A Personal Journey Through Sketching: The Sketcher's Art - Hardcover

Errol Patrick Hugh

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9881847915 ISBN 13: 9789881847911

Publisher: Proverse Hong Kong, 2009

Synopsis

With the explosive growth of personal computers and software drawing programs, young artists today are hard-pressed to appreciate the necessity of hand-drawn images. But digitally-assisted drawings by different artists not only look alike, they lack the spirit of a creator. A Personal Journey Through Sketching: The Sketcher's Art is a book about sketching, not in the sense of quick, loose and aimless drawing, but rather as an art process that takes place on-site at a single sitting, creating an impression of the view seen, at a non-stop pace.

The author describes the process of sketching as, 'an art-form that is different from drawing and painting: much like the art of writing, except that images are produced rather than text.' The book is written in sketching chapters, chronologically telling the story of the author's journey. It is lavishly detailed with more than fifty hand-drawn, on-site sketches, complimented with photographs and descriptions of the techniques of the author's personal sketching process.

This book's intention is to highlight the artistic energies and the practical wisdom behind the process of the art of sketching, so that you will see the simplicity and magic of complex on-site, hand-drawn sketches. After reading this Personal Journey, you should be more conversant with interestingly complex sketches and know the answer to the question, How was it done?

A CD (including all the sketches in the book and a photo-gallery) accompanies this 1st hardback edition.

About this title

About the Author:

Errol Patrick Hugh began sketching as a child. Throughout his architecture career in Canada and Hong Kong, he retained his passion for sketching. A Personal Journey Through Sketching confirms his commitment to this fascinating art. He encourages all to join him; to take up sketching for the pleasure and perceptiveness it will bring. His advice is, to put our digital cameras aside for a while, and focus our artistic and analytical skills to create a memoir of what we see. After that, we may want to photograph the same scene for comparison and contrast, as he does in A Personal Journey Through Sketching: The Sketcher's Art.

Using his own pairs of sketches and photographs as examples with subjects in North America and Hong Kong as diverse as stilt houses and iconic modern architecture he gives us personal tips on how to do it, with the following encouragement:

'You may think that sketching is difficult or that you don't have the talent or perhaps you do not consider yourself to be 'gifted'. Just pick up a pencil and give it a try! You will be pleased with the result!'

Review:

The freehand sketch is the endangered species of creative production. Digital media has long since raised the water temperature and destroyed the natural habitats for the slow, careful craft of thinking by drawing. Errol Hugh's skilled pencil-craft and thoughtful commentary make the passionate and practical case for sketching as way of knowing.

Eric Höweler,
Principal, Höweler + Yoon Architecture,
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
--Eric Höweler,
Principal, Höweler + Yoon Architecture,
Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
Seeing and understanding our environment underpins one of the most essential experiences in life: it formulates the sense of space and time that is crucial to an intellectual ordering of life. [In this sketchbook] each sketch is invested with a narrative that links to acts of observation and documentation through engaging afresh with our primary senses.

I take great comfort in seeing the nimble and discerning connections between the eye and the hand in Errol's elegant lines and considered compositions.

Li Shiqiao
BArch (Tsinghua), AA GradDip
(London), PhD (London) --'Preface' by Li Shiqiao
BArch (Tsinghua), AA GradDip
(London), PhD (London)

A Personal Journey Through Sketching: The Sketcher s Art is really about the art of human observation and of living in the moment. Both are abilities that Errol Hugh has mastered. These, combined with his unique artistic vision, and his considerable talent, have enabled him to transform real world environments into engaging sketches. His personal journey takes us from a tree growing out of a wall just off Caine Road in Hong Hong's historic Mid-Levels to the bold, iconic architecture of Frank O. Gehry's Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. Along Errol's journey, he was accompanied by a camera that digitally recorded the environments he was sketching. When the digital images are viewed alongside his sketches, the similarities and contrasts are striking. This book exhibits a triumph of the artist's soul over the now commonplace digital world.

Warren Carther
BFA, RCA, Artist / Director
Carther Studio Inc., Winnipeg,
Canada Architectural and Sculptural Glass --Warren Carther
BFA, RCA, Artist / Director
Carther Studio Inc., Winnipeg,
Canada Architectural and Sculptural Glass --Sketching Journey Book cover

About this edition

• Publisher: Proverse Hong Kong
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 9881847915
• ISBN 13: 9789881847911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96
• Editor: Verner Bickley, Gillian Bickley
• Illustrator: Errol Patrick Hugh