Wednesday, March 12, 2014

2014 - the year of very many books about Urban Sketching?

Each year, I update a website about what seem to be the best of the new books published about drawing and sketching during the course of the year - see 20 NEW Books about Drawing in 2014.

It would appear that the continuing success of The Art of Urban Sketching has generated very many different takes on this topic. My current listing - which will develop as the year progresses - includes a number of new books on this topic.

Sketch Your World: Essential Techniques for Drawing on Location - I've not only got this book by my good friend and fellow urban sketcher James Hobbs, I've got a profile in it!

Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques - by Thomas Thorspecken - you can read Thomas's blog in Analog Artist Digital World. I'm going to be doing a more detailed review of this book once mine has been handed over to the designer!

Hello, New York: An Illustrated Love Letter to the Five Boroughs by Julia Rothman - I like the idea behind this book, one woman recording the city where she lives. This woman is an illustrator and does not blog and doesn't seem to publish her sketches, although I could be wrong about this

Citysketch New York: Over 100 Creative Prompts for Sketching the Big Apple - by Melissa Wood who is an illustrator and architectural planner. I'm less impressed with this book, it seems to be targeted at those who also like to doodle (which is the other big theme of 2014 and one which I'm ignoring!).

Urban Watercolor Sketching: A Guide to Drawing, Painting, and Storytelling in Color - by Felix Scheinberger. You can see his sketches on his website. This one I'm looking forward to seeing and reviewing as the man actually has a major track record of travelling and sketching.

CitySketch London: Over 100 Creative Prompts for Sketching the City on the Thames by Melissa Wood - I've only included this one as I'm totally intrigued as to what possesses any publisher to commission an American to do a book about sketching London.  Speaking, as I do, as a founder member of the Urban Sketchers London group!

The Art of City Sketching: A Field Manual by Michael Abrams. This chap is the co-ordinator of the Interior Architecture Program at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. This seems to have an aim to become some sort of set text for students in higher education. Looks very techie - just at the point where the theme of urban sketching seems to be becoming more about how to enjoy drawing buildings more in a less techie way!

So - did I miss any?  Are there any more out there?

[P.S. I am aware of the Chinese book which is copying the "The Art of Urban Sketching" title. I've been invited and am ignoring this - it's just plain disrespectful in my view. This is Gabi Campanario's blog post about the book which is trying to copy his book - see Dopress book not my project]

3 comments:

  1. Indeed, I was asked to do one on urban sketching too, but declined. Too limiting for me...I love to sketch in the city, but in the country, or wildlife, or livestock, or flowers, or people...

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  2. Maybe the trick is to start the trends rather than following them? :)

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  3. Oh dear, more gorgeous books! After starting to read your blog my bank account has suffered a lot because of all the books I have bought on your recommendation! But what joy they have given me:-) And, I even got my husband interested in doing art again. He is so interested in architecture, but has never found any good books about sketching houses and buildings. The moment the big Urban sketching book came to our home, he snatched it from me and read it from cover to cover;-)!
    So thank you for all your book reviews and good luck with the work on your own book- that one i will certainly buy!

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