Drawing inspiration from cityscapes are Urban Sketchers in different Indian cities

Drawing inspiration from cityscapes are Urban Sketchers in different Indian cities

A splash of red here, a dab of white there, some fine lines in black, followed by a sweep of blue…. At the end of two-and-a-half hours, the watercolours on the white paper take on the shape of the heritage building of P Orr and Sons in Chennai. A work in pen and ink focusses on the clock tower; a sketch in pencil maps the façade of the iconic building; a pen work details the Indo-Saracanic and Byzantine features of the architecture.  

“Each work has a different perspective, a new take on the same structure. We map the city, sketch by sketch. That’s why we are called Urban Sketchers (USk),” says Namita Ravichandran, a graphic designer and member of the Chennai chapter.

Started by Mohan Krishnan, a documentary maker, in 2020, the Chennai chapter is the latest to be recognised (on Monday July 17) as an official regional chapter of the international USk community. Although the pandemic played spoilsport, once restrictions on social interactions were lifted, the USk Chennai has been meeting fortnightly, on Sundays, to sketch vantage points, landmarks and heritage structures in Chennai.

The chapter is part of a global network of Urban Sketchers headquartered in Seattle, US. The first Indian chapter was started in Pune in 2015 by architect and art enthusiast Sanjeev Joshi. He happened to attend a symposium in Singapore as an instructor.

“I enjoyed the synergy of sketching as a group. I learned how I could start a chapter in India and began one in Pune,” says Sanjeev. At present, the Pune chapter is one of the biggest in India with 2,000-plus members on their facebook page. About 90 to 100 people attend the weekly sessions on Sundays.

The second was begun in Goa in 2017 by Darpana Athale, an architect who was part of USk Pune. The chapters have grown organically across India. Every chapter has three administrators who coordinate the working of that chapter.

Architect S Jayakrishnan, founder of USk Thiruvananthapuram, says that initially, the group was confined to Europe and North America. “Singapore was the first venue of USk in Asia. The next was at Bangkok. There, we decided to have a Asian Sketchlink for the continent. The next meet will be at Suooon, Korea in September-October,” he says.