Reportage Illustration

This month, I attended a course taught by George Butler at the House of Illustration in London. George is a reportage illustrator and sketches amazing scenes all over the world mostly with a dip pen.  You can see his work here.

We spent a few hours sketching at St Pancras in London. For the first time, I sat on my little orange stool (will blog about this soon) and sketched on my own without my art buddy beside me. Initially it was daunting but after a while you get use to people stopping to have a good look or say something (all nice things!).

George gave me some great tips on working bigger and making the most of the variable lines you have when using a dip pen. He mentioned how you don’t have to sketch every element as the brain is great at completing a picture – I like this simple approach to sketching.

I think reportage illustration is a special art, being able to capture events, people and stories around you using pen and paint captures so much more than you can with click of a photo.  George was very inspiring and seeing his work has motivated me to find more time in my day to sketch.