The Symposium brings urban sketchers from around the globe to one city. A programme of workshops and talks is organised with top artists who consider themselves urban sketchers who teach on a variety of subjects. Urban sketches tend to focus on architecture or street scenes but also include drawing people in cafes, or on their daily commute and anything in between! As long as the sketch is done from life and outside of a studio setting, then that can be considered urban sketching. Urban Sketchers is a non-profit organisation with a clear mission and manifesto. The movement was started by Gabriel Camapanario in 2007. Gabriel is based in Seattle and is a journalist and illustrator. He started an online forum and invited other sketchers who enjoy sketching on location in their local area to share the sketches with each other. The emphasis of the group was to share sketches drawn from life and on location, not from memory and not from photos.

There are various ways in which writing on an urban sketch of buildings and architecture can complete the information given by the drawing itself. First it can help writing up expectations (before) and reflections (after) the sketching takes place. This could be to point out the changes between them and highlight any surprises noticed whilst drawing. Postal entries are limited to 1 free entry, per competition, per person/account, per postcard. Postcards sent in envelopes will be deemed as invalid. If ALL steps are not completed postal entries will be invalid.Entries cannot be made on behalf of other people under any circumstances. Only 1 entry per postcard is permitted. This competition is operated under the laws of England and Wales and the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. The event takes place in different cities around the world each year. The very first symposium was in 2010 and was hosted in Portland, Oregon, USA. Once you have practised sketching at home and you feel ready, get outside and start sketching from life…this is where the magic lies! Get Outside! Harassment, abuse or threat will not be tolerated in any way shape or form. These actions will result in a permanent ban and your account being closed and entries being withdrawn our Urban Draws sole discretion.

And finally, make sure you're welcome where you want to draw. Some places do like people loitering, or don't want you working with paints that might spill (just ask, if you're not sure). You'll always want to make sure you're not accidentally disturbing someone with your presence. Finally, writing notes and thoughts about a drawing, before, during or after drawing, links the act of drawing with the thinking process. It also distils memories and emotions that the drawing itself evokes and communicates them to the viewer alongside the image. This enriches the meaning and adding complexity. How to add writing to an urban sketch Number 7 on the Urban Sketchers Manifesto at the start of this post is “we share our drawings online”. While you are under absolutely no obligation to do this, as you get more confident, you may enjoy the experience of sharing your work with others, especially other sketchers. I have found you can create quite a bond with people all over the world through a shared love of sketching. Cities that have hosted the symposium in past years include Porto (Portugal), Manchester (UK), Amsterdam, (Netherlands) and Paraty (Brazil) amongst many others. Perhaps the subtle element that differentiates urban sketching from the act of sketching on location, that artists have partaken in for decades (or centuries), is telling a story with the sketch.Sketchcrawl is a term to describe a day of sketching, moving from place to place, with a sketching group. It’s like a pubcrawl but instead of moving from pub to pub, you move from sketching location to sketching location, although I suspect pubs are still involved in some sketchcrawls (I’m looking at you UK groups), whether it’s sketching them, sketching in them or having a lunchtime pitstop for a pint or two. I have an entire post on some of my favourite urban sketchers, they are some of the most prominent and well-known sketchers involved in the urban sketching movement – and for good reason. Their work is incredible and hugely inspiring. Many of them have taught workshops at the Urban Sketchers Symposium, teach workshops around the world and have courses available online. Exploring Different Styles of Urban Sketching This later evolved into a blog ( urbansketchers.org) where Gabriel invited artists to share their sketches and ‘reports’ from around the world to allow others to “see the world, one drawing at a time” – the Urban Sketchers motto. Unfortunately, if you fail to make your entry in time, not submitted online or just incomplete, we cannot make allowances for this. The world is a complex environment and so is the urban sketcher’s mind, where thoughts and memories are triggered by the act of drawing. Complexity also derives from the diverse feelings that any situation can produce and that want to be communicated by drawing, such as elation and energy, fun and surprise. The exploration of that complexity through repeated drawing on location and communication to others of the findings of the drawn experiments is at the heart of urban sketching. Example 4: Isabel Carmona Andreu, Warsaw Square (long view), fountain pen and colour pencil on paper