Find your Center

I don’t think Urban Sketchers O’ahu has ever sketched at Ala Moana Center. So we should.

Did you know that Ala Moana Shopping Center is the world’s largest open-air shopping center? There’s plenty of free parking at 10 am. Lots of people and interesting designs to sketch. Lots of benches and other places to sit. And lots of shady spots. Public restrooms nearby. And lots of food choices if you get hungry.

Let’s meet in the green space near Bloomingdale’s. There’s a mini stage area near the escalator.

I saw a small pond of koi that is just waiting to be sketched. And cool lanterns on the 4th level that would look great in anyone’s sketch book. Or just choose to sketch the many shoppers walking around.

If attending, please email us at uskoahu@gmail.com by Friday, August 26th with your name and phone number. Please be considerate of others around you and stay home if you feel sick.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Video: Drawing Demo Pt. 3 (June 30)

One thing I neglected to mention during the demo. What takes me 90 minutes to explain on Zoom should take approximately 10-15 minutes to draw in real-time. These are drawn fairly quickly, especially if you are only drawing the “wireframe” version of the animal. To fully render the drawing will take a little longer but no longer than 30 minutes. That is what you should aim for.

Another tip is to “warm up” with animals that don’t move. The reptile area at Honolulu Zoo is a good place to warm up, specifically the tortoises and snakes.

Updated info for July 2 Meet up at the Honolulu Zoo

A few changes for this Saturday’s 10:00am meet up. First off, I’ll be leading that day. Second, we learned something important last weekend about the zoo. A line forms well before the zoo opens at 10:00am. We were in line and didn’t get into the zoo until 10:30am!

That being the case we will still start at 10:00am but are changing the sketch sharing time from 11:30am to 12:00pm. We will meet for sharing at the huge lawn by the tiger enclosure. (See map)

Also I’ll stand in front of the zoo entrance at 10:00am up until 10:15am. If you arrive later and/or don’t see me assume I’ve already gone inside (or I might be in line). Just go ahead and go through admissions (bring Hawaii I.D. for $8 kamaaina rate), then go sketching to your hearts desire, and meet at 12:00pm by the lawn near the tigers so that we can share our wonderful animal sketches with each other.

As always send RSVPs to uskoahu@gmail.com with your name and phone number so we know you’re coming and can send you updates if anything changes. Mahalo!

Video: Drawing Demo Pt. 2 (June 23)

Wild Times at the Zoo

Long lines and a lot of miscommunication today but the three of us managed to get some sketching done today at the Honolulu Zoo. Sorry Ivan for the mixed up time. You were right, the line was sooooo long. That’s why we moved the meeting time to noon.

The Zoo is huge but the three of us wore our Urban Sketching t-shirts and found each other pretty easily in the crowd. Once inside, we split up and drew separately but amazing, we all drew the same elephant!

Next week Saturday will be at the Zoo again. What animals will you draw?

Monkey Around With Us 

Join us on June 25th and July 2nd at the Honolulu Zoo as we look for fun and interesting animals and/or people to sketch. Feel free to join us on both Saturdays or just one day.

Entrance fee for Kama’aina is $8. Driver’s license or State ID is required for the discount. There is metered parking available.

The Zoo opens at 10am on Saturday so we will meet at the Zoo entrance. 

If attending the group event at the Zoo, please email us at uskoahu@gmail.com by Friday, June 24th with your name and phone number. Please be considerate of others around you and stay home if you feel sick.

To prep for our sketching event, Christine is doing live demos on Thursdays at 6pm. Email us if you want to join and we will send you a link. If you missed the last one, Christine recorded the session and posted it in this blog for all to enjoy.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Video: Drawing Exercises, Hatching, 3D Forms

Here’s the video from yesterday’s drawing demo on Zoom.

The next drawing demo will be on Thursday, 6/23, from 6pm-7:30pm HST on Zoom. I will go more into 3D organic forms and will demo drawing an insect and lizard.

On Saturday, 6/25 we will be meeting for urban sketching at the Honolulu Zoo from 10:00am-12:00pm HST. Hope to see you there!

Send a message to uskoahu@gmail.com if you would like to join either events.

Animal Drawing Demos

Drawing Demos will be every Thursday for the next 3 weeks (6/16, 6/23, 6/30) from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm on Zoom. They’ll be recorded and posted here on the Urban Sketchers Oahu blog if you cannot attend live.

The first session (6/16) is a pre-req for the other two demos. I’ll be going over drawing exercises, hatching, cross-contours. Basically, fundamentals to set you up for drawing animals.

The second and third sessions I’ll be demonstrating how I go about drawing different animals. The 6/23 session will be easier starting with insects and other invertebrate, and also lizards. The 6/30 session will cover vertebrate animals. Each session builds from the previous one.

If you want to attend send a message to uskoahu@gmail.com so that we can send you a zoom link.

Going Wild

We’re going to try something a little different for June and July.

On June 25th and July 2, we are sketching both Saturdays at Honolulu Zoo. You can attend both days or just one. Kama’aina admission to the zoo is $8. ID is required.

And on June 16th, 23rd, and 30th, Christine has offered to host animal drawing demos on those Thursdays. Please email uskoahu@gmail.com if attending and I will send you a zoom link to join.

More details will be announced soon but wanted to let you know so you can start thinking about it.