Gabi on the Reportage Experience

 

2/16/23 Gabi on Zoom talking about sketch reportage

Since last summer, Gabi Campanario has been publishing a Substack newsletter called On the Spot, which focuses on reportage sketching. His first Zoom presentation exclusive to paying subscribers was all about his decade-plus of weekly reportage experience for The Seattle Times.

Although we think of the art in the forefront of reportage illustration, he stressed the importance of writing, which supports the sketch in telling the complete story. Using three specific reportage examples, he shared in-depth details about how he got the ideas and how he planned and conducted research before sketching. “It’s not sketching in the park with a friend,” he said. While covering the story, “you are always ‘on’,” working in sometimes intense or rapidly changing conditions that require flexibility. He also offered practical advice to wannabe reportage artists, such as knowing where to find a restroom when you need a break. He often spent as long as five hours at a time on location covering a story or went back a second day to finish the work.

As a journalist, he can’t cover a story just because it’s interesting to him. He must always be aware of why the story would be of interest to his readers. To be newsworthy, a story must also be timely. He continually asks himself, “Why should readers care? So what? Why now?” He keeps that focus firmly in mind while he’s on location because it’s easy to get distracted.

Using the example of the historic Elephant Car Wash sign, he said the story was not just a sketch of the beloved, iconic sign itself. “I’m always looking for the context.” In this case, it was about growth in the South Lake Union area and the car wash’s closure.

More than 30 of his worldwide paying subscribers joined what he called his “brown bag presentation” (around lunchtime Seattle time). Based on their questions, some were already working sketch journalists themselves, while others hoped to bring their urban sketching to the next level. Still others, like me, simply wanted to learn more about sketch reportage while supporting Gabi’s latest ventures. (Of course, I had the ulterior motive of a portrait practice opportunity.)

As a long-time fan of his weekly Seattle Times column (who was very sad when he finally retired the column a couple of years ago), I was impressed to learn that he had published a total of 989 columns during The Seattle Sketcher’s career! That’s a lot of reportage!

Gabi plans to offer monthly presentations to his supporters on various reportage topics.

Derwent Lightfast secondary triad

Palette notes: What do you think of the secondary triad I chose for this portrait of Gabi? I’ve used a more saturated “summer” secondary triad to sketch portraits in the past, but this time I thought I’d try a more subdued trio using Derwent Lightfast pencils: Olive Earth, Mars Orange and Violet. It’s similar to the “winter” secondary triad I’m using now for urban sketching except the green is warmer. I started to use a bit of the green on his face, but I pulled back when I didn’t like the mix (and I think the orange and violet alone made a vibrant neutral for facial tones). Next time I might go with a cooler green and see how that works on faces as well as trees.

Process notes: I think this was my first opportunity to sketch someone live on Zoom (I don’t count my selfie) since I started practicing portraiture last fall. A moving, talking person is not as easy to sketch as a reference photo, but I realized that all the practice I’ve done from photos certainly helped a lot. I’ve gotten used to eyeballing proportions without measuring (which is hard to do when the model is constantly moving his head), and I knew where to look for key facial planes to block in the face quickly. I don’t know if Gabi’s wife Michelle or his mother would agree, but I think I captured some likeness. (Well, I may have given him a few extra pounds. Sorry, Gabi.) Ideally, this is the way I’d love to be able to sketch any portrait: From a live model who isn’t necessarily posing but maybe just talking naturally as I sketch. After all, that’s how a reportage sketcher would do it.