Book Launch: Urban Sketch Book: Urban Sketchers in German speaking countries.

If you happen to be in Berlin next week come to the launch of this interesting book. 

The book portraits Urban Sketchers in German speaking countries. The list become so big that it was necessary to create two books. In band one  you have sketchers from the north area. Me and other sketcher will be signing your books. Come for  meet. talk or sign your copy. I will be happy to see you.

Digital sketchwalk in Apple Kurfürstendamm

A lot of people came to my sketch safari (Zeichensafari in German)  to the Apple Store Kurfürstendamm, Berlin. This was part of a collaboration between Apple and Urban Sketchers to celebrate 10 years of Urban Sketchers. Similar sketch walks  took place the same day in Hong Kong (with Rob Sketcherman) , Singapore  (with Don Low), and San Francisco  (with Uma Kelkar).

Apple provided all participants with an iPad pro and a pencil. After a short presentation about my work and some information about the app procreate we went to the Bikini mall to draw the area.

It was a sunny day but cold, but people seemed not to care much. We did a short exercise there and we finished the drawings back in the store. Thanks to Apple for this opportunity and all the people that came.

Market is no a place but a time

Stone Town is a city that changes according to time, in the morning before noon, there is market, a so in some streets and squares you will find people selling their products.


After walking close to the Market we stopped at a corner.

Stephanie was drawing an old guy, and when I finished my drawings I took some pictures with her camera.

She always attracts a crowd. Of course people are eager to comment.

The madona of the cell phone.

It was so much fun to go around sketching with Stephanie Ledoux.. we stopped at this street to draw the door but at the same time fascinated by the people seating on the side.

Although we couldn't communicate when people noticed us drawing they started to interact with us in non verbal ways.

 
This guy was definitely posing as he realized that we started drawing him. He stayed in that position for have an hour..

The little Nabil came to us to watch what we were doing, His mother join him later he hold him with one arm and in the other texted with the phone. I like to portrait this kind of contrast in Africa, Technology is there but people keep their traditions. To hide technology would be to romanticize reality, like these colonial tourist postcards, something that I don't want

Jaw's corner

People mentioned many times "Joe's corner" as an important square on my way. and I was asking myself who could be this famous Joe. It turned out that they mean "Jaw's corner" because of a picture in the wall of a shark like in the Spielberg's film.

A funny note is the phone hanging on the palm... if it really work?

I started drawing maps to understand the space, I keep finding beautiful carved doors. Stone Town is famous for them. This one bellow is in Indian style, you can recognize because of his bronze peaks. In India they are used to stop elephants, in Zanzibar there are no elephants, so they only have a decorative purpose and therefore they are not so sharp.

I am kind of lazy, so I don't think I need to draw all the carving, specially if it is a pattern that repeat constantly.

Getting in lost in Stone Town

I tried to find my way back to the market following the route my guide showed me the day before. At the same time I was checking in a map to follow the names of the streets. Not map helps you there. Very soon I realized that the narrow allies in Stone Town were like rivers, with buildings between it course and the the end all them end in the big see that is the market. In the many ways I follow I always found something interesting so getting lost was all the time a pleasant experience.

I cut a window in the title page to show a glimpse of the next one. Stephanie was teaching me calligraphy,

There were many beautiful carved doors on the way..

A trick to draw people is to start drawing an square and start adding people as they jump inside the painting..

Soon kids came and started asking for portraits

like these two: