USk Chicago 2019: Being Sneaky + Other Experiences
Over Labor Day weekend, I was at the USk Chicago Seminar 2019.
Chicago is my favorite city in the world, and it was my great honor to be among the 18 instructors who led 190 participants around the streets and parks and public spaces of downtown Chicago, to learn and enjoy various techniques of urban-sketching.
My workshop was titled “Be Sneaky: How to Sketch People to Liven your Urban Landscape”.
The goal of the workshop was to observe human activity around us, and draw it quickly without attracting attention.
I was surprised when I first learned that a lot of great artists could have profound “weaknesses” outside of their traditional styles, and were eager to learn things that I assumed they must already know. Being part of an artistic community reveals this very human side of pursuing art. Just like any broad field of study, no single practitioner can be good at everything. And sometimes the extent of our skill in one direction indicates a proportionate weakness in another direction! This makes a healthy artistic community invaluable to the growing artist, as a source of improvement and constructive criticism.
I have found the global Urban Sketchers community to be that kind of healthy environment. I have learned a lot from watching my favorite artists, reading their words, and trying to imbibe their styles. This is why it was crucial that I take the responsibility of being an USk instructor very seriously.
I arrived in Chicago a few days early to scope out my workshop location. Jackson & State in the Loop is a very busy street intersection with ceaseless thoroughfare - fast paced pedestrians, vehicles and public transit.
Perfect conditions for #SneakyArt.
Reconnaissance at my workshop location. (Mistakenly written as Jefferson, instead of Jackson & State.)
Pre-Workshop Survey
A couple of weeks before the seminar, I gave all my participants a pre-workshop survey to complete. The questions were designed to assess their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their interests and learning goals. This information was used to tailor the workshop to their needs, accounting for varying backgrounds and diverse skill-sets.
My other reason for doing so was to learn what they saw in my work. I was able to look at my own style from their point of view, understand what appealed to them and why so.
I spent my first day walking around downtown. I love this city so much, and it was a bright, sunny day - I wanted to take it all in. I especially wanted to go to the river-front, where I would like to do a workshop someday. It is immensely beautiful, with great architecture and lots of great people-watching options.
Walked up and down the riverfront before settling on this view.
Over the next couple of days, I re-visited my workshop location, and walked for hours through the streets downtown. By Day 1 of the seminar, I felt ready.
I met Alex and MJ to help with setting up our seminar HQ, and then set out with some other instructors for lunch and sketching!
The Workshop
At my first workshop on Day 1, the day dawned bright and sunny, not too windy. You can’t ask for more than this in Chicago. But there was also construction on the street - pile-drivers pounding into the gravel - so I had to speak very loudly. (My vocal chords would realize the consequences of this afterwards.)
In my first workshop on Day 1, we began with a SneakyArt drawing of a Chicago cop!
Demo 1 was about various techniques to sketch complete figures, to get over familiar humps, and conquer our fears using speed and different approaches.
Any Sneaky portrait is a combination of various ideas running through my head. I tried to express each one during my demo.
Drawing single-line figures is one such important technique.
To get out of familiar ruts, you have to get out of familiar styles. To get out of familiar styles, you have to avoid familiar lines and shapes. To avoid familiar shapes, you have to “see” differently.
Drawing is about seeing before anything is put on paper, so it is important how and what you “see”.
I urged participants to focus on “interesting details” and not overburden themselves with unnecessary details. We examined various ways to distinguish people in a crowd, bring attention to specific parts of the page, and help the viewer see what we want them to see.
Demo 2 began with my personal philosophy on the composition of an urban sketch - I contend that an urban scene without humans is urban dystopia. The urban environment has been designed for the sole purpose of servicing the needs of humanity. Without human presence to give it context and meaning, an urban environment is literally and figuratively lifeless.
(By no means does this apply to every urban-sketch in the world. It doesn’t even apply to every urban sketch I have drawn.)
I picked a street corner to draw and populated my page with various “urban elements” (lampposts, trash cans, traffic lights, benches) while keeping an eye out for interesting people. An important lesson of the demo was to think of urban elements in relation to their function. A traffic light is where people wait for their turn. A lamp-post has a person under it for scale. A bench is a bench if someone sits on it. Trash cans can be beautiful too, if you look at them as subjects of SneakyArt.
Details decrease as we move radially outwards from my point of focus. I try to draw the eye of the viewer towards my subject and their place in my world.
I had some very enthusiastic and talented participants, who made my first experience as an USk instructor delightful. The hours passed quickly, and I was amazed to see everyone’s work at the end of it!
But my amazing USk Chicago experience did not end with the workshops I conducted. I also sat in on other workshops during my spare time, interacted with dozens of wonderful people, and found myself engaging in lots of interesting conversation with various attendees.
I also found time to make some SneakyArt. :)
All the people I saw on Day 2 morning
… before they got away!
Snuck in on Marek Badzynski’s workshop about using a fude pen and ink washes.
The weekend was a whirlwind of activity, and I don’t know if I had the chance to thank everyone that made it so special. I want to thank Marek, Paul Heaston, Shari, Suzala and everyone else that humored my strange questions and long monologues. I would like to thank the truly amazing organizers of this seminar. It was a major accomplishment to account for Chicago’s weather, plan for so many people and arrange such wonderful sponsors to make this workshop more than worth everyone’s time. I also want to thank the sponsors for supporting the work of urban sketchers.
I can’t wait to be back next year!
Lastly, I want to thank the city of Chicago. Most beautiful city in the world.