Apersutra
Draw to a playlist for an hour.
Get ready to draw. Come back once a week: one hour, one playlist, a new photo to sketch with every song.
Tag your insta posts with #apersutra
No sign-up. Just open apersutra.com and draw along.
#apersutra #sketchbook
Same moment in art towns
Your sketch passport
Empty so far. Every place you draw gets a stamp here.
Kept in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere.
The Apersutra Manifesto
- We draw what is in front of us, even when it's in front of us on a screen. A photograph of a real place is a window, and we sketch through it.
- One song, one drawing. When the music changes, we turn the page. Unfinished is a style.
- We draw places, not people. Bridges, fountains, rooftops, harbors, a car under a tree, a mountain under the moon.
- We go where we can't easily go. Too far, too steep, too expensive, too long ago. For an hour, the world is on our desk.
- Any pen, any paper, any hand.
- We share our pages and cheer each other on, from every time zone, under #apersutra.
We will draw from our armchairs, and from our beds. We will draw during conference calls, and from our hospital rooms. We will draw this world, unrestricted by the meagre corporeal limits of time and space! We shall never draw the likeness of faces, toes, nor hands!
Questions
What is Apersutra?
A free online drawing session. Every Tuesday for one hour, this page shows a photo of a real place and plays a song. When the song ends, a new photo and a new song come up. You sketch each one before the music moves on.
When is it?
Once a week, for one hour. The next session is shown above in your own time, along with the time in a few art towns, and the calendar buttons add it to your calendar as a weekly event.
Do I need to sign up, download anything, or join a video call?
No. There's no account, no app, and no call. Open apersutra.com at session time and the page turns into the session by itself. Tap once to turn on the music.
What will we draw?
Real places and things, the kind an urban sketcher would stop for: a bridge in Florence, a fountain in a square, an old car under a tree, a mountain under the moon. Never faces. Each week has a theme, revealed when the first song plays.
What do I need?
Something to draw with and something to draw on. Pencil, pen, watercolor, a tablet, the back of an envelope. Each sketch lasts one song, about two to five minutes, so quick and loose works best.
What kind of music?
A hand-picked playlist of real recordings across genres: forgotten gems and lesser-known classics rather than chart hits. No classical, and no AI-generated music.
Where does the name come from?
Apersutra joins two words. Aperçu is French for a glimpse, a quick impression. Sutra is Sanskrit for a thread, and for a short teaching strung together with others. An hour of Apersutra is a thread of glimpses.
Is it related to Pencils for Tea, Urban Sketchers, Drawing Is Free or plein air painting?
Apersutra isn't affiliated with any of them, but it owes them a lot. Pencils for Tea gave it the format of drawing together to a playlist. Urban Sketchers gave it the habit of drawing real places from life. Drawing Is Free is a kindred spirit, and its name says it all. And plein air painters, who set up their easels outdoors to paint a place directly from life, are the tradition all of this comes from. Apersutra is plein air for when you can't get out the door.
How do I share my drawings?
Post them on Instagram with #apersutra, so everyone who drew along can find each other's pages.
Is it free?
Yes. There's nothing to buy and nothing to sign up for.