A Zoorific Experience

We finally started sketching animals for a change, as the theme for this June's sketching session for the Philippine USk. Some 15 of us managed to get up early for the 9 to 12 sketching at the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden last Saturday, June 23, 2012.

The Manila Zoo is not what others expect as well kept than some. I remember visiting the one in Singapore, and I got to feed a giraffe and its rough tongue brushing my fingers, and it was so big that we didn't finish seeing all the animals there.

Back in Manila Zoo, we only have a few animals (the site says 500 animals) and I didn't notice any guides touring visitors or any animal petting areas where the kids can experience some of the less wilder species first hand.

It is no surprise that any pro-animal group are recommending the closure and transfer of the animals to other zoos, after seeing some state of decay. I think, however, that loosing OUR zoo would will not do, as we stand to loose a place of learning and interaction with animals.

Here are some of the sketches of the animals that caught our attention.

Mali the elephant was moving about most of the time

Muffy's sketch of Mali

7-year-old Ampoa and her sketch of Mali

Mali was obviously a bit restless with her pacing around and sometimes not so enthusiastic to visitors

We saw some of the birds like this macaw caged up with no way of using their wings

She had such a colorful blending feathers

This Cassowary bird had a very large horn

A least this one has lots of space to run around

The peacocks couldn't stay still! Now I know where G-Force's costume design came from.

The harvest of sketches on sketchbooks for this session

We had a hearty lunch at the nearby Tapa King

Urban Sketchers Philippines Celebrates Its First Year

A year has passed since we have become the Urban Sketchers' official Philippines group. Like our other country group counterparts, we have regular sketch walks at diferrent and interpret them. The sketching sessions give opportunities to get out and sketch as a group, with members not necessarily already skilled in illustration and with varied professional backgrounds.

Sketching on-location is not a new concept as we can observe from the many sketches through the centuries. The process and benefits has not changed so much, except perhaps in mediums. The process of the eye-mind-hand while sketching still remains to be the most basic effective skill for observating of what we see, feel and think. In an era where almost anyone has a picture-taking capable device in their pocket, sketching gives us a more integral, intimate and personal connection of what we are observing.  We MAKE the picture willingly on a blank sheet of something, permanently etched after it's done, and intantenously can be shown. This compiled or album of sketches will most likely be in the form of what we normally call a sketchbook. There's no extra process like developing the picture that you made, perhaps only scanning it or TAKING a picture of the sketch for internet sharing.

Looking through a sketchbook with the sketcher narrating is a definite delight as you know that every line, color and contrast was meant from his or her observation, with it layers of reminders of that one memory of what was observed.

For the first anniversary of the Urban Sketchers Philippines celebration, we had our regular monthly session at the Quezon Memorial Circle park in Quezon City, with some 25 sketchers in attendance. Some of us had lunch after at a nearby Filipino restaurant.

The following day later, Sunday, we caught the episode of Art 2 Art featuring Urban Sketchers Philippines on the RHTV channel, produced by the Manila Broadcasting Corporation and hosted by Lisa Macuja-Eliszalde. You can catch some snipets of the show via Youtube:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eleKQIWs8E8&sns=em

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmJ5Uz2s5w&sns=em

Happy anniversary, fellow Philippine sketchers. It has been a fruitful year. Let's continue sharing our sketches of what, when, who and how we are in the Philippines and in the world.

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Sketching Result of August 20, 2011 of Paco Park

Paco Park Entrance by Buz Walker-Teach

Carlo Martinez' sketch of the Front Arch

Eileen Escueta's sketch of the chapel

Noel Amano the archaeologist's sketch of the chapel

Janeil Arlegui's watercolor impression of the chapel of Paco Park

A great turnout so far for the Urban Sketchers of the Philippines. There was close to 20 people of various professionals and students who came and joined to sketch Paco National Park. We had a lawyer, a science teacher, archaeologist, art teacher, architects, students and house wives who were keen on seeing and experiencing through sketching. Special thanks to Architect Augusto Villalon and NPDC Executive Director Jett Villegas for the free entrance and snacks for this event.

Cesar's pencil sketch of the curving walls with niches, behind the front entrance. It used to be a cemetery.

Sketching Paco Park on August 20, 2011

Sketching Result of July 23, 2011

With the sun blazing half the time and the other half raining, we could say the sketchcrawl at Escolta street in Manila was a success.  Sketching or drawing on location offers a more direct and personal way of recording what you see, feel and think. The level of artistry does not bare importance and the result does not matter much. What is given emphasis is the experience of the place captured on paper. Heritage places offer an interesting theme for sketching as you get a glimpse of the cultural and artistic richness they emanate. You notice things more, taking in the place more intimately than merely taking pictures. In this case, you would be making the picture, instead of taking it. The process of making utilizes a deeper brain procedure, which in turn makes everything more memorable and personalized. This is what we recently experienced during our sketching session we had at Escolta street. The façade of the Capitol Theatre was particularly interesting since we noticed the details of the two ladies relief, otherwise unnoticed looking or taking a picture. Street children started to flock to us, curious of what we were doing. We wished we had extra pads and pencils to give away for their chance to sketch along. It's the first time we've encountered curious street kids and with Ryan suggestion of carrying sketchbooks and pencils next time, we could make a point of encouraging anyone to join us impromptu and notice our city. Adults who stop would strike conversations with us, and it makes the whole experience of being there richer that what we’ve expected. 8 of us had a blast. We hope a lot more be encouraged to join us. Next theme will be a museum. Details to follow soon.

Sketching for Sketching's Sake

Sketching is sometimes described as an incomplete drawing that can be done in a matter of seconds or minutes. Drawings however are more complete and can take hours, days, months and even years.

Sketching the new students help me associate their names. I have 40 of them to know and sketching helps a lot.

Observing people through sketching is like jotting notes about them

Sketching, and other critical skills like reflecting, reading, enables you to innovate, not imitate. Instead of mere imitating work of others, the on-the-spot observer is forced to rely of himself/herself illustrating in his/her own style. It offers an unpretentious style of your own skill level. It does not matter if it’s a bad drawing. Never mind proportion, scale, number, completeness, properness – not till you get to an eventual clear picture for others to see. It is for your private work process. To entertain, engage, educate, provoke, and inspire you first than anyone else. The craft of drawing will be more refined as the illustrator does more drawings without the constant pressures of impressing others first. The precondition of creativity is the art of forgetting at the proper moment what we know.

Model studies with Agos Kulay watercolor group

The sketchbook is the place where illustrators play with ideas, record what they notice, and capture a little of what they feel. It is a personal space for exploring, collating, recording, juxtaposing images, for reflecting and evaluating. It can build visual intelligence through habitual use. It can clear a difficult problem through images that help stimulate solutions.

The process of drawing includes: looking, seeing, responding, improvising, feeling, discovering, negotiating, designing, reasoning, enquiring, translating, scrutinizing, ordering, mapping, objectifying, exploring, measuring, documenting, and communicating. It helps you pay attention to things a whole lot better what is presented in front of you or an idea your mind is processing. It has the most direct and fundamental connection between what your consciousness being recorded tangibly on paper.

Keep in mind that the process (the act of sketching) is more important than the product (what is sketched on the paper).