Self-Taught Artist Is on a Mission to Create Incredibly Detailed Sketches of Every City in the UK

Original article on OddityCentral.com – a blog on oddities and wacky news http://www.odditycentral.com/

Two years ago, English artist Carl Lavia set out to create a large-scale sketch of Birmingham, one of the largest cities in the UK, using photos he took himself while walking around the city, as well as aerial footage from books and google maps to help him piece the whole thing together. The result of his work was so impressive that Lavia decided to dedicate years of his life to sketching out all 69 cities in the United Kingdom, in great detail.

44-year-old Carl Lavia started drawing when he was just 5, and has been doing it ever since. After spending most of his childhood drawing imaginary cities, the self-taught sketch-artist fulfilled his dream of sketching the impressive cities of his homeland. With the help of his project partner, Lorna Le Bredonchel, Carl spends weeks walking around the cities he plans on reproducing, to get a feel of the atmosphere that makes them unique, but also stopping to take photos and do sketches of sections he finds particularly interesting. He then uses these bits of information, as well as aerial imagery to create large-scale sketches of each city. The whole process, from research stage to the completed sketch can take several months.