Gérard Michel is a Belgian architect based in Liége, who also teaches courses in sketching and drawing at the school of architecture there.
Aside from that, I know little about him except for the wealth of his wonderful location drawings as displayed on the Urban Sketchers blog and on Michel’s own Flickr sets.
He sketches in pencil, pigment liners and watercolor.
In keeping with his background, Michel excels at rendering buildings and architectural forms and evidences a fascination with them. He has a wonderful knack, however, for leaving parts of his drawings open and sketch-like, even though they can be very exacting in their proportions and perspective.
He has been posting hundreds of his wonderful sketches from his sketchbooks, both of his home city of Liége and his travels elsewhere, to his Flickr stream. You can get a quicker overview by looking through his Urban Sketchers posts, but the Flickr sets are well worth exploring.
There is a brief clip of him sketching on Vimeo.
Fantastic work! I love the graphic qualities and use of patterns and flat washes. Yet there is so much depth. Great sense of color too. Thanks!
Gerard Michel is one of the most amazing artists I have ever come arcoss. he is genius.
really lovely work!! i have always admired artists that work on location (especially Gerard’s art!!)…i’ve tried it at our local LA zoo but didn’t like the attention it brought! i found it very distracting!
Wow, these are stunning! Thanks for posting and for continuing to curate this amazing blog. I’ve been visiting for years for daily inspiration, but this is the first time I’ve left a comment. It’s a great thing you do.
I appreciate the artists for their innovative work. They inspire me to think upon new ideas that I can incorporate in my gift business. Your work is outstanding.
Thank you, Charley.
I’m happy that you like my drawings.
Gérard, I think you’re really a genius.
Je vous souhaite bonne chance./I wish you good luck.
My pleasure, Gérard. I would have contacted you to let you know about the post, but I couldn’t find an email address.
Simply beautiful, inspiring work. A delicate touch with the right amount of detail to fully capture the subject. Bravo!
I agree with everything you wrote about Gerard Michel’s drawing, but the thing that really sticks out in my mind is the sheer volume of work, each piece of equally high quality.
Great post. I belong to USK Spain in Málaga and had the chance to meet Gerard in a course of the International University of Andalusia last year. It’s just amazing to see him in action, such perfection and control of perspective and technique but with a sensitivity in the treatment of the subject. Plus he is so charming as a person, he was always smiling and very humble about his art (unbelievable as it is great). Well, I think he is an inspiration :)
Have linked your Flickr site for a couple of years – always superb sketches/renderings. I worked for architects for many years creating graphic environmental art – appreciate your wonderful talent, eye, and hard work!
amaizing no words !!!!!