Drawing Attention Sept 2025

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SKETCHING IN POZNAŃ CALIFORNIA

HONG KONG

NORTH CAROLINA

TORONTO

Attention DRAWING

The official zine of Urban Sketchers SEPT 2025

Drawing Attention Mandate

Drawing Attention, the official zine of the Urban Sketchers organization, communicates and promotes official USk workshops, symposiums, sketchwalks, news and events; shares news about USk chapters; and educates readers about the practice of on-location sketching.

Thanks to this month’s contributors:

Content P ubliC ation team: Anne Taylor, Suhita Shirodkar, Chiara Gomiselli

mailChimP layout: Chiara Gomiselli

i ssuu layout: Anne Taylor

Writers & Contributors: Cathy

Gutterman, Parka, Suhita Shirodkar

Proofreaders: Leigh Ferst, Mona Kwon

Cover image: Suhita Shirodkar

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CirCulation: 14k+ r eadershiP: 16k+

Web: urbansketchers.org

Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Click here to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. © 2025 Urban Sketchers.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this publication, including accompanying artwork, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Urban Sketchers organization.

Kia ora, hello, everyone!

As we go to press, it is just over a week since the 13th USk Symposium, which saw 499 urban sketchers descend on the Polish city of Poznań. I’ve only been to one Symposium – Auckland in 2023 –but I think my fellow New Zealander, USk Events Director Eric Ngan summed up perfectly the spirit of these incredible events, when he wrote at the end of the latest Symposium:

“In today’s world of conflict, division, and raised anxiety, it feels incredible that unpaid volunteesr with a shared passion can join together from across the globe and deliver this magical expreience....This is the good stuff!”

Check out our post-Symposium story and the thoughts and images of some of the participants. We have yet more good stuff, this issue, including news from the Carolinas and Toronto, and we introduce you to our 19 new USk Chapters.

Alan Butler shares how he found a more peaceful tempo and connection with the

past by sketching on the banks of the Petaluma River in his native California. As often happens, his sketching led to other projects and meaningful work in his community.

We are also very lucky to have acclaimed graphic journalist Dan Archer giving a Sketcher Demo. Like Alan, Dan uses his sketching to tell stories that matter, with a global, social justice focus.

Again, I’m very grateful to Chiara and Suhita in the editorial team, who both traveled to Poznań but didn’t miss a beat on our deadlines. And Leigh and Mona did a superb proofreading job, as usual.

Please feel free to contact us with your news or let us know what your Chapter has been doing. We always appreciated hearing about urban sketching experiences around the world. Let’s share the inspiration!

Anne Taylor (NZ), Managing Editor E: drawingattention@urbansketchers.org

symposium

13TH USk SYMPOSIUM POZNAŃ AUGUST 2025

13th Urban Sketchers Symposium

Poznań, Poland | 499 registered sketchers

40 countries

The colorful facades of Stary Rynek and many other wonderful places spilled across sketchbook pages, and now those drawings are traveling back home with participants from all around the world.

Organizing the 13th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznań was both an honor and a challenge. Our Local Team: Justyna Wojnowska (Poznań), Dora Pindur, Katarzyna Kosiak, Paulina Kowalczyk and Agnieszka Michalska, together with the International Organizing Committee, worked intensively for a year and a half to make this vision possible. During the Symposium, Agnieszka coordinated a team of 49 dedicated volunteers who ensured that participants and instructors alike could always count on support, guidance, and information. We owe them a huge thank you for their energy, professionalism, and warm hospitality.

The Symposium Hub at Novotel Poznań Centrum provided an excellent base, with a highly professional staff who offered technical support and a flexible, welcoming space for the many facets of the event. Judging from the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we can call this year’s Symposium a true success. We are delighted that participants left Poznań with wonderful memories, a warm impression of Poland, and sketchbooks filled with beautiful drawings. Dora Pindur, USk Poland

Ronaldo Kurita President

THANK YOU, USK POLAND & POZNAŃ !

