New York City vector

Eight years ago, Chaz Newton-Smith was made redundant from a part-time role as a youth worker—a job he had enjoyed. As a trained artist, the change pushed him to explore whether he could turn his art into a full-time pursuit.

During that period, he created a detailed digital vector drawing of New York City using Adobe Draw (now Adobe Fresco). From a distance, the piece looks almost photographic. Up close, it reveals layers of abstract expressionist marks—each one placed individually by hand.

The drawing took over 100 hours to complete and was made entirely using his finger, before the Apple Pencil even existed. Because it’s a vector artwork, it can be printed at any size—from a small A5 sheet to a wall-sized installation—without losing quality. It was intentionally designed to work both large and small.

After sharing the piece on Twitter, Chaz was contacted by Adobe, including the lead developer of Adobe Draw, who was curious about how the artwork had been created using their app.

This drawing marked a turning point in Chaz’s journey as a digital artist, showing what was possible with patience, vision, and the tools at hand. To order a print at any size from A4 to the size of a house, please contact Charles at the Springfield house gallery.