It can be easy to think (based on what we see on social media) that urban sketches ‘should’ always involve going on dedicated sketching outings and spending a considerable amount of time to achieve a finished sketch. But this is not the case – and in fact, I strongly believe that constantly doing quick simple...
CONTINUE READINGMy everyday sketching strategy is to do whatever sketches I can during the day and then at night finish my pages by adding notes and other ‘elements’. This act of finishing my pages is a totally separate process from sketching but it uses many of the same skills ( relying on my sense of composition,...
CONTINUE READINGIn the past few months I’ve sketched more cups of coffee than teacups so I thought I would put a little collection together for those of you who only drink coffee. 🙂 My coffee cup sketches are different from my teacup sketches in that they are normally done under a limited time constraint. When I...
CONTINUE READINGMy recent sketches have been mostly made up of green, blue, and earth yellow (such as Monte Amiata Natural Sienna) with a little brown and grey. Last Friday as I reviewed my current sketchbook pages I suddenly felt an urge to sketch something with a dominant pink or red hue. So a quick direct watercolour...
CONTINUE READINGAfter a few months of using smaller sketchbooks, I’ve recently moved back to an A4 hardcover book and it feels really good! When I was busy with family outings back in July, it was wonderful to downsize to a square softcover Alpha sketchbook by Stillman and Birn (see more here). Last month, however, it suddenly...
CONTINUE READINGA great discussion on speed vs accuracy started in the Buildings classroom over the weekend so I thought it was the perfect time to write an article on the topic. This is something that I think about constantly in my own work. 🙂 Generally, speed and accuracy are at the opposite ends of a scale....
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Online Sketching Courses with Liz Steel