The 13th Urban Sketchers International Symposium in Poznań was nothing short of extraordinary. The city was pulsing with 499 registered sketchers and many others who joined informally. The colorful facades of Stary Rynek spilled across sketchbook pages, and now those drawings are traveling back home with participants to more than 40 countries around the world.

This celebration of sketching together was made possible thanks to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), the International Organizing Committee (IOC), our sponsors and partners, our dedicated faculty, and most importantly our tireless volunteers and every participant who brought their curiosity, passion, and creativity to Poznań.

What we experienced was more than just workshops and sketchwalks. It was excitement, joy, wellness, connection, friendship, and growth. The symposium spirit lives on in each of us, and we now look ahead with anticipation. Our sights are set on the 14th Urban Sketchers International Symposium, which will take place in Toulouse,France on July 15–18, 2026.

Dziękuję, Poznań! À bientôt à Toulouse!

VOLUNTEERS ON STAGE

BELOW: HARD-WORKING USk POZNAŃ

Eric Ngan

Events Director

Over a year of planning and countless online meetings went into creating this magical gathering. Heartfelt thanks to our dedicated Committee members, who gave so generously of their time and energy to bring our community together on a global stage. A newly devised ticketing process made participation more accessible, with sketchers choosing passes and workshops to suit their interests and budgets. The spirit of connection thrived through treasure hunts, a postcard exhibition, silent auctions, free public transport and goodie bag overflowing with quality art materials. Hundreds of independent sketchers also made their way to Poznań to experience this amazing event. What remains are treasured friendships, unforgettable moments, and sketchbooks immortalising Poznań — one joyful drawing at a time.

Suhita Shirodkar DA Feature writer

Every one friend I’ve reconnected with at Poznań, I’ve made 10 new ones. There are so many new faces and new chapters from around the world represented here. Amazing!

Fave food: A lovely mushroom and sauerkraut pierogi dish.

Chiara Gomiselli DA Editorial assistant

This was my first Symposium and I was surprised by all the people and the styles; it was so great to see the city through other people’s eyes and their drawings.

Fave food: I loved Polish food (and beer). My favourite was the baked filled potatoes and the potato pancakes.

Anka Ziętkiewicz: “ Being a correspondent is no piece of cake, but the reward is the opportunity to meet so many amazing artists.”

“I discovered a small vegan café named Damke, that sold Silesian dumplings with an Asian twist. Potato dumplings are traditional to the Silesia region of Poland. So good that I had to sketch them!” – Eric

Ngan

URBAN SKETCHERS TOULOUSE TO HOST SYMPOSIUM 2026

Eric Ngan announced what everyone was waiting for on the last day: Toulouse, Southern France will host next year’s Symposium. The city dates back to Roman times and is known as La Ville rose (“The Pink city”) for the pinkish bricks that feature in manyof its buildings. The River Garonne flows through the city which boasts fabulous food as well as historic architecture. Find out more about USk Toulouse.

CHANGES IN OUR TREASURY TEAM

We closed the chapter on Kris Modercai’s tenure as our Treasurer on August 31, 2025. Over the past term, Kris has brought dedication, professionalism, and stewardship to our financial operations, ensuring stability and transparency for the organization. His commitment and contributions have been invaluable. At the same time, we are pleased to welcome our incoming Treasurer, Johanna Van Antwerpen. Johanna brings professional experience and strong skills in accountancy and finance, qualities that will be essential as we continue to grow and serve our organization.

Our community is wonderfully diverse, and we are fortunate to find within it volunteers who not only share our artistic passion but also offer their expertise to strengthen our organization. With Johanna stepping into this role, we are confident the treasury will continue to thrive. Please join us in thanking Kris for his outstanding service and in warmly welcoming Johanna to the Board!

Carolinas Sketch Crawl

Forest City, NC | Summer 2025

100 sketchers

Enthusiastic sketchers gathered for the first-ever Carolinas Sketch Crawl—a sold-out regional event hosted by Urban Sketchers chapters in Asheville, Charlotte, and Greenville. Despite the sweltering heat, spirits were high as participants filled their sketchbooks with scenes from the welcoming small town.

