We are proud to be working in partnership with this year's Sketch for Survival Wildlife Art Exhibition and Charity Online Auction.

One African elephant is poached for its tusks every 26 minutes. That's more than 55 a day. Sketch for Survival aims to raise awareness about species extinction while also raising significant funds to fight wildlife crime through our touring wildlife art exhibition and online charity auction.

What is Sketch for Survival?
Sketch for Survival is an annual exhibition and auction of wildlife art in aid of conservation.Sketch for Survival comprises 26-minute sketches, original studio art, illustrations and cartoons, all depicting endangered wildlife from around the world and donated by the professional art community as well as by celebrity supporters.

In 2018 the collection featured 478 artworks from artists in over 30 different countries. Celebrities included explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Levison Wood, actors Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren, Richard E. Grant and Stephen Fry, animator Nick Park, cook Mary Berry, writer Frederick Forsyth and many more. The collection sold in total, via online auction, for over £58,000.

This year the Sketch for Survival 2019 collection will tour the UK between September and November 2019, visiting five different venues and finishing at the Royal Geographical Society in London. It will be sold by online auction concluding on Sunday 17th November 2019.
The Sketch for Survival 2019 collection will comprise 150 26-minute sketches and studio artworks from professional and award-winning artists. These will be joined by sketches from our celebrity and explorer supporters.

An additional 100 artworks will be selected from SFS Introducing by our panel of professional wildlife artists. S4S Introducing is a new initiative and is open to all artists - professional, amateur, hobby or student. From the successful submissions, three will be short-listed and one artist will be awarded SFS Introducing Artist of the Year. These 100 artworks will not be part of the auction but will be sold throughout the exhibition tour.

This year, for the first time, the Sketch for Survival collection will be joined on tour by Focus for Survival, a collection of wildlife imagery donated by leading wildlife photographers.

The dates for the UK tour will be announced in the summer. The tour will conclude on Thursday 14th November at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Awards:

There are two awards given to artworks in the 250 touring collection

The Leisure Painter People's Choice Award and The Artist Award

The Leisure Painter People's Choice Award is chosen by the public, both viewing online and on the tour. It goes to the artwork with the most votes. The prize is a feature article on the winning artist in Leisure Painter magazine, a £500 voucher from GreatArt to redeem on art materials and equipment and a free annual subscription to either The Artist or Leisure Painter.

The Artist Award will be presented to the artist who in the opinion of The Artist editorial team best captures the spirit of the Sketch for Survival campaign in a two-dimensional drawing or painting of any medium. The winner will be featured in The Artist magazine and receive a free annual subscription to either The Artist or Leisure Painter magazine.

Discover more on the website, www.explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/sketch-for-survival-2019

If you are a professional artist interested in supporting the campaign please contact Robert Ferguson at [email protected] for details.