Book Review: Drawing on Istanbul 2 by Trici Venola

Special thanks to Çitlembik Publications for mailing me this book for review. I won't have discover it on my own.

The artist Trici Venola is actually from Los Angeles. She fell in love with Turkey in 1999 and started documenting what she saw on her sketchbooks, and more recently online through her Drawing on Istanbul blog. She's drawing and writing all the time.

This sketchbook features selected sketches from 2006 to 2013. It has only 80 pages which is quite surprising because there are so much work on her blog.

The book is of a wide landscape format, size slightly larger than A5 and all the drawings are drawn big. The wide aspect is actually quite a challenging format to use for drawing. Trici Venola drew quite a few pieces vertically which are even more challenging!

The sketches look like they are drawn with pencil. The look is very textural and the perspective and composition has a very inviting vibe. Some feel like they are drawn on locations, while others most likely not, such as the one with the spinning Dervish dancers.

There are sketches of the beautiful places, and close up of the people there going about with their activities. After every few pages, there are stories explaining the sketches, mostly talking about the culture, places, monuments and people. It's a really interesting read, many things are probably not found in tour guidebooks.

This is a wonderful sketchbook and feels very lively. There's even a glowing review by Robert Crumb.

Availability
The book would be distributed by National Book Network and appear on Amazon in February 2014.

It should appear earlier for sale on Nettleberry — they have Drawing on Turkey volume 1.

Of you could get volume 1 at:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de