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USk Reportage Grant

We are happy to announce that we have received 63 proposals from our community. All together they cover the whole world.

The selection committee consisting of 6 judges has completed the final screening and the winners are:

  • The Room, Paris (France) by Mathieu Letellier (aka. Mat Let)
  • Chawls of Mumbai: “The Social Network”, Mumbai (India) by USK Mumbai
  • Ripple Effect of a Historic Market, Pune (India) by Farah Irani
  • Night People Street Portraits, Berlin Kantstraße, Berlin (Germany) by Rolf Schröter
  • The Shifting Landscapes of Despair, Hope, Survival and Persistence, Seattle (USA) by Daniel Winterbottom

Congratulations to the winners!

Winning proposals will now receive a grant in the amount ranging from $300-500 USD in order to offset expenses related to the project before the work on the project. The authors will have until December 15, 2021 to complete the proposed project including the completion of at least 12 on-location sketches that tell the story in a reportage format.

We will share the reportages cross channel, so keep an eye out!

About the program

USk Reportage Grant Program is open to individual sketchers, chapters, and creative collaborators from around the world. Visual storytelling lies at the heart of the USk movement. The program is designed to highlight the best examples of these efforts and to inspire new artist-reporters in our community.

About the selection committee

A jury of six experienced reportage artists is now carefully reviewing the proposals:

 


SUHITA SHIRODKAR ( San Jose, USA) is a California based illustrator and urban sketcher. She graduated with an MFA in Communication Design from Pratt, New York. Originally from India, Suhita attributes her love of color and her fondness for drawing people to growing up in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai. Suhita was a member of the former editorial team of USK, has taught workshops at 5 Urban Sketchers Symposiums and also teaches locally and around the United States.
Website | Instagram

JAMES HOBBS (London, UK) is an artist, author, editor and librarian. He has written serveral books about drawing, including Sketch Your World and Pen & Ink. He studied fine arts at Winchester School of Arts and has a master’s degree in library science. He was in the advisory board of Urban Sketchers (2011-2019) and editorial team, co-founded USK London and is a regular contributor to the USK blog. He writes for several art magazines. 

His drawings style is marked by energetic lines and he is known for capturing the vibrancy and story of London better than any photograph could.
Website | Instagram

ROB SKETCHERMAN (Hong Kong) ran his own creative consultancy for a little over 20 years, centering on design and illustration. After discovering the joys of sketching on location, he joined Urban Sketchers Hong Kong in 2014 and is now one of its 4 board members. He is one of the driving forces behind and energetic host of USK Talks as well as part of the Education Committee.
He has been requested to hold iPad-sketching events by Apple HK, and has run several others for various organizations, including an activity at the 6th Urban Sketchers Symposium in Singapore. Rob has also participated in several group exhibitions, and his work appears in various publications, including Sketches Under the Umbrella, a collation of works recording the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, as well as The Urban Sketching Handbook: Reportage and Documentary Drawing: Tips and Tricks for Drawing on Location and The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective: Easy Techniques for Mastering Perspective Drawing on Location. Website | Instagram

SHARI BLAUKOPF (Montreal, Canada) is a Montreal-based teacher, painter and sketch blogger who loves to travel and share her love of sketching. She’s the author of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color, and you can find her online courses Sketching Landscapes in Pen, Ink and Watercolorand Sketching the City in Pen, Ink and Watercoloron Bluprint.com. She’s been part of the Urban Sketchers community since 2012 and taught at many international USk symposia as well as internationally through the Urban Sketchers Workshop Program.  She is part of the USK Education Committee. Her watercolors are in corporate, government and private collections in North America and abroad, and she’s a signature member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. Website | Instagram

RITA SABLER (Portland, USA) has taught Urban Sketching courses at the Pacific Northwest College of Art since 2016. She has presented numerous lectures and workshops on drawing inspiring diverse audiences to cultivate a lifelong passion for urban sketching. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions around Portland and beyond.
Drawing is Rita’s therapy, her passion, and her refuge. It is her way of understanding and communicating with the world around her. Rita’s main areas of interest are Reportage Illustration, Travel Sketching, Visual Storytelling, and she is often seen on street corners capturing busy markets, festivals, protestors, musicians, and regular citizens living their life in both ordinary and extraordinary ways.
Rita holds a B.A. degree in Psychology and Art, an M.A. in Linguistics, and a Masters in Interface Design from The Elisava School of Design in Barcelona. When not sketching or teaching she is a busy designer, parent, and a tango pianist. Rita Sabler is the USk Education Director since late 2019, driving force behind USK Talks and part of the Education Committee.
Website | Instagram

GABI CAMPANARIO (Seattle, USA) the founder of Urban Sketchers and author of The Art of Urban Sketching, has a masters degree in journalism and more than two decades of experience working in newspapers in Spain, Portugal and the United States. He currently works as a staff artist at The Seattle Times, where he publishes the award-winning weekly column Seattle Sketcher.
Instagram

Proposals were accepted up to May 1, 2021. The winning proposals will be awarded a grant ranging from $300-500 USD to cover expenses related to the project preparation. Finalists will be announced around June 15, 2021. Authors of winning proposals will develop their projects between June 15 until December 15, 2021. In order to qualify for a grant sketchers are invited to send us their proposals with five examples of their drawings. A successful proposal will highlight an aspect of local culture, event, moment in time, industry/trade, societal change in drawings and writing.

What is reportage?

Reportage is a visual account of a cultural phenomenon, event, current history, etc., based in drawings completed from direct observation while on location. The drawings have to tell a story by capturing an event and showing context, characters, and setting. Sketches are accompanied by short pieces of narrative writing presented directly on the drawings or added separately. The narrative is informed by firsthand account, research, and interviews. A successful visual reportage gives viewers a feeling for the setting and the people.

Who can participate?

Sketchers of all abilities and styles are encouraged to apply. You can submit a proposal as an individual sketcher or form a creative collaboration with someone else or engage your whole chapter in this project.

How does the selection process work?

All proposals will be evaluated by the USk selection committee. The merit of each proposal will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Aligns with Urban Sketchers manifesto

2. Storytelling potential as evident in drawings and narrative text

3. Showcases a unique aspect of a community, place, time, event, or larger culture

4. Potential to be developed into a complete and compelling story

What happens if my proposal is selected?

Winning proposals will receive a grant in the amount ranging from $300-500 USD in order to offset expenses related to the project before the work on the project. The authors will have until December 15, 2021 to complete the proposed project including the completion of at least 12 on-location sketches that tell the story in a reportage format.

If your proposal is selected we will ask you to grant USk non-exclusive usage rights to publish your completed reportage on our channels as a condition to receiving the grant. You will retain full copyright of your images and can publish it elsewhere.

How can I get inspired?

If you haven’t yet checked out USk Talks, a weekly show dedicated to all things Urban Sketchers visit the official USk YouTube’s channel. This season we are looking in depth into the practice of visual reportage and storytelling inviting artist reports, sketchers, and the winners of the Reportage proposal call to come and share their work and knowledge with the community.

Documentation

As you work on your visual reportage we ask that you document your project in photos, videos, and other media as much as you can. These could include photos of you sketching on location, photos of your subject and the setting, audio files of interviews with your subjects, time lapses, and so on.

Other things to know

 

  • If English is not your first language, we will work with you to edit text for clarity if needed.
  • You may also submit posts in other languages, and we will try to find volunteer translators to work with you.
  • All accepted proposals go through a collaborative editorial process.
  • We reserve the right not to include all the sketches originally submitted.
  • All submitted text may be edited for accuracy, grammar and clarity

 

Please contact education@urbansketchers.org with any questions.