Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Making decisions on which workshops to choose when you register is hard work, especially when the choices are all enticing! 

Starting tomorrow we’ll be posting information on the individual workshops; two a day, every other day. Follow the Seminar blog  and you’ll have details on all eighteen workshops before registration opens. It probably won’t make the job easy but it should help you decide what’s best for you! 

Follow us on Instagram @uskchicago too!

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo, to Which Workshops Will You Go?

Here’s the workshop lineup for the 2019 Sketch Seminar.

From this amazing lineup of eighteen workshops,

what four will you choose?

1.  Aaron Elswick – Fake It Till You Make It: Sketchin’ Like You Don’t Care
2.  Alex Zonis & MJ Ernst – Fountain Pen World
3.  Amy Larsen – Sketching on the iPad with Procreate and the Apple pencil
4.  Barbara Weeks – Watercolor: Focused, Fast, and Fun
5.  Brian Wright & Suzala Zahler – Composition Tells the Story!
6.  Gabriel Campanario – Chicago in Your Pocket Sketchbook
7.  Jenny Zhang – Let Lines Walk on Paper: Cityscape Sketch with Loose Lines and Light Color
8.  Jingo de la Rosa – Think with your hands!
9.  Joann Harling Larsen – Demystifying Drawing People in Urban Landscape
10. John A Hancock – Richness and Simplicity w/Ink Pen & Brush-Pen
11. Lisa Flahive – Capturing Chicago’s Rhythm and Energy
12. Marek Badzynski – Chicago Skyline with Fude Nib and Water-Soluble Graphite
13. Mark Jones– Go BOLD with Color Pencils!
14. Nishant Jain – Be Sneaky: Sketching People To Liven Your Urban Landscape
15. Paul Heaston – Umbrella Perspective, Chicago Style!
16. Paul Ingold – Light & Shadow: Urban Sketching with Pen and Watercolor
17. Shari Blaukopf-  Bare bones: Exploring Limited Palettes in Watercolour
18. Wes Douglas – Urban Uglies: How to Make Beautiful Sketches Out of Those Areas Most People Overlook

Stay tuned, more details and registration information coming soon!

Come Grow with Us!

It’s hard to believe that we are getting ready for our fifth seminar.  We started our seminars to introduce urban sketching to more people and to offer affordable workshops to local sketchers.  We’ve done that an more!

US-Chicago 2019 Sketch Seminar will welcome sketchers and instructors from USk-Chicago, Illinois, out of state, and even from other countries. This is the place to keep up with the details on this year’s adventure,

Details about:

• Our instructors and what they’ll be teaching
• Registration information
• Helpful hints for a successful seminar experience 
• and more so stay tuned!

We are inviting you, our experienced instructors and new ones, to submit a proposal and share your love and knowledge of Urban Sketching. Teaching propsals have been rolling in and we excited by the variety and the new ideas. If you’re working on a proposal or are thinking of submitting one now’s the time! The deadline for proposals is January 31, just one week away. This  link  will take you to our proposals submission form, it will guide your proposal. 

Join the fun!

CALL for WORKSHOP PROPOSALS

USk Chicago instructors, this is a CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS to teach at the 2019 Chicago Sketch Seminar (May 31 – June 2, 2019).

The Chicago Sketch Seminar is an annual educational event for Urban Sketchers. We are looking for a variety of Urban Sketching topics. The workshops will be given outdoors, in the streets and parks around The American Academy of Art at 332 South Michigan Avenue. The workshops are typically 2½ – 3 hours long, with a maximum of 15 students.

To submit a proposal to teach at the Seminar 2019, please fill this form before January 31, 2019:

• Workshop Proposal Form 

Depending on a number of workshops submitted, there will be a selection process. If you have questions about creating a proposal or about details of your workshop, please talk to Alex Zonis or Barbara McCafferty Weeks.

We look forward to receiving your proposals!

Only three weeks away!

Are your ready for the #USkChicago2018 Sketch Seminar? Only three weeks away! Get your pencils, pens, and brushes ready...

https://chicagosketchseminar.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/only-three-weeks-away/

Team Sketching - A Panoramic Party!

Team Sketching – A Panoramic Party! 

with Don Colley and Peggy Condon

Interview by Wes Douglas, Urban Sketchers Chicago

I had the chance to talk with Don Owen Colley, who is a premier illustrator, demonstrator and the co-instructor with Peggy Condon for “Team Sketching – A Panoramic Party!” workshop during the 2018 Chicago Sketch Seminar. 

Here is one workshop that you really should consider.

Wes: Don, it’s good to talk with you again this year and I am interested in this Team Sketching workshop you are leading with Peggy Condon. What should people know and what can they expect?