Highlights included a keynote presentation by author and sketcher Mike Daikubara, four engaging workshops, guided sketch walks, goodie bags, a raffle, and an inspiring postcard sketch exchange with USk Querétaro (Mexico). Even Forest City’s mayor joined in the fun—pastels in hand!

This event marked the start of something special for the region. Next year’s Sketch Crawl will take place in Asheville, NC from June 5–7, 2026. We’re proud to be one of five recipients of the Urban Sketchers Regional Events Grant to support the 2026 gathering. Thank you to everyone who helped bring this community event to life—see you in Asheville!

The Family that sketches together, stays together

Meet the Sarmientos who’ve discovered that urban sketching is a great way to enjoy quality time together. By Isabel Santos ,

USk Toronto

Michael and Lei Sarmiento came from different provinces in the Philippines, where both were active in their local art communities long before they met. They each immigrated to Canada separately — never expecting that a mutual friend would one day bring them together. Eventually, they married and built a life in Canada, where their daughter Victoria was born.

Victoria, now 10, received her first art set — an IKEA easel and acrylic paints — at the age of two. Since then, she hasn’t stopped drawing and painting. Michael discovered Urban Sketchers Toronto on social media in 2016 while looking for creative opportunities. At first, only Michael attended, but by the summer of 2021, Lei and Victoria joined in as well. Initially, Lei sketched flowers and Victoria, at four years old, was drawing her favourite characters and whatever her imagination inspired her to paint. But as they kept attending with Michael, both gradually started sketching buildings and urban scenes alongside him.

Despite their demanding full-time jobs —Michael in the food industry and Lei in an office in the engineering and construction sector — the Sarmientos make time for art. Every day, father and daughter sketch together at home. When the weather prevents them from going outside, they focus on drawing subjects that inspire them indoors. As a family, they enjoy sketching together at galleries, museums, various parks, and interesting locations both within their neighbourhood and outside of town.

LEI SARIMIENTO

MICHAEL SARIMIENTO

For the Sarmientos, urban sketching as a hobby is a way to bond. Sketching together means they spend time with each other and enjoy each other’s company. They also share art supplies, learn together, and push each other to do better.

It’s a healthy, creative outlet that helps them unwind and take a break from the daily challenges of life. Through urban sketching, they’ve also built meaningful friendships in the community and connected with people they might never have met otherwise.

EXPLORE OUR GLOBAL SKETCHBOOK

Haosong Chen sketches the dynamic city of Shenzen in China. “This is the city I called home for five years. Shenzhen is young, with a history of just over 40 years. Modern architecture fills the cityscape.” Haosong is a visual designer and illustrator, and was a member of USk Shenzhen up until recently, before moving away from Shenzen. See more of his work, and sketches from around the world in the USk Global Sketchbook .

HAOSONG CHEN w

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH USk EVENTS

Sign up for an Eventbrite account. It’s free. Follow Urban Sketchers to be notified when the event goes live.

CHECK OUT OUR GLOBAL EVENTS CALENDAR!

A special feature of our USk website is the Events Calendar. Using Clubexpress account credentials, official chapters can easily put their meetups or happenings on the calendar for everyone to see.

Think of it as a bulletin board for all Urban Sketchers activities across the globe!

Make sure to put yours in the calendar and take advantage of our platform’s global visibility!

sketcher spotlight

At one with the River

THE PANDEMIC LOCKDOWNS SAW RETIRED ARCHITECT ALAN BUTLER MAKING REGULAR TRIPS TO THE PETALUMA RIVER IN HIS NATIVE CALIFORNIA, CONNECTING DEEPLY WITH THE HISTORY OF THIS MOSTLY TIDAL WATERWAY. HE HAS ALSO GIVEN NEW LIFE TO HIS FATHER’S COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM MIYAGE PREFECTURE IN THE EARLY 1950S. BY CATHY GUTTERMAN

Early years and career

Alan was born in 1949 in Orange County, Southern California and moved with his family to Santa Rosa, in wine-growing Sonoma County, aged 12. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Santa Cruz in 1971, and his first drawing class was at architecture school where he gained his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Oregon in 1985. Returning to Santa Rosa, he built a career in architecture with an emphasis on college library design, rising to senior principal of TLCD Architecture, in 1995.

