Sketchbook exhibit showcases Tin Salamunic's personal work

Interview by Gabi Campanario
Urban Sketchers

At 26, Tin Salamunic is already an accomplished illustrator published internationally. His byline can be found in magazines and newspapers across the world like The Washington Post, Die Zeit, Playboy and ESPN Magazine.

Salamunic was born in Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but had to leave the country with his family in the early 90s as a consequence of the civil war. Since 1998 he has lived in Richmond, Virginia, where he teaches art at Virginia Commonwealth University and also finds time to fill countless moleskine sketchbooks with flawless compositions full of photographic detail.

Many of those sketches we've come to enjoy here since he joined Urban Sketchers are now the subject of "Pictorial Colloquy," an exhibit that opens Feb. 12 at the Richmond Public Library.

While getting ready for the opening, Salamunic took some time to answer a few questions about his sketching.

Why do you sketch? What's your approach to location drawing and your favorite subjects?

Aside from an immense joy in drawing, visual journaling has become a far more intellectual approach to living my life, as well as figuring out my career. Each new drawing is not only a growth in technical dexterity, but also a way to immortalize the memories of everyday subtleties that tend to escape our attention.

Figures in milieu, my fellow artists sketching, the old lady on the bus, people at a coffee shop: These are the things that I find intriguing each time I turn to a new page. The simple moments I share with my friends and loved ones, the image of a stranger’s life painted in my mind as I draw them, these are my most valued memories. Having the honor of sharing fragments of people’s stories as I sketch them is what enriches my life, as well as my attitude towards it.



What's Pictural Colloquy? What can visitors expect from the exhibit?

Pictural Colloquy is my first opportunity to collectively share pieces of my sketchbook collection from the past 2-3 years. The best way to describe the show is that it’s a behind the scenes view of my commercial life. While my illustration work has always been a reflection of who I am as an illustrator, my sketchbook work is more of a reflection of who I am as a person. Additionally, it is a mirror of my surroundings and the city’s culture, enabling many local viewers to relate to the images. The exhibition will have two openings, one on February 12, the other beginning of March (TBA). There will be about 70 pages covering the walls of The Gellman Room (Located in the Richmond Public Library) and several small booklets for more isolated, private viewing. Since all of my work is done in Moleskine sketchbooks, there is going to be a consistency in format as well as in the signature, tan colored pages.



Tell us about your method and materials. Do you sketch directly in ink? Do you have any tips for beginners?

I draw directly in ink. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I even own a real pencil anymore. (All of my commercial work is being done on the computer-mostly). If time allows, I will color my pages with watercolor, but mainly I find myself scanning in my favorite pages and adding color digitally.

My tip for beginners is something that applies to my overall view towards the art field in general. Draw! Draw! Draw! If you are driven, motivated, if art is a part of you, who you are, then you will make it. If you see struggle and hard work as a nuisance rather than a way to push yourself, to improve, and not as a way to grow, then you will not succeed.



What is it like to live and sketch in Virginia?

Each sketch session in Richmond reveals a new quirk of the city’s colorful culture. From the peculiarity of locally owned stores, (each one of them deserving a dedication of an entire sketchbook), to the architecture that makes a three block walk feel like a leap through time, Richmond never fails to provide rich imagery to those curious enough to look around.

I hope that this exhibition will allow me to share the same kind of experience of visual journaling to the locals of the city, that Urban Sketchers has so successfully accomplished on a global scale.

Links
• Tin's website.
• Tin's blog.

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