Urban Sketchers Languedoc

Urban Sketchers Languedoc is an official chapter of the international community.  Free meet-ups are organised around the region every month - you will find more details in the Facebook group and also on Flickr.  If you have an interest in painting or drawing on location do come along to an event - the group is friendly, supportive and multilingual. There's no tuition - you simply need to bring your own sketching materials (and perhaps some money for coffee and lunch 😉 ).

More about Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketchers is a global community of artists that practice drawing on location in cities, towns and villages they live in or travel to.  The mission is to raise the artistic, storytelling and educational value of on-location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel.  There is a global Facebook group as well as one in France.  Events are always free and organised by volunteers.

Urban Sketchers founder, Gabi Campanario, summarised the concept in a Facebook post in 2013

It’s about drawing places that can be put on a map, and everything that happens in those places. It’s about showing the world with drawings, taking people to locations they may never go through artwork only you can create. You were there, you saw it, you sketched it in the moment...

In practice, this means the goal is to complete the sketch on location, not from a photo or from memory, and to include context, a story, about where and what you are recording. This is what makes location and travel sketching so unique and special.

If you are not able to complete a sketch on location, perhaps because of time limits or weather, it is more than acceptable to do some minor touch ups at home before posting your sketch online.  However, any modifications should be based on the information already captured in your drawing on location, not enhancements you decide to add later on.

The Urban Sketchers 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.