Reflections and the Journey after my Published Sketchbook

A sequel to an event is not an easy task. I have been asked many times when will I release a sequel to my sketchbook. Writing ‘A Personal Journey through Sketching: The Sketcher’s Art’, was encouraged by relatives and friends who saw and knew of my works and sketches. They opined that I had ‘something’ that I should ‘pass on’ to others. The foundation (my sketches) was already done. They were the vast throve for a potential publication, while the drawings are progressions of my personal style of sketching. Committed to show my sketching techniques to interest others, I started this Blog on Sketching. Hopefully to interest a wider audience, not only “CAD-shrewd” graduates, but also the readers who has access to internet.

You perhaps normally will associate the word ‘journey’, in the title of the sketchbook, as referring to the places and cities that I visited. ‘The Sketcher’s Art’, however, is to give empathy to the aims of my sketching process and not to the places visited. Looking back at the chronological order of the sketches, as they seem in the book, you will also notice that my sketching techniques became more complex towards the end of the book.  This is another aspect of my ‘journey’ that I wished readers would grasp.

Architectural design is a complex procedure, and every architect will tell you that they each have a personal ‘journey’ through their design process. Iconic designs are only produced after intensive research and hard work. The same is true to develop a personal style in sketching. Not the process of doing a single sketch, but the ‘process’ over a time, days, months or years. The sketches in my book covers a period  of more than five months, between September 2008 and February 2009, on visits to places in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cape Canaveral, and Macau. The journey to these cities was not planned, but while visiting them, for personal reason, I sketched projects and places as the opportunity arose. My sketchbook travels with me and the same should be for you too.