The final chapter in my new book 5 Minute Sketching Architecture is called Speedy Supplies.
This page from my sketchbook during my recent trip to London shows 3 different approaches to working fast. On the left, I just used my beloved White Joy Lamy pen (with a F-M nib) to draw a few important outlines of Christ Church Spitalfields, standing up leaning against the wall of a shop across the road. For the second sketch I combined watercolour pencil and a few watercolour washes, and in the third, I simply stopped on the street (the pavement/sidewalk was quite generous) and did this 3 minute sketch of the view towards the monument using a water-soluble graphite pencil and my water brush.
Here is a screen capture of the snapchat story I did at the time. Lots of fun – and quick!
The best way to describe this chapter is just to quote directly from the book:
It is tempting to think that there is a perfect sketching kit out there that will enable you to work faster, but the simple fact is that it doesn’t exist! Not only that, the biggest issue is not what tools you have, but how well you know them and can use them confidently in the blink of an eye. Someone else’s magic tool will not instantly produce a masterpiece for you.
The ability to use a particular tool for fast sketching is completely dependent on your own experience of what it can do – how it will behave when you use it quickly or slowly, on dry paper, over wet paint, or when water or watercolour wash is applied over it. So this chapter will go through a range of different media, emphasising quick techniques for using them. Choose a few and test them out for yourself.
Thanks again to this amazing group of artists whose work is also featured in the book:
Asnee Tasna | Carol Hsiung | Daniel J Green | Delphine Priollaud-Stoclet | Inma Serrano | Isabell SeidellJames Richards | Luis E Aparicio | Luis Ruiz | Lynne Chapman | Marc Taro Holmes | Matthew Brehm
Murray Dewhurst | Peter Andrews | Peter Rush | Rene Fijten | Richard Alomar
Rob Sketcherman | Suhita Shirodkar | Tiago Cruz | Virginia Hein
Buy the book today: Amazon.com
7 Comments
Hi Liz!
I did the same practice some days ago. Your book is amazing!!
Great to hear… and thank you Joni
Dear LIz,
I managed to order you three books on Amazon.de … Hardly can wait them to be delivered!
Kindest regards from Budapest/Hungary
Ah! thats exciting, thanks Mariann. I hope you enjoy the book
It is my favorite book! So well designed and contains so many tips! Really a favorite!
thanks Dee!! So glad you enjoy it. Hope you can really implement some of the tips
I got the book a few months ago and one of my New Year’s Resolutions–early–is to dive into it! I just love reading it and studying all the drawings!
(And I got my first S&B sketchbook today! Can’t wait to try it out.)
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