Sketchcrawl in Luxembourg

I've been trying to get 2 of my best friends to come out on a sketchcrawl with me here in Luxembourg. This Saturday we had our second meeting and this time we were 4!

I think we still need to figure out the logistics of such things, for it took us ages to decide where to stay, until we finally arrived on the Vauban trail (around the ancient fortress walls) and, already a bit tired, just sat on some stairs and started drawing.

I wanted to sketch the view of Abbaye Neumünster from there. It's one of the nicest views of the building.

It was fun to talk to the tourists who were visiting that part. I met a nice Pakistani girl and spoke to some Luxembourgish people.

There was one particular older couple who were commenting in Luxembourgish (thinking I wouldn't understand, I suppose) that I knew how to draw. I thanked them in Luxembourgish and was amused when when the man said, very surprised: "And she's Luxembourgish!"

Abbaye Neumünster

It started alright, but somewhere along the way it started feeling too forced, so I ended up 1) making big mistakes, and 2) not having fun with this particular sketch anymore. I think that particular day I was not in a mood to draw too precisely. I was not focused enough.

So I started on a whole knew approach, with my new Hiro fountain pen, which I discovered at the BCN Symposium (it seemed like all the Asian sketchers had one) and absolutely love. You can't bee too precise with it and it just glides on the page.

This house is one of my favourite on the Vauban trail. I love that its windows are all placed so "randomly". It makes if fun and, along with its pink colour (though not as pink as on my sketch), very cute.

My approach was to draw it as if it was a monster. It's an approach that was taught during the symposium as well. Though I didn't attend that particular workshop and don't actually know what it was precisely about, this expression just stuck with me.

I had a lot of fun drawing like that, without taking too much care of detail and perspective, and I think it shows on the page.

House on the Vauban trail

After my second sketch, not knowing what else to sketch and seeing that my companions were still busy with their work, I decided to just sketch them. Tessy and Didier here, I somehow messed up a bit (Didier looks much older than he is and I shouldn't have fiddled with Tessy's nose so much, lol), so we had a lot of laughs thanks to that.

Dider and Tessy, busy sketching

Annick recently got engaged and asked me to draw her engagement ring. So I did this very quick sketch for her.

Annick got engaged!!!

And, last of my day's production, Annick's idea: sketching our feet and her cigarette stubs.

Annick's cigarette stubs

Finally, here's the commemorative photo of the day: I love to see my friends having fun sketching! 

Photomeetings Luxembourg - impressions

Photomeetings Luxembourg has started this week until the 19th.

It is a great occasion to discover the work and hear the insights of well-known photographers.

These last three days I was able to attend conferences held by Roger Ballen, Isabel Muñoz and Massimo Vitali.

Here are some of their comments.

Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen appeared quite gloomy to me. Very dark and meticulous with a dark sense of humour.

Isabel Muñoz

Isabel Muñoz is a true humanist, in my definition of the term. Very caring and loving. And more essentially, someone who loves and is fascinated by humanity in all its manifestations.

Massimo Vitali

Massimo Vitali seems very technically rigorous. It was interesting to hear his opinions on the place of photography in the art scene.

These lectures allowed me not only to discover these artists' work, but also to understand it in a different level.

It became very clear to me that each one of these photographers' work reflects their personality and beliefs. It may sound like a very obvious thing to say, but now it feels like I can see them when I look at their photographs.

Drawing People in Action: A Character Sketching Crash Course - with Marc Taro Holmes

I love drawing people. I actually think that I'm much better at it than at drawing buildings.

However, I am still stuck at making portraits, so Marc Taro Holmes' workshop on  how to draw people in action was absolutely fantastic.

Check out this link for a more detailed description of the lesson.

Standing in the middle of La Rambla, trying to sketch people as fast as possible was very challenging, specially in the beginning when still warming up.

However, gradually it stopped being stressful and started being just a lot of fun.

Marc had us first use a pencil to draw very general lines of our subjects and only later add ink and details.

People coming towards us : quick, there's no time to overthink it!

The last exercise consisted in choosing people doing one activity and sketching that, starting with pencil, then ink and finally adding colour. I chose these ice cream sellers.

Girls selling ice cream on La Rambla

The important thing I learned from Marc Holmes was that when sketching an event or action, I should focus on the action as such first and add details later - even if those details are taken from a different person. It's the action that counts.

I haven't practised this since I came back from Barcelona, but it's definitely an exercise I wish to repeat and improve on.

Lighting the City: Lights and Shadows amid Excitement and Serenity - with Sagar Fornies

Sagar Fornies is an impressive artist. All his sketches that I have seen so far have left a lasting impression on me. Adding the fact that he is also a comic book artist (I'm a comic book fan), I have to admit that I was impressed by him even before meeting him.

