Samantha Wrobel |
About the ArtistHi! My name is Samantha Wrobel and I am a freshman at Niagara University. My major is Environmental Science, but I love drawing in my free time. I find sketching and any form of art to be a major stress reliever and a way to escape into my own little world. I have been taking art classes ever sense elementary school and I have enjoyed every single one. My favorite form of art is graphic design, but I also love to explore physical art, such as paint and watercolors.
|
Reflections on Urban Sketching
Over the course of the Urban Sketching class, I have learned so much more than I was expecting to learn. The art of urban sketching itself is what I learned the most from. Like anything, it will take time, but over that time I was able to grow as an artist and became so much more comfortable drawing in public. The first sketch I did for this class was in a parking lot of my elementary school with no one around, I became nervous even if people were in sight. Over the course of a few sketch’s I became more and more comfortable, reaching the point where I was able to draw downtown Buffalo sitting on a bench on a sidewalk. Then I was able to draw when I was at work, in between selling tickets for a farm. It didn’t even phase me that people were constantly looking down at my sketch book while I was gathering their change. Besides that, I learned so many new techniques, from pencil shading, to marker shading, to watercolor techniques that I would of never known existed if it weren’t for this class. Throughout this class I learned the coolest techniques that I will continue to use, mostly those that revolve around the watercolor world. Overall, I learned so much from this course, outside of the art, the skills needed to gain confidence in anything you create.
Rainy day at Tim Hortons
This is Tim Hortons by my house in Amherst, NY. This Tim Hortons building shape is interesting and I knew that there would be people nearby to draw, making a fun challenge. I ended up getting an iced coffee and sat in my car while drawing it and listened to music, making it a very enjoyable sketching session.
Fall at the Great Pumpkin Farm
This is located at the Great Pumpkin Farm. I work there in admissions as a seasonal job and I knew it would be a slow day so I brought my sketch book and drew what I saw outside my booth window. This sketch was different from the many I did before as people were constantly looking to see what I was doing. For this sketch in particular I made sure to focus deeply on perspective, and ensuring lines were leading to the same vanishing point.
Where it all began, Willow Ridge
I chose to sketch my elementary school. It is located in Amherst NY (where I live) and is only a block away from my house. I often visit here, so I selected this location. I take my neighbor's dog to play in that field right next to the school every day, so one day I decided to bring my sketch book with me to draw the building. I sat in the parking lot to get the best view of the school. I chose this location as I thought that it would be cool to draw the place where I learned how to draw in the first place and where I gained my passion for the art world.
Christmas at the plaza
This is a sketch/watercolor of the target plaza near where I live in Buffalo NY. It's the area by Blaze Pizza which is currently very festive for the upcoming Christmas season. I drew this and added watercolor from my car as it was very cold out when I did it. I enjoyed the challenge of using watercolors on the go, but found it fun to be able to bring life to a dull sketch. I wanted to make the Christmas tree the star of the image so I centered myself and the tree in the center of the page, as it’s the focal point of the sketch.
Urban Sketching Kit
My preferred tools for urban sketching are as follows; mechanical pencils to start out a sketch (allows for practice and getting a feel for the shapes being drawn), fine liner and brush pens to make outlines and a watercolor set to add life to a dull sketch. I also have 2 sketch books, one for watercolor and one for just ink and pencil.
All Images on this Page are Subject To Copyright of the Artist Represented and May not be Duplicated without Permission.