Sketching for pleasure

Having produced numerous sketches as an architect, Alan turned to sketching for pleasure when he retired in 2018, continuing to focus on architecture and urban scenes. He travelled in Northern California, Japan, and Europe, sketching as he went. His sketching was, and continues to be mainly a solo activity. While sketching in Tokyo in 2019, a passerby gave him a USk Changsha pin, alerting him to the global reach of the urban sketching community, and he finally joined the Urban Sketchers North Bay group last fall.

A

river haven

The Petaluma River, which flows through the California counties of Sonoma and Marin, is 15 miles from Alan’s home. As the global pandemic unfolded, he found the river – a tidal slough for most of its length – a safe, pleasant location to sketch. As a former architect, he was naturally attracted by the large feed mill buildings, housing, and commercial and industrial buildings along its shores.

“While sketching in Tokyo in 2019, a passerby gave him a USk Changsha pin, alerting him to the global reach of the urban sketching community, and he finally joined the Urban Sketchers North Bay group last fall.”

This was the start of a five-year-long series of sketch outings that eventually resulted in his book, a collaboration with local Petaluma historian Katherine J. Rinehart – The Petaluma River, A Sketch Journal and Brief Historical Overview. Alongside Alan’s artwork, the book is a comprehensive portrait of the river and its history.

An ongoing story

The project has continued to evolve since the book was published. Alan has become involved with local non-profits whose mission is preservation and enhancement of the river environment. Local and regional efforts to restore the river wetlands are becoming more critical with climate change,

more severe weather, and sea level rise. Collaborating with Katherine and the local history museum, he became aware of the vital role of the river in the history of the San Francisco and the North Bay region.

All proceeds beyond recovery of the book’s production and printing costs are going to non-profits for education efforts

in the local schools, river cleanups, wetlands preservation and restoration, and the development of 58 acres of park land on the river. Alan feels he has been privileged to sketch the unique urban environment along the Petaluma River.

Alan’s process

Alan prefers to sketch on site, rather than take photos, to better understand the environments he is experiencing. The act of sitting quietly enables him to thoroughly observe his environment and concentrate on elements he feels are important. His sketches are usually pen and ink with watercolor washes. He sometimes uses an assortment of grayscale brush pens to do value studies of a site. He feels that color can enhance a sketch but can also distract from the focus and composition.

ALAN’S TIPS

KEEP TRYING NEW TECHNIQUES AND FIND YOUR OWN STYLE AND WAY OF WORKING. DOING MULTIPLE SKETCHES IN ONE LOCALE (AS I DID WITH THE PETALUMA RIVER), LEADS TO A MUCH DEEPER AND REWARDING INVOLVEMENT WITH THAT PLACE.

Japan: Past and Present

Just before he retired, Alan discovered an archive of over 2,000 photographs taken by his father George Butler, while he was stationed with the US Army at Camp Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in 1951 and 1952. Many were color photographs, a rarity in post-war Japan. The photographs are exceptional as they record a region that was impacted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011.

Alan worked with local history groups in Sendai and Ishinomaki, an area that was largely untouched by the devastation of World War II. He and other family members traveled to Sendai, Japan, for two exhibitions of these photos, in 2018 and 2019. The collection has resulted in books published in Japan and many exhibits in the Miyagi Prefecture. The original color slides and negatives are now in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.

SKETCHER

DEMO

Telling stories that matter

BASED IN HONG KONG, AWARD-WINNING GRAPHIC JOURNALIST AND COMIC ARTIST DAN ARCHER USES HIS LIVE DRAWING AND INTERVIEWING TO HIGHLIGHT SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND HUMANITARIAN ISSUES AROUND THE WORLD. HE STEPS US THROUGH A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR CAPTURING A PERSON’S STORY ON THE PAGE. BY SUHITA SHIRODKAR

Dan focuses on people, their stories, and the environment they are in. This works well with his love for drawing as a way of connecting with strangers. His many projects have found him drawing and interviewing people in refugee camps, homeless shelters, on the factory floor, and alongside child laborers. He says drawing helps him build trust with his subjects, as a sketched portrait protects a person’s identity better than a photograph.

