Urban Sketching is a global community of illustrators who like to draw on location - where they live or while traveling. The movement began in 2007 and the community has grown steadily since then: There are now over 450 official local groups, so-called “chapters”, in which illustrators network with each other and meet for so-called sketch crawls (joint drawing trips). On their drawing explorations, they show the world as they see it: drawing by drawing. International symposia are held, and social media play an important role in the networking of the scene.

Sketching on location has been part of artistic practice for centuries, although the illustrations created in the process almost always only served as templates for paintings. In urban sketching, however, the sketch is no longer just there to create a larger work - its own artistic value is appreciated. Its significance lies in the immediate creation.

The Urban Sketching project at the International Comic Salon includes an exhibition in the Altstadtmarkt displaying works by ten internationally known illustrators from the scene as well as an Urban Sketching Village made of shipping containers on Hugenottenplatz. The Village is the central starting point for the diverse activities during the four festival days and is a meeting place for everyone who is enthusiastic about sketching. The illustrations created in Erlangen and the region during the sketch crawls can be duplicated here and presented in a pop-up exhibition. The invited artists will paint live murals, there will be a small shop, drink & draw evenings and much more.

In the exhibition in the Altstadtmarkt, the ten artists give insight into their work. The narrative and stylistic diversity of the scene is depicted and a focus is placed on visual storytelling: the sketches show London districts in transition, the lives of marginalized people in Berlin and the lively street life of Hong Kong. The drawings are sometimes small, quiet and poetic - but they also tell big, loud stories. The common element in all of these works is that entire universes unfold when you take a closer look at everyday life. Richard Briggs, who lives in Australia, combines drawings with adhesive tape to rethink architecture and blurs the boundaries between urban sketching and street art. Israeli illustrator and art teacher Marina Grechanik draws at protests - her quick sketches capture the energy of people taking to the streets for their beliefs. French artist Lapin, who lives in Barcelona, ​​describes himself as a “mobile illustrator” who creates his sketches on old account books at breakneck speed but with great attention to detail. Sebastian Lörscher draws visual reports and shows life on the streets from various parts of the world - from Siberia to Bangalore - or portrays homeless people in Berlin. The Seville-born artist Inma Serrano shows the colourful activities in bars and cafés. She succeeds in capturing movement in two dimensions on paper. Rob Sketcherman, a self-taught artist from Hong Kong, proves that urban sketching does not always have to be analogue. With his iPad, he creates lively panoramas that are reminiscent of hidden picture books due to the abundance of information in them. Takeuma from Kyoto creates scenes that, in their graphic reduction, leave plenty of room for the viewer’s interpretation. Comic artist Thomas von Kummant is also a passionate urban sketcher: in his drawings, lines and textured watercolour combine to create almost-human character studies. Many drawings by the London-based artist Lis Watkins feature construction cranes - a silent commentary on gentrification. As one of the best-known comic artists in Germany, Barbara Yelin’s urban sketches are also graphically very similar to her other works.