

holy mary cave at st.theresia

Last Thursday, I went to the church at 7 o'clock in the morning. Walked in a hurry to catch up the bus. Trying not to be late for a morning class at St.Theresia church, but still... I was late. Run to my class at 3rd floor but i didn't see my teacher. I made a call to her cellphone but she didn't answer, so I decide to went to the holy Mary cave and prayed. It was a beautiful moment, beautiful morning. After prayed, I felt so harmonious... So I did some quick sketch at my journal and re-drew it at photoshop with my Graphire.
Hallelujah...