Dan’s debut graphic novel is Voices from Nepal: Uncovering Human Trafficking Using Comics Journalism and he is a regular illustrated reportage instructor at USk Symposiums, including at Poznan, Poland. He has forged links with nongovernmental organizations such as Save the Children and World Education to combat neonatal death and child sexual abuse at a grassroots level around the world. His journalistic work has been featured by the BBC, Vice and the Associated Press among others.

In 2015, he founded Empathetic Media, an XR (Extended Reality) agency that uses graphic journalism, virtual and augmented reality to tell news stories in an immersive new, impactful way.

STEP 1: Start with essentials

Add name, age, location in the top left of the page, with the flow going from left to right. Having the interviewee’s face roughly in the center means it is a fulcrum for the speech balloons.

DAN’S MATERIALS

• PICASSO FUDE FOUNTAIN PEN

• A4 ETCHR HOT PRESS SKETCHBOOK

• CARBON PEN (WITH CUSTOM METAL BODY SO IT’S SHORTER)

• FINELINER & PENTEL BRUSH PEN

• WATER RESERVOIR BRUSH & WATERCOLORS.

2

STEP 2: Build ‘conversation chains’ Stack each sentence on a few lines and enclose it in a speech balloon, then link thematically similar balloons to create conversational chains.

3

STEP 3: Add in details

You can pull out little gestures and tics and add them into inset panels (like playing with the phone, here) and add in background details. When the composition is finished, use a brush pen to add details and areas of black to give visual interest.

STEP 4: Time for color

Apply the first color wash, taking care not to draw focus away from the interviewee. Add more details if necessary with a fineliner pen.

STEP 5: Final tweaks

You can go over key words in a thicker fineliner pen for emphasis to give the text more variety. Add a second color wash and any last touch-ups if necessary.

DAN’S TIPS –LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

• Work quickly and trust that your mistakes will look deliberate

• Keep moving forward. If you can’t work on one area because your subject has changed position, jump to a different section. It’s like spinning plates!

ABOVE: A SKETCH OF DAN ARCHER’S WORKSHOP ‘ADDING CHARACTERS AND CONVERSATIONS TO YOUR URBAN SKETCHES’ ON DAY 2 OF THE POZNAŃ SYMPOSIUM, BY SYMPOSIUM CORRESPONDENT ANKA ZIĘTKIEWICZ. “IT WAS A SURPRISING WORKSHOP WITH A RAPPING CAFÉ OWNER,” SAID ANKA.

BELOW: DAN’S WORK FROM A CAMPAIGN THAT RAISES AWARENESS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NEPAL.

WELCOME NEW CHAPTERS!

We are excited to announce these new chapters. Welcome to the global family of urban sketchers! JAVIER MAS PINTURAS

ASIA

USk Jakarta, Indonesia

USk Jodhpur, India

USk Namyangju, South Korea

USk Udaipur, India

EUROPE

USk Ajaccio, France

USk Hainaut franco-belge, Belgium

USk Innsbruck, Austria

USk Magdeburg, Germany

USk Menorca, Spain

USk Pau, France

USk Poznań, Poland

USk Torino, Italy

USk Venezia, Italy

LATIN AMERICA

USk Bauru, Brazil

USk Rio Grande, Brazil

MIDDLE EAST

USk Bahrain

USk Kuwait

NORTH AMERICA

USk Traverse City, USA

USk Santa Barbara, USA

PARKA REVIEWS

BY TEOH YI CHIE

Teoh Yi Chie is an infographics journalist who joined Urban Sketchers Singapore in 2009. He’s probably better known as Parka from Parkablogs.com, a website that reviews art books and art products.

This month Parka reviews the Pocket Palette Travel Set by Etchr Lab & Stephanie Law. Check it out!

SEE MORE REVIEWS

o ur Manifesto

• We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation

• Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel

• Our drawings are a record of time and place

• We are truthful to the scenes we witness

• We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles

• We support each other and draw together

• We share our drawings online

• We show the world, one drawing at a time.