“I moved from my home city of Leeds to London about seven years ago and this re-kindled my passion for drawing. I trained as a graphic designer and drawing was a big part of the course back in those days. We got bored of drawing life models, so we started going out drawing buildings instead. I was taught by a drawing tutor called Laimonis Mierins, a Latvian fine artist whose style was to go straight in with ink on paper, no pencil or charcoal first. He used to threaten us to be bold with our drawing with a real tommy gun, or at least we thought it was real!
I now live in Shoreditch in East London, spending a lot of time out and about, wandering the streets, and I’ve always got a sketchbook with me. Being in a city like London, you can’t but help be inspired by your surroundings – the city, the architecture and the bustle of it.
Urban sketching can be more difficult in a smaller town, but you just have to work harder to find the subject matter – it is always there. Of course major cities like London have just endless subject matter and you’re spoilt for choice. One of the things you learn about living and sketching in London is that if you engage with the city then you get the best out of it.
I’m now on sketchbook number 38 since I moved to London and my books are like journals, full of drawings and memories. I’m a big believer in trying to sketch something every day, even if it’s just a coffee cup or a book cover or something like that – anything to keep your momentum going with the sketching”
Phil Dean
The Shoreditch Sketcher