Although Cruz Dragosavac grew up in Meadville, he never really saw it. He watched as buildings changed, switched ownership or remained largely the same over the years, but he never gave it much thought.
“I never really looked at them,” he said.
It wasn’t until the graphic designer and illustrator began doing freelance work for a historical organization in Boston that he began to see the intersection between art and community appreciation. As he found himself illustrating historic brownstone houses for tours in the South Side of Boston, he took a closer look at his hometown.
Several years, pandemic classes and a book later, he’s passing that appreciation on to other residents. On Tuesday, he held a class through the French Creek Arts Collective for urban sketching.
Participants sat outside the Market House as he walked them through his four-step process.
“I see the Market House facade, the brickwork, the trim, the crown molding,” he said of his observations.
Urban sketching involves studying architectural elements in a downtown setting and loosely creating a rendition of those buildings, Dragosavac explained. When he decided to take on a more traditional art form during the pandemic in 2020, he made a list of the most iconic places in Meadville and went to take pictures to bring back to his studio.
“They all have so much unique character,” he said. “As I was making my list and going around and looking at them closely and more in-depth, it kind of opened my eyes that there’s a lot of character downtown — and still in great shape.”
He took online classes to learn the traditional process for urban sketching, which can utilize any medium from paint to pencil to alcohol markers and fine liner pens, like Dragosavac uses. What doesn’t differ, though, is the style.
“It’s meant to be fun, loose, expressive,” he said. “I want the vibrancy of the markers to really make the piece pop and they blend really well. I can really capture some good textures with the fine liner pen.”
The style isn’t photorealism. Instead, it captures the character of a building and highlights the architecture.
When he looks for new places, he first thinks of the popularity of a structure. Then, he focuses on what sets it apart, whether that be siding, signage, brickwork, surroundings or landscaping.
“I study the viewpoint, study the angles [and think] which way would be best to capture this?” he said.
As he began sketching, his list of places grew longer, and by 2023, he had a substantial body of work and wondered what he could do with it.
“I had this body of work, but what else could come out of this besides selling prints?” he asked himself. “What else can I do with this?”
That’s when he landed on a coffee table book, so every Meadville resident had a historical documentation of their favorite places all in one spot.
“In 2025, I did one more sketch, and it was of coming over the bridge to Meadville when you see the ‘Welcome to Meadville’ sign and the American flag and all the trees and the garden, and once I finished that, that was almost the ‘OK, I can stop sketching now and turn to the book’ that was almost like the closure to this first collection,” he said. “It became the obvious cover for the book.”
In April, Dragosavac launched his book, which includes 85 to 90 illustrations from Diamond Park to Meadville Public Library, Chestnut Street, the Market House, various churches and more, in addition to his four-step sketching process.
His book, called “Sketching,” hit shelves at Tattered Corners last week and is already sold out. Between the book sales and interest in classes, Dragosavac said he’s seeing a real demand in the community and wants to share his skill set with others.
For those who think they might not be capable, he has a message: “Everyone who says they can’t draw, sometimes they surprise themselves once they get going, once you get past that initial fear.”
Although easier said than done, the four-step model is meant to give sketchers equal amounts of guidelines and freedom for expression.
“It’s not perfect,” he said. “You’re not trying to create a perfect rendition of the building you’re sketching. It’s really an expression of your own view or what you see and how you want to portray that.”
The classes he has taught so far are for beginners, as he knows there are a lot of artists, hobby artists and history buffs in the area who would enjoy the new perspective that urban sketching provides.
He hopes to teach another class in the fall and plans on another book or project, but for now, people can order his book at Tattered Corners or online at tinyurl.com/zb6fn6t9.
