Addictive - An Artist's Sketchbook: Adebanji Alade's Sketches of City Life

Description

Praise for The Addictive Sketcher: "It's impossible not to be carried along by his enthusiasm and the sheer dynamism of his work. Although this is carried out for the most part in the field, it's remarkably polished and a lot more than just quick notes. There's an element of improvisation - a jazz-like tone - and Adebanji certainly has a natural ability. If you share his love of drawing, this is a book to embrace as well as learn from." - The Artist magazine Adebanji Alade is one of the UK's most renowned artists - and he's addicted to sketching. Inspired by the sights and sounds of London, he travels around the city filling his sketchbooks with drawings of people, places and scenes of contemporary urban life. Showcasing one of Adebanji's inspirational sketchbooks in its entirety, and with a fascinating introduction to the way he works, this unique visual record of everyday city life also offers a compelling insight into the creative process of a modern urban sketcher.

Adebanji is a dynamic artist who believes in sketching as the beginning of all ideas and the force behind every artwork. He started sketching at the age of six and has never stopped. He is an avid painter in all media, but mainly works in oil for his studio and plein air paintings. He believes in capturing the energy and bringing out the life in everything he sketches or paints. Adebanji is the Vice President of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI); a full member of The Guild of Fine Art in Nigeria; and in 2014 was elected to the council of the Chelsea Art Society. He also belongs to Urban Sketchers Worldwide and Plein Air Brotherhood. He presents art documentaries on BBC One's The One Show. He teaches at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and The Art Academy London. Adebanji also runs workshops and demos for art groups and schools and also provides artistic coaching on a one-to-one basis. He is also a world-class motivational speaker, visiting schools and companies to inspire, motivate and entertain with his speak, sketch and share delivery process. Adebanji can be seen on public transport sketching commuters everyday as he commutes from his home in Kent to his studio in Chelsea, London. He is married to Ruth and has two children, Joshua and Kezia. Visit his website www.adebanjialade.co.uk.

Adebanji Alade is a self-confessed sketchbook addict. Renowned artist, teacher at Heatherley School of Fine Art and vice president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painterm Adebanji makes regular appearances on the BBC's The One Show and can be found sketching the sights and sounds of London. His facinating new book, Addictive An Artists Sketchbook showcases one of the artist's sketchbooks in its entirety, showing a unique visual record of everyday life in the city of London. In his introduction Adebanji describes the way he works, and sthe sketchbook allows us an intimate peep into the artist's creative process. The sketches are inspirational and very soon you find you are addicted too! * Leisure Painter * I already own a copy of the wonderful, The Addictive Sketcher. It's got lots of examples, hints and tips and clear photographs showing you how to achieve similar sketches. There are suggestions of places to sketch, where to find subjects etc. Adebanji Alade is a working artist and his enthusiasm and the joy he gets from his art is apparent and infectious. Addictive: An Artist's Sketchbook, is exactly what it says. It's a very full sketchbook showing the faces and places of everyday city life that Adebanji was inspired to record. There is no text as such (apart from the foreword and three pages of introduction). But my goodness the 275 pages that follow is full of sketches and artists written notes. It's wonderful to look at. There are all types of drawings from very rough to more detailed, and all types of faces and figures, park scenes. All life is there. The brief, handwritten artist's notes give an interesting insight into what inspires the artist, although sometimes it's just a name/place and a date. It a very interesting companion book to The Addictive Sketcher. I've been doing more drawing and sketching this year than I've ever done before. It's a great way to pass the time while stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. I have sketchbooks. My inspiration has been faces and figures I see online and on television (I pause the screen and sketch). And some online tutorials. When I look at Adebanji's sketchbook I'm inspired and want to go out and about to draw - maybe not just yet, but soon, I hope. I was ready to throw out my old sketchbooks which, like Addictive, are mostly studies of faces, but I think I'll keep them now as a record of my progress (if any) and I'll use the space better with more little sketches on each page, and importantly, notes and the date! If only I had Adebanji Alade's talent! Addictive: An Artist's Sketchbook has definitely inspired me to do more. -- Janis Steele * Amazon Customer Review * Looking at another artist's sketchbook can feel like an invasion of their privacy. It can also be unenlightening as you look at half-worked ideas and visual notes that had so much meaning for their creator and tell the viewer precisely nothing. When the artist is Adebanji Alade, however, it's a different ball-game altogether. The work here is surprisingly complete because sketching is what he does. These are real people, captured in real time and they live, breathe, even more on the page. The images are mostly faces, and they're active, attentive, thoughtful, in repose. To catch the subtlety of expression requires quick working and you'll be amazed by what Adebanji - and you - can achieve. This isn't an instructional book, but the sheer volume of work and the busyness of the pages is inspiring. The spiral binding could make it seem mannered, but actually conveys the feel of a much-used sketchbook. -- Henry Malt * Leisure Painter * Spiral bound and presented with no more text than forewords by Pete Brown and Ken Howard (those being the kind of circles Adebanji moves in these days) and an introduction by the artist himself, this, as a whole, is a piece of art in itself. You can read it as simply as an exhibition - being a sketcher, you're not really going to ask for more from Adebanji than sketches. However, the sheer heft and volume become something else. It's hard to put a finger on what that is, but I think I'm going to settle for "variety", maybe also "humanity". Adebanji is at home in crowds and these pages are nothing if not heavily populated. There's a wealth here of faces, poses, expressions and situations. You don't need to know who the people are or always what they're doing. They're studies and deserve - demand - to be studied themselves. If you're coming at this to learn, then marvel at precisely that cornucopia of material, at all those ways to represent human beings at work, rest or play, at the sheer inventiveness of the observation that captures them. You could also use this like one of those manuals of poses that were all the rage a few decades ago. Those were reference books, but this adds a pleasant and valuable edge of creativity. Yes, to be here is a privilege, so take advantage and be exhilarated. -- Henry Malt * Artbookreview.net *