Don: This Team Sketching workshop is all about the magic of everyone looking at the same scene, the same objects and bring out their own unique vision in sketch form. We take all of these wonderfully individual diverse sketches and arrange them into one large, collective ensemble. This is what I call “The Panoramic Party.”

Wes: Panoramic Party? That sounds like a three-dimensional sensory experience of some kind.

Don: "The Panoramic Party" is what we are calling this workshop. Think of it like the sketchers' conga line. Everyone has a role and is connected to the rest of the group but each person brings their individual interpretation to the sketch. All who sign up for this party are going to have fun, play with new ways to sketch, and discover a whole new way of seeing an urban setting. Others will be jealous when they hear what we're gonna do. 

Check out this example:

Wes: It seems to me that if I am working on a sketch that is part of a bigger, collective sketch, I would need to make sure that all of my lines match up to the next person’s sketch. Is there any concerns about the sketches not matching up or tiling together perfectly?

Don: No, not at all. In fact if you think of some of the pieces you know from David Hockney, where hundreds of individual photos are laid out to create a collective image, but nothing matches up perfectly, that is what we are attempting to do with the Team Sketches. There is perfect in the imperfect.

Did you know that mistakes happen when you are trying too hard to be perfect? So why sweat it? Mistakes are where the best learning happens anyways. This workshop is a safe learning environment where everyone is learning from each other and there is no judging.

Everyone is learning new tips and tricks from each other and bringing their individual experiences and perspectives to the party. That's what makes a team strong. And in this workshop, every team member is important and is needed.

All skill levels are welcome and encouraged. If you are a seasoned artistic professional, a hobbyist or just learning how to draw for the first time, we need you to be part of our team. You have life experiences that no one else has and we need you to make this team work.

If you go to the website https://chicagosketchseminar.wordpress.com and click on the “registration” tab, then click on the “BOOKWHEN” type, it will take you to the list of workshops. The Team Sketching workshop is WS 16 on Saturday morning from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and Sunday afternoon 2:30 pm to 5:30pm.

So what do you say? Will you be part of the team?

How To Clone Your Original Sketches

Interview with Kordt Larsen, WS 10: Photographing & Promoting Your Sketches
By Wes Douglas

Have you ever been sketching on location when someone admires your work so much that you feel compelled to give them the sketch? Or how many times have you been to a party, or family get together, and want to show your latest sketches but didn’t think to bring the sketchbook with you? 

Well, before you tear out the sketch and hand it over, or pat your pockets in a vain effort to show the sketch that you don’t have, you will learn the skills and tools to easily capture your sketch with your phone. Capture it and make adjustments before you make someone’s day a little brighter. With this workshop, you will be able to call up your sketches faster and more impressively on your smart phone. 

Here is one workshop that will show you one of the most valuable skills you really need to know.

I asked Kordt Larsen about his workshop, "Photographing and Promoting Your Sketches" (WS 10). “I help a lot of creatives who are looking for tips on how to show off their work and advance their skills. I am taking these same tools to share with urban sketchers because I think knowing how to create better looking images of your sketches is a universal skill that everyone wants.”

Does it matter what kind of phone that I have? "All of these tools and apps that I am sharing with students will work across different platforms. I use an iPhone, but bring whatever phone you have, or tablet device, and I will work with you in this workshop."

Union Station Group Photo (before adjustments):

Union Station Group Photo (after adjustments):

Learn how to capture, how to adjust, and how to share your sketches with your urban sketching brothers and sisters. Urban sketching is a social sketching group and this workshop will give you hands-on training on getting your sketches ready for sharing online and on your mobile devices. The tools are free or inexpensive and will allow you to make adjustments while you are still on location. And the best way to protect and archive your original sketches is to have digital versions of them. Make your sketch images look as good online as they do in your sketchbooks. 

Bring your sketchbooks with your smart phone and Kordt will show you how you can make both work for you better and more easily. You get to work directly on your sketches from the Sketch Seminar and be sharing with the Urban Sketchers group before your next workshop. You can see how Kordt fixed one of my sketches (left).

Kordt says, “I really hope that the simple tips and tricks I’m sharing will increase the number of great sketches that we see on in the Urban Sketchers Chicago group like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.”

Kordt, how should people sign up for your workshop? “Good question and an important one. First, go to the website https://chicagosketchseminar.wordpress.com and click on the “registration” tab, then click on the “BOOKWHEN” type, it will take you to the list of workshops. My workshop is WS 10 on Saturday afternoon from 2:30pm to 5:30pm and Sunday morning 10:00am to 1:00pm.”