Being able to attend one of his workshops was definitely going to be one of the highlights of this symposium.

His workshop was about learning to introduce light in our sketches, which also contributes to adding depth to them. More details here.

We made two sketches in total: one in the parc of the university and one inside the beautiful building, and I think that between my first and my second there is definitely some improvement.

Sketching vegetation is not my forte, but I received good instructions. Just keep practicing!

Between the sketch above and the sketch below, there was one key sentence that the great teacher told me:

Don't be afraid!

Yes, I know, it's that simple, and there was more, of course. But this was the core idea and I feel that, added to the other worshops I had already attended, this sentence was the key to unblock me.

Second sketch with some guidance from Sagar

I felt elated at the end of this workshop. I definitely learned a lot and feel like I will improve my skills and have learned not to be so apprehensive about colour and mark making thanks to Sagar and the other teachers.

Sketches that Sing: Creating Sketches with a Life of their Own - with Lynne Chapman

I admire Lynne Chapman's way of playing with colour. So again, choosing her workshop was a no-brainer for me.

I was as curious to meet the person as I was about her workshop and I knew I would definitely learn a lot from her.

We were focusing on different points: composition, colour and mark-making. A more detailed description can be found here.

I have to admit that this workshop was one of the most challenging ones for me. Playful and fun, but challenging. As I mentioned in a previous post: using colour is not my forte.

However, I think I didn't do too badly and, although I still have to work on my colour use and technique, I think I lost a bit of my apprehension and started to enjoy just playing with it.

This sketch was about composition. We had to think the way we framed the sketch in order to make it more dramatic, by going very close to the subject and "cutting" it on at least two sides.

Lynne suggested the use of colour (obviously, lol). I think it works very well here and I like experimenting with it now.

Another exercise had us combine only 3 colours, each in a different medium and use mark-making to make the drawing more dramatic.

This exercise definitely had me leave my comfort zone and I think I still have to experiment with it a lot before I completely "get it".

I used a yellow marker, a red pencil and a blue watercolour pencil.

All in all, this was a very fun morning. Lynne Chapman's love for sketching is very contagious and I can't wait to experiment more on what I learned from her.

Drawing from the Heart and over Color Splashes - with Tia Boon Sim and Paul Wang

I have to admit that colour is not my strongest point so far. I really need to work on that. And learn to be less of a control freak when sketching with colour.

So every time I see Tia and Paul's beautiful sketches I cannot help but marvel at them. They are always so colorful and vibrant.

Evidently, when I saw that they were proposing a workshop, it naturally went to my workshops-not-to-be-missed selection. Here is the description of the workshop, with some of Tia and Paul's sketches.

It was very interesting to see Tia and Paul's sketching process to get to the results I so admired. And discovering their techniques and different tools they use (Paul even uses a comb!).

Tia even mentioned to me that Qi Gong techniques can be used for drawing. I have to look into that. And into blind drawing as well.

On this sketch I tried Tia's technique of splashing colour on the paper first (but normally it would be better to have the splashes ready before going on location), and drawing with a twig and ink.

Splashing colours and trying some blind drawing on the columns

Here I tried using Paul's different techniques, drawing with wax, fingers, comb, credit card, etc.

trying different techniques: wax, fingers, comb, credit card, etc.

This workshop was very playful to me. I felt like I didn't really know what I was doing, but I still had fun and I hope that in time I can start incorporating some of their spirit in my sketches as well.

Sketching Urban Place: People, Space and Street - with Richard Alomar

The first workshop of the USK Barcelona Symposium was all about understanding urban space and how it was created for the people living in it.

This might be a strange thing to say, considering the subject of the whole symposium, but I had never really thought about the places we live in in these terms.

Sure, I understood the basic principles, for example that a street is supposed to lead you some place, but it had never (consciously) occurred to me that some places were designed to be lived in, enjoyed as such, and others just for their utilitarian purpose, to serve some function.

Richard Alomar's workshop introduced me to the concepts of path, transition, entry and point of focus of a place, which in turn led me to think about my sketches in a very different way.

Check out this link to read a full description of the workshop.

For the first exercise, we had to do very quick 30-second and 2-minute sketches of one place, then moved to another.

It is a stressful exercise in the beginning, but it helps to go to the essentials instead of focusing too much on details.

Capturing space in a few quick strokes

Another exercise was first describing a place in words : what we were seeing, hearing, smelling, etc. before sketching those things. Again, very interesting exercise to help understand what we are going to draw.

We did these exercises a few times until we reached Plaça Reial, where we stayed for about an hour and had more time to do a more complete sketch.

Plaça Reial - I had a lovely time sketching this with two adorable ladies from England at this point

I loved this workshop (as all the others). Richard was very dynamic and his instructions were clear. It was a great way to start this symposium.