He’s is certainly a master of foreshortening…yes, the art of drawing or photographing objects or people, so that they look smaller or closer together than they actually are. Meet Pietro Cataudella, born in 1991. He’s of Sicilian origin, but a Tuscan by adoption.
Pietro created CityLiveSketch in 2014 when he was in Marzamemi, a small fishing village in south-eastern Sicily. He put up his foreshortened works on his Instagram page that, till date, have garnered a fan following of more than 74,000 and counting. His aim of creating CityLiveSketch was to showcase the beauty that surrounds us in the form of iconic and interesting places. What’s even more amazing is he uses both drawings and photographs for this technique.
Pietro’s sketch of ‘Balata di Marzamemi’, that he drew on a notebook and photographed it against the backdrop of the original place, went viral on the net in many new Italian cities. However, these pleasing looking foreshortened shots are not easy to create. According to him, it requires a lot of practice and perseverance.
Pietro is always eager to improve upon his sketches by making them more detailed. At times, it may take several days to complete a single composition. Not content with this, he has also embarked on the path to experiment with new art forms and become more creative. This resulted in the creation of CityLiveSketch plus ‘Fantasy’ in 2016. In this, he makes the design interact or merge with photography. Stepping up to the next level, he has even created a new ‘3D CityLiveSketch’ in 2018.
Not only is CityLiveSketch making its presence felt on the social media platforms and the internet, but is also figuring in popular newspapers and magazines, such as BBC, Daily Mail, Il Corriere Della Sera, La Repubblica, The Huffington Post, and many more. It has also collaborated with international brands, such as Adobe, Campari, Samsung, etc.
Pietro Cataudella
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