About Shoreditch Sketcher

Phil Dean (also known as The Shoreditch Sketcher) trained as graphic designer in Leeds, England when learning to draw properly was essential for the job. Before computers took over, physical drawing was much more part of the creative process than it is today. Over the years, in his roles as a designer Phil gradually drew less as part of his commissioned work and more in his personal sketching work.

His first love is live drawing on location, and the vibrant and eclectic urban landscape inspires Phil to get out and about and capture the cityscapes. Phil sketches at home in London and also wherever he travels, previously sketching on the streets of Zurich, Los Angeles, Malaga, San Francisco, Girona, Florence and Paris.

Increasingly Phil is being asked to sketch events and situations where photography doesn’t really do them justice or there is something essential and emotional about a drawing that connects the viewer to the scene, more than a ubiquitous photograph can.

Phil regularly teaches urban sketching workshops and posts drawings from cities around the world using his popular Instagram account, @shoreditchsketcher, which has more than 100,000 followers. His debut book, TATE Sketch Club: Urban Drawing, was published in 2020, followed by his follow up book Urban Watercolour in 2022. Both are available to buy on this site.

Houses

A sketch of your home or where you used to live is a uniquely personal memento that will unlock memories for years to come. No matter what style of building, a sketch of a house brings depth and emotional connection in a way that photography never can. Every house has a story and a drawing will help unlock that story and help tell it.

Hospitality & Leisure

The proliferation of photography as a medium to illustrate buildings and environments is understandable — it’s the universal language we understand. But sketches can create cut through and real stand out for your brand and business. It brings a human element that is often missing and hard to capture in photography and computer genenarated images.

Live Events

Sketching is unique way to capture an event in a way that photography of video can’t do. Live sketching creates an unforgettable record of the day, creating an emotional and engaging link to the events of any occasion. Whether it’s live sketching on the day or sketching from exiting photography, a drawing delivers something completely very different to photographic images.

Architecture

Architectural photography and computer generated imagery and widely used to illustrate what a building will look like. But when a sketch is drawn of a building, something interesting happens — it reveals something of the building that other media can’t deliver. Whether it’s using CAD drawings or computer generated imagery as references, architectural sketches connect on a human level.

Maps

Every day we use an app to find where we are going and computer generated maps do a proficient job of doing that. But a sketch map does a very different thing, in that it can tell a visual story in map format. These are ideally suited to brands or businesses where the approach fits with the brand but can also be used in personal commissions.

Personal Commissions

All manner of personal commissions will be considered, please get in touch with your ideas and Phil will help and advise what would work and what would look best and get the result you are looking for, or didn’t even imagine was possible!