Addictive An Artist’s Sketchbook

Forewords by Peter Brown NEAC and Prof. Ken Howard OBE RA
Introduction
The sketchbook

About Adebanji Alade

Adebanji Alade, otherwise known as ‘The Addictive Sketcher’, features regularly on the BBC's The One Show, and can often be found sketching travellers on the London Underground.

He trained at Yaba College of Technology in Nigeria, later obtaining a diploma in portraiture from Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, where he now teaches. Adebanji is the President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI); a full member of The Guild of Fine Art in Nigeria; and in 2014 was elected to the council of the Chelsea Art Society. He also belongs to Urban Sketchers Worldwide and Plein Air Brotherhood.

His awards include Buxton Spa Sketchbook Award (2014); winner of Pinta Rapido Plein Air Event at Chelsea Town Hall in 2013; winner of Best Painting of a London Scene, Chelsea Art Society in 2010; the Alan Gourley Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2017, and numerous others.

Adebanji has a strong following in the US as well as the UK. He writes regularly for The Artist magazine and exhibits with the ROI. He teaches at the Art Academy, London, and also runs workshops and demonstrations for schools, colleges, universities and art societies.

Artbookreview.net

Spiral bound and presented with no more text than forewords by Pete Brown and Ken Howard (those being the kind of circles Adebanji moves in these days) and an introduction by the artist himself, this, as a whole, is a piece of art in itself.

You can read it as simply as an exhibition being a sketcher, youre not really going to ask for more from Adebanji than sketches. However, the sheer heft and volume become something else. Its hard to put a finger on what that is, but I think Im going to settle for variety, maybe also humanity. Adebanji is at home in crowds and these pages are nothing if not heavily populated. Theres a wealth here of faces, poses, expressions and situations. You dont need to know who the people are or always what theyre doing. Theyre studies and deserve demand to be studied themselves.

If youre coming at this to learn, then marvel at precisely that cornucopia of material, at all those ways to represent human beings at work, rest or play, at the sheer inventiveness of the observation that captures them. You could also use this like one of those manuals of poses that were all the rage a few decades ago. Those were reference books, but this adds a pleasant and valuable edge of creativity.

Yes, to be here is a privilege, so take advantage and be exhilarated.

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Leisure Painter

Looking at another artist's sketchbook can feel like an invasion of their privacy. It can also be unenlightening as you look at half-worked ideas and visual notes that had so much meaning for their creator and tell the viewer precisely nothing. When the artist is Adebanji Alade, however, it's a different ball-game altogether. The work here is surprisingly complete because sketching is what he does. These are real people, captured in real time and they live, breathe, even more on the page. The images are mostly faces, and they're active, attentive, thoughtful, in repose. To catch the subtlety of expression requires quick working and you'll be amazed by what Adebanji  and you  can achieve. This isn't an instructional book, but the sheer volume of work and the busyness of the pages is inspiring. The spiral binding could make it seem mannered, but actually conveys the feel of a much-used sketchbook.

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Leisure Painter

Adebanji Alade is a self-confessed sketchbook addict. Renowned artist, teacher at Heatherley School of Fine Art and vice president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painterm Adebanji makes regular appearances on the BBC's The One Show and can be found sketching the sights and sounds of London.

His facinating new book, Addictive An Artists Sketchbook showcases one of the artist's sketchbooks in its entirety, showing a unique visual record of everyday life in the city of London. In his introduction Adebanji describes the way he works, and sthe sketchbook allows us an intimate peep into the artist's creative process. The sketches are inspirational and very soon you find you are addicted too!

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Amazon Customer Review

I already own a copy of the wonderful, The Addictive Sketcher. It's got lots of examples, hints and tips and clear photographs showing you how to achieve similar sketches. There are suggestions of places to sketch, where to find subjects etc. Adebanji Alade is a working artist and his enthusiasm and the joy he gets from his art is apparent and infectious.

Addictive: An Artists Sketchbook, is exactly what it says. It's a very full sketchbook showing the faces and places of everyday city life that Adebanji was inspired to record. There is no text as such (apart from the foreword and three pages of introduction). But my goodness the 275 pages that follow is full of sketches and artists written notes. It's wonderful to look at. There are all types of drawings from very rough to more detailed, and all types of faces and figures, park scenes. All life is there. The brief, handwritten artist's notes give an interesting insight into what inspires the artist, although sometimes it's just a name/place and a date. It a very interesting companion book to The Addictive Sketcher.

I've been doing more drawing and sketching this year than I've ever done before. It's a great way to pass the time while stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. I have sketchbooks. My inspiration has been faces and figures I see online and on television (I pause the screen and sketch). And some online tutorials. When I look at Adebanji's sketchbook I'm inspired and want to go out and about to draw maybe not just yet, but soon, I hope. I was ready to throw out my old sketchbooks which, like Addictive, are mostly studies of faces, but I think I'll keep them now as a record of my progress (if any) and I'll use the space better with more little sketches on each page, and importantly, notes and the date! If only I had Adebanji Alade's talent!

Addictive: An Artist's Sketchbook has definitely inspired me to do more.