Back alleys of shophouses is one of the few areas I enjoy exploring around in Singapore. Front faces of shops are more manicured with their displays whilst the back alleys are often less glamorous - with old overlapping structures, random belongings stacked around and plants growing unchecked along or into the walls of these shophouses. I often felt that visiting the back alley gives so much more context to the area as well as the occupants of these buildings.
When it comes to drawing a scene that requires a lot of detail or involves lot of objects/textures, it’s sometimes important to prioritize simplifying the overall scene by breaking it down into basic shapes (eg, squares, circles) versus doubling down on drawing every detail in the artwork which can be too time consuming for urban sketching on the go. It’s tempting to draw every accurate detail into the artwork but it may not be productive especially if it’s also about being on the go as a travelling artist.
Artsy Movements:
These are my movements over May to July! Very excited to be at my first artist residency getting to explore with plants with my Wild Dot work and also another first boothing at the Illustration Arts Festival in Singapore, likely a different profile of visitors compared to the usual comics/games convention folks.
Rimbun Dahan Art Residency | 19th May - 18th June
I’m currently at Rimbun Dahan working on an Art Residency for my Wild Dot work. I will be based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a whole month. In the meantime i’m hoping to squeeze in some travelling sketches whilst I am there and also probably take the opportunity to test out short content features in Substack if my time permits.
Illustration Arts Festival (IAF 2023) | 29 - 30 July 2023, Singapore Chinese Cultural Center (SCCC)
I will be having a booth for the Illustration Arts Festival in Singapore! The hope is to showcase more of my original urban sketches, special one-of-a-kind robot sketches and clearing out my current stock of pre-COVID prints so I can create new ones!
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Keep the practice (and patience) going and hope you have a wonderful week!
<3 Shirin
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