Welcome to the new online home for Urban Sketchers Ann Arbor — a place to learn about our monthly meetups, connect with the chapter, and eventually, find resources that help you grow as a sketcher. We’re just getting started here, and I’m glad you’re along for it.

A little about me

My name is Spike Hains. I’m an urban sketcher and watercolor artist based in Ann Arbor, and I’ve taken on the role of web admin for this chapter. By day — at least for now — I’m a Director of Data Engineering at Thomson Reuters, with a career built around making information useful and accessible to the people who need it. Art is where I go when the workday ends, and increasingly it’s where I’m heading as I look toward what’s next. Learn more about me and my professional life via LinkedIn or take a wander through my art on Instagram.

I’ve been sketching on location for several years now, and Urban Sketchers Ann Arbor has been a big part of that journey. Showing up, spreading out, and sharing what we create at the Throw-Down, has reinforced to me the importance of art and community. This website is my way of contributing to it.

What this site is for

Right now the site serves a simple purpose: tell people where we’re meeting and give the chapter a place to live online. But a website is a space, and a well-tended space invites people in and helps them feel at home. That’s what I’d like to build here over time.

Some things we’re thinking about:

FAQs for new sketchers. What do I bring? What happens at a Throw-Down? Is this intimidating? (Answer: No. Okay, maybe a little. But you’ll be glad you came.) A good FAQ can lower the barrier to showing up for the first time.

Supplies and materials guidance. Pens, paper, watercolor, sketchbooks — there are a lot of options and the questions come up constantly. A curated, honest guide written by people who’ve tried things and formed opinions would be genuinely useful.

Sketching resources and tips. Techniques, perspectives, approaches — not prescriptive, but practical. The kind of thing you wish someone had told you earlier.

Event recaps and chapter history. A record of where we’ve been and what we’ve made together.

None of this happens overnight, and none of it happens with just one person.

It takes a village

The best community resources are built by the community. If you have something worth sharing — a review of a sketchbook you love, a tip on sketching in tricky light, a reflection on a recent meetup — this site can be a home for that. Volunteer writers are welcome, no experience required. You already have the most important qualification: you show up and sketch.

If you’re interested in contributing, reach out. Let’s figure out what’s useful and build it together.

In the meantime, come sketch with us. The next meetup is April 11 at the Dexter District Library. Details are in the newsletter — and if you’re not on the list yet, there’s a signup right here on the site.

See you at the Throw-Down.

~Spike

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