Mobile SketchCrawl

Saturday, July 31
10 AM – 2 PM
Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center (65 Government St.).


Thirty exotic reptiles from 20 different countries will serve as live models for the next Mobile SketchCrawl, set for Saturday, July 31, and hosted by the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center (65 Government St.).

Artists, amateur and professional, are invited to participate in Mobile’s third drawing marathon, part of an international event that encourages participants to spend a day recording what they see, then post their drawings online. On July 31, artists aged 17 and older may register between 10 AM and 2 PM for free admission to the Exploreum’s "Reptile Planet" and varied permanent exhibitions. Accompanying family members will receive discounted rates. Sketchers will gather again at 3 to socialize, share results, and snap a group photo.

Enrico Casarosa, a storyboard artist for Pixar, introduced the SketchCrawl concept several years ago in San Francisco, and it quickly spread across the planet. The July 31 Crawl will be the 28th worldwide event.

A SketchCrawl is a little like a pub crawl - but with sketchbooks. Participants meet at an appointed spot early in the morning and then scatter throughout the neighborhood for a day-long drawing marathon. The goal is a sketch an hour (of anything -- buildings, street scenes, interesting objects, people, whatever is around), but some people draw more, some less. Some stick to pencil; others use field watercolors, markers, whatever they prefer. The idea is to have fun and draw, draw, draw. At the end of the day, everyone meets again to look at each other’s work and to upload drawings to the event’s website, which offers a peek into the sketchbooks of people in Paris, Bangkok, Rome, Sydney, and other cities. Mobile has its own site, as well.

Mobile’s SketchCrawls, begun last October at the suggestion of artist Val Webb, have been coordinated by Mobile Arts Council and have taken place in downtown Mobile, at the Mobile Museum of Art, and at Oakleigh.

For further information, contact Charlie Smoke at Mobile Arts Council.