“Urban sketching” is a practice of on-location drawing that combines the real-world and individual emotion, bringing it to the canvas. A group of local artists in Sacramento is practicing this artform as a way to explore this city and build a community.
The practice is meant to capture environments and everyday moments in a creative light.
Urban Sketchers Sacramento is a meetup group on Facebook that has sketched everywhere from The Sacramento City Cemetery and Old Sacramento to a River Cats Game and The Crocker. They also have sketched popular landmarks, like The Ziggurat, The Tower Bridge and Tower Theatre.
“I’ve been inspired to see just how many people have turned up to our events and their variety of perspectives and their art,” group co-founder Rebecca Huval said. “People of all ages are welcome and it’s free, I love seeing people of all backgrounds come together for a shared love of art.”
Urban Sketchers Sacramento visited Tandem Coffee to explore the cafe and sketch the building.(Courtesy of Urban Sketchers Sacramento)
The group has seen immense growth in just one year.
“The Sacramento City Cemetery was our largest turnout since we started, with over 20 people showing up,” said Tatiana Jimenez, an organizer for the group. “That was the moment when we realized people are interested and since then we have hosted more largely attended events.”
The River Cats game saw an attendance of 30 people; it’s now their most attended event in 2026.
Urban Sketchers Sacramento has also hosted multiple meetups at popular cafes and restaurants where they sketch the location and enjoy the place’s menu. They have visited Tandem, Gunther’s Ice Cream and many others.
“We really enjoy highlighting local businesses and introducing more people to them because of our events,” Jimenez said. “I have never been too Tandem before, but the event gave me an opportunity to visit and explore the cafe.”
Sketcher communities exist around the world
Sketch Fest Edmonton, an event hosted by Urban Sketchers in Washington united Huval and Priya Ramchandran and Rebecca Huval. They later brought Urban Sketchers to Sacramento.
Urban Sketchers originated in 2007 with a forum on Flickr for on-location artists, growing the intuitive from there. Today they have 599 worldwide chapters.
Urban Sketchers is a global organization of like-minded people who sketch what they see. The organization unites the worldwide sketching community, creating a record of time and place, shared memories, a place to learn and share their illustrations online.
Until 2025, Urban Sketchers was scattered across California, with official chapters in Chico, San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Rosa, but not Sacramento.
“We realized that we were both from Sacramento and we both love the energy and spirit of Urban Sketchers,” Ramchandran said. “We decided to bring Urban Sketchers to Sacramento.”
Tatiana Jimenez, Rebecca Huval and Priya Ramchandran, the three admins of Urben Skechers Sacramento pose in front of The Monster House in Oak Park, November 1, 2025.(Courtesy of Urban Sketchers Sacramento)
The cofounders created a Facebook group in August of 2025, with Jimenez later joining.
“The very first event was me and three other people, two of which were my friends,” Ramchandran said. “We started small, but then as we started posting on social media and reaching out to the community, it grew from there.”
Currently, the Facebook group is working toward becoming a chapter with the greater Urban Sketching Organization.
“There is a formal application process that we will go through after hitting the requirements,” Ramchandran said. “This can put us on the map and allow for more representation as a chapter on their site.”
The group hosts two to three events every month, with different themes, locations and experiences.
Urban Sketchers Sacramento will host their next event Sunday October 25th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The group will be sketching the Halloween House in Oak Park.
“Its also a fun challenge because we’re sketching at night, and that involves bringing your headlamp or a booklight so you can see what you will be doing,” Jimenez said. “It’s a really fun challenge.”
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