KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 – How many of you reading this can draw? Hands up, please. Chances are the last time you drew something was in school, right?
Well, a group of urban sketchers are hoping to change that. One drawing or sketch at a time.
KL Sketchnation was started last year by Ahmad Hakym Ahmad Hilmy when he came back to Malaysia for his gap year. Hakym is currently doing his Masters in Architecture in Manchester. While studying in Manchester, a lecturer from his university started Manchester Urban Sketchers and Hakym spent the entire year going on sketch walks with the group.
“When I came back to Malaysia, I couldn't find anything like that so I started KL Sketchnation. I put a shout out on social media but only a handful of people showed up,” said Hakym. Fortunately, more and more people started to show up at his events.
“We don't judge the art because we respect that everyone has a different style. We appreciate any kind of sketches and it doesn't matter what background you are from. But we don't encourage realism style of sketching because it looks like a photograph.
“Also, that kind of style takes time. Our tagline at KL Sketchnation is 'bringing togetherness in sketching' so it is about sketching in the moment with others,” said Muhammad Faez Ridhuan bin Ahmad Rosdi, one of the early members of KL Sketchnation.
Faez also studied architecture so he loves sketching buildings. But what if you have no foundation in art or drawing? Can you still join?
Siti Nur Azureen binti Zulkifli, one of the committee members of KL Sketchnation, will tell you, “Of course.”
A friend of Hakym's, she comes from a business administration background with no formal education in art. Initially, she attended KL Sketchnation events but never sketched anything.
“I would go for the meet-ups but I didn't dare sketch. Hakym encouraged me to try anyway and eventually, I started sketching. I remember sketching Hakym, a wooden door at a temple and also a plate of scones,” said Azureen.
Eventually, the group grew to 20 active members with seven people in the committee including Hakym, Faez and Azureen.
KL Sketchnation frequently organises events such as sketch walks, sketch mobs, sketch collides and sketch jams.
For sketch walks, the committee members of KL Sketchnation will decide on a place, such as Jalan Ipoh or Brickfields, where they will spend a few hours walking and sketching. A sketch normally takes about 10 minutes to half an hour depending on the skill and experience of the sketcher. KL Sketchnation meets twice a month for sketch walks and anyone can join in without any charges.
A sketch mob is an event where there is a large number of people in the area. The members of the public are given pencils and pieces of paper where they sketch together for about 45 minutes. After that, the sketches are then hung on strings like clothes lines so everyone can admire the artwork. One of the sketch mobs at Laman Seni 7 in Shah Alam saw more than 100 people participating.
A sketch collide is when a group of sketchers come together with their sketchbooks and they all start by sketching something. Within a time frame, everyone stops and then the sketchbooks are passed on to another person to finish the sketch.
A sketch jam is when a group of sketchers sit in a circle and one person says a word. Everyone sketches within a time frame then stops. The paper is passed on to the next person and another person says the second word then everyone starts sketching again. It goes on until your paper comes back to you.
“Sketch jams are good when in a corporate environment because everyone is sketching in a brainstorming session. It is to encourage people not to be shy,” said Hakym. He believes that sketching is not about producing more artists but implementing art in life.
Besides organising events and charity drives, KL Sketchnation also engages people through social media to take on sketching. One of the most recent ones they had on Instagram was the Ramadan Sketch Challenge 2015 where people were challenged to sketch something every day for the duration of Ramadan. The committee of KL Sketchnation picked selected participants out of the 8,000 followers on the Instagram page to be featured.
“KL Sketchnation is about celebrating your own style. We are becoming a movement, having the same interest for sketching. We also developed our own manifesto, celebrating sketching. I feel that sketching is as important as reading and writing. People have better communication when they sketch,” said Hakym.
“It is an empowerment of art,” added Hakym.
As part of his Masters programme, Hakym wrote a research paper titled Sketch walks: Architectural application through the means of urban sketching. He did very well on that research paper, prompting the university to offer him a chance to do his PhD. During talks at universities, Hakym also teaches the basics of sketching.
“KL Sketchnation encourages people to share their drawings. Some people sketch alone but I believe that you will not improve until you share your drawings,” said Hakym.
One of the things Hakym did to expand KL Sketchnation was to start Sketch Nation Global, a wing that is beyond KL and Malaysia. It is based in Manchester where he is studying. So far, 30 students from the Manchester School of Architecture joined Sketch Nation Global. This May, KL Sketchnation together with Manchester Urban Sketchers had an event called Manchester Sketch Fest 2015 which was endorsed by Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM).
Next year, KL Sketch Nation will be co-hosting the World Sketching Symposium in Manchester, an annual international sketching event by Urbansketchers.org.
“As a group, we are open to anything, any fresh ideas. We want to provide sketching as an everyday activity,” said Hakym.
Learn more about KL Sketch Nation here:
Website: www.klsketchnation.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KLsketchnation
Instagram: www.instagram.com/KLsketchnation
* KL Sketchnation will be participating in the MMO x George Town Festival collaboration on Aug 30. Look out for them all over George Town from 4pm and check out their sketches at 162, Victoria Street later that day.
