Book Review: Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes is a artbook by Michael Cho, an illustrator, cartoonist and occasional writer based in Toronto.

The back alleys, streets and houses he drew in this book are near his Toronto home. He has been drawing them since 2006 and has finally released them in this collection.

He uses a strong style characterised by the use of black and a very limited colour palette, usually just a single colour. Drawings with similar colour schemes go together. When the colour changes, you also get a sense that the season has changed.

The drawings are very detailed and textured. You can almost feel the texture of the bricks or wooden fences, or the short grass beside walkways. Graffiti on the walls are recorded, as are laundry moving in the slight breeze.

The first third of the book is interestingly all about night scenes. The mood of darkness and night is captured really well.

Nice artbook recommended to those into urban scenes or architecture.

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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