Urban sketchers showcase beauty and stories of India’s cities, 1 drawing at a time

Bent over their sketchbooks, a group of art lovers in a public park in the heart of Chennai, India, are busy rendering their surroundings. Their subjects are varied, and they work with any number of mediums, but what unites them is a passion for depicting cities in situ and paying homage to a time-honoured tradition.

They are part of the global Urban Sketchers network, started in 2007 by Seattle-based journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario through the creation of an online forum. The movement, “for all sketchers out there who love to draw the cities where they live and visit”, has attracted a strong following of like-minded artists across the world, with various Urban Sketchers chapters sprouting up in cities everywhere.

Under this movement, sketchers are not confined to a particular medium or style, but their artwork should contain an element of storytelling, capturing scenes that might be gone tomorrow.

It also takes a certain amount of dedication – a group has to sketch together consistently for six months to apply to officially become a part of Urban Sketchers International.

The first Urban Sketchers chapter in India was started in Pune in 2015, followed by Goa in 2017 and then Bengaluru, Kolkata and New Delhi. Today, there are more than 20 chapters in India and many more waiting to be recognised.

The Chennai chapter (USk Chennai) was started by documentary filmmaker Mohan Krishnan and graphic designer Namita Ravichandran in 2020. They now meet twice a month on Sundays at different venues to sketch various landmarks and scenes of interest in Chennai.

Ravichandran says drawing is her passion.

“To me, urban sketching is pure meditation, just focusing on the details, and the colours you want to use. We have no rules,