Interview Barcelona Urban Sketcher Lapin.

I'm tremendously excited about this post. It's been 3 years since I asked Lapin for an interview, and him abviosuly being a very busy man agreed, but we never got around to actually doing it. so I was really pleased when we managed to arrange this again, a big thank you to you Lapin, and please check out his new website, http://www.lesillustrationsdelapin.com/ and you can follow him on twitter here. 

Five years ago Lapin moved to the capital city of Catalunya, Barcelona. 

It was love at first sight. He loved everything about Barcelona.

He followed every trace of the great artists, Gaudi, Muntaner, Antoni Tapies…

He loved the dusty old parts of it and the new shiny glamorous side. He loved the "cerveza-beer" and he loved the vermout, he loved the Guiris and he loved Castellers and calçots..

He loved the new building of the museu blau and million yeared dinasours inside, he loved the darkside of Edifici Colon and the cheer on the Barceloneta beach, he loved the old ones playing parchis and the young rebel voices in Plaza Catalunya, he loved the old hairdresser’s timeworn chair and he loved looking for old account books in Encants as old as that chair, he loved the the sound of the rally cars passing by, he loved the graffitis and he loved that old emblem on the Plaça del Rei, he loved the tension in the Barça games and the peaceful empty streets on the Sunday mornings. 

He loved walking through the city to rediscover, to draw, in another word to live it like the way he knows.

1. How long have been in Barcelona, and why did you move here?

I lived in Barcelona for 5 years and a half. I came for a job, I was sent by the design agency I was working for in Paris to create a filial in Barcelona.

2. It looks like you always carry a sketch pad around with you. What else will you not leave home without?

For sure my sketchbook is an inseparable part of me, as an inkpen, a tiny watercolour box, and some brushes, pencils…(see more here: http://les-calepins-de-lapin.blogspot.com.es/2010/06/my-secret-material-gear.html)

3. How long does it takes you to draw the sketches? (I realise that probably depends)

Actually, you’re right, it depends. From few minutes in the metro, to an hour to sketch a modernist building or a vintage car… in any case, it’s quick. If not that annoys me, and I lost the spontaneity of my line.

4. How do you then get them onto the website/blog with such crisp accuracy?

The scanner is a very important thing in my process, and I had to buy a professional one. Than I’m used to calibrate the tones and the contrasts.

5. It looks like you've sketched in some great cities, and my first reaction when I came across your site was the style of the Beastie Boys "to the 5 boroughs" cover on the sleeve. You've been to New York, was it tempting to do a huge skyline (bigger than the one you did)?

I wish I have done this cover ;) 
Of course I have this temptation to sketch most of the sky scrappers there, I’m totally fascinated by the big apple.
I will return there this summer… so let’s see when I’ll be back!

6. Is there any city you'd love to visit to sketch that you haven't been yet?

there are many cities I would love to sketch in fact, Hong Kong, Moscow, Chicago, Buenos Aires, (…) are just a random list of it.
In fact, I’m pretty sure that every city will have some interest to be sketched.

7. Which has been your most surprising find/a sketch you are most proud of?

more than a sketch, what I’m most proud of is the sketchbook I dedicate to my daughter Louise. I sketched her every day during the first month, and still continue to sketch her while she’s growing.

8. You seem to have covered a lot of Barcelona judging by your google map. Anywhere you haven't managed to sketch yet that is pending?

I published this year a first volume titled “te quiero bcn”, a compilation of 100 pages of some of my favourite spots in Barcelona, and I plan to publish more volumes in the next year. I want to sketch the real barcelona, and there is still a lot to do.

This sketchbook is about Barcelona and every detail that made Barcelona so special. This is Volume I edition of the Barcelona serie and this project may be possible by giving back all the love that Barcelona had given to us.

9. Is there anything in particular a scene must have for you to want to sketch it?

dinosaurs and vintage cars are a must have in every of my sketchbooks, but I also love to sketch portraits.

10. Another urban sketcher you admire?

I have several names in mind: Veronica Lawlor from NY, Marina Grechanik from Tel-Aviv, or Nina Johansson from Stockholm…


Again, thanks a million to Lapin for the great interview, and please leave your comments below, and go and buy his book!! 


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