What is hidden inside the garden

I knew that setting meeting point for our Sketchcrawl at Levinsky Garden will be challenging. Tel Aviv is a city of contrasts, even in the most touristic place you'll find contrasts between new and old, beautiful and ugly, rich and poor. Levinsky Garden and next to it Neve Shaanan neighborhood long time ago turned to be kind of a different country, populated by immigrants it has a life of its own and you can see straight away who's a citizen and who's a tourist. We felt a bit uncomfortable to come there with our fancy sketching tools to "hunt" our objects.
I decided to start from sketching the surrounding, despite that what interested me the most were, of course, the people. I wanted to give myself time to observe the place from distance, to absorb and to be absorbed. The garden was very nice, wide and blooming. The atmosphere there were very calm, everything were easygoing. People - black men mostly - passed slowly, stopped in groups for a few minutes of conversation and continued to pass. There were a few "constant" - the man with the orange shirt who was doing his morning washing near the garden tap. And the man in the white undershirt who was walking back and forth while turning his hands - performing strange gymnastic exercises. Nobody created eye contact and didn't approached. I felt detached and not belonging.

I moved to the edge of the garden and started to sketch people. Here as well nobody approached, just a few asked if we're drawing them. Most of them were busy talking one to another.

among black men only who occupied the benches around suddenly set down Asian woman, smoked her cigarette and moved on

I moved to the playground where I found Nitzan and her friends, and around them gathered a group of children. At the begging children were suspicious - why would group of adult people draw in the middle of their's playground? But very soon they all joined sketching. It was so gladdening scene, with a lot of great energies - the real spirit of urban sketching which creates interaction with the surrounding!

one of the mothers in the garden

children are sketching

I also did some sketches, but mostly were chatting with the children and taking pictures. Our sketchcrawl was coming to its end. We spread out our sketches on the ground, children looked at them together with us and asked when we'll come again. Some of them joined us to the final photo :)


Here are some sketches I did in the Eritrean restaurant, were we were eating with Nathan after the sketchecrawl.

beautiful couple in the restaurant

This watercolor sketch was done a few days earlier, when Nathan and me came to check the location. The pastoral garden with complicated stories inside it. We should come back!

Bicycling & sketching

When I go to the bicycle trip with my family and friends, I take with me only necessary stuff. It includes my sketchbook :) There is always what to sketch during the resting time!

And now... at the swimming pool!

Summer is here, you can feel it from my sketches :-)

My first concert

Here are new illustrations I did for "Einayim" - children's magazine. The story is about the boy, who's dreaming to be a conductor. One day his uncle invites the boy to join him to a classic music concert, and the story is about the boy's experience of his first concert. I was trying to remember when I went to my very first concert. Listening live classic music is magic, but it should be real magic to experience it for the first time!

At the heart of the public garden

I want to share some process of illustrating  the story for the last "Einayim" magazine. The issue subject was "garden". This time the writer Shoham Smith invited me to come with her together to look for the story. We met in Gan Meir in the heart of Tel Aviv and strolled in the garden together, trying to find the story. Shoham shared with me her ideas and I tried to sketch them up and also I've took a lot of pictures. It was fun!
Next step was making sketches in the studio:

After series of sketches the final illustration was approved. The story is about a homeless, sitting on the bench and feeling invisible for the visitors of the garden.
Here is the final illustrations.

As usual, the process is more enjoyable than seeing the finished illustration printed. But that's what's stay with as at least - the result.

Red in "Black"

Black is the name of " Bar 'N' Burger" restaurant where we ate with the children, the interior of which is designed in red, for a some reason.

The street hear the houses

I enjoy very much to illustrate poetic texts of the writer Iris Argaman for the column in "Hapinkas" - internet magazine on children's literature. The column tells about little boy, exploring the streets. This time the boy is scrolling the streets at night, observing every details, listening to every little rustle. I love especially the last verse:

At day
The houses hear the street,
But at night
The street hear the houses.

Sketching everyday life

Some "home" sketches - everyday life is so full of interesting subjects, isn't it?

 I drew these with my new bamboo pen and ink - loving it!

Illustration and its sketch

Here are my last illustrations that was published in "Einaym" magazine.

And here are some sketches that I did as preparations - again, love them more than the final illustration.

Hope that one day I'll find the perfect combination, i just need to do more ;-)

Fear of dogs

Here are illustrations I did for a story about dogs fear for children's magazine "Einayim" (Eyes).

I loved the story and it was fun to illustrate it!

Rainy day at home + blue ink

Graphite sketches + Photoshop coloring

I was playing with some of my sketches by adding color and textures in Photoshop.

original sketch - my boys playing FIFA

changed layout

adding color and texture

original sketch - corner at Alharizi street in Tel Aviv

adding color and texture

Plain graphite pencil can be very rich and colorful, for my opinion. But color and texture can emphasis different details and to show drawing in a different way.
So, what option do you prefer?