Front cover of the urban sketcher's symposium in Toulouse 2026

The Gut Reaction to my First Symposium

As a first time visitor to the symposium it was nothing I expected and all that I imagined. I spent four days of non-stop activity and commitments in Toulouse, knee-deep in the cult of USk. While there, you’re completely immersed in connecting and chatting about sketching, art supplies, and sketching locations. The rest of the world ceases to exist (except of course for the World Cup – but only because France were tournament favourites).

Time stood still…but it also flew by so quickly. You’re left shell-shocked when it’s all over, as you ease yourself back into your daily routine – a routine that isn’t run by a packed schedule and, disappointedly, isn’t full of encounters of urban sketcher’s you’ve admired for years and have inspired your obsession with live sketching.

Is this the way everyone feels after their first symposium? Or is this feeling repeated each and every time you attend? Either way, it’s an exhilarating experience that I wouldn’t have missed for the world, and will definitely be repeating.

Letting the Inspiration Sink In

I attended three workshops, two lectures, and (sneakily) two demos, and this didn’t leave much time for many of the scheduled sketch crawls to explore the city at a leisurely pace. I do feel that I missed out on the gentle art of sketching and capturing the colours and vibe of Toulouse, but my mind got expanded with inspiration and ideas from a myriad of urban sketchers I admire.

Here’s the key takeaways from the workshops I attended:

• Workshop 1 with Dan Archer – adding dialogue to your sketches really helps to bring them to life, and when you add dynamic angles to your scene it supercharges the interest level within the sketch. The success of your sketch is based on you, not your materials.
• Workshop 2 with Richard Briggs – breaking down complex street scenes into shapes, lines and pockets of detail to give a sense of moving through the space. Use continuous lines to form interesting levels of depth in a sketch.
• Workshop 3 with Veronica Lawlor – spend time exploring before you sketch to capture what resonates with you. Tell your story in multiple layers (like a movie director) to add depth to your storytelling.

I’m going to write about each of these workshops in more detail, after I’ve processed the information I was privy to, and thought about what techniques or tips I want to incorporate into my own urban sketching practice.

Here’s the key takeaways from the lectures I attended:

• Perspectives with Stephanie Bower – a technical overview of perspective – explained in simple terms. But there’s no way I’m using a ruler!
• A Practical Guide to Reportage with Rita Sabler – the serious, and in-depth side of reportage. Went in with the belief that I really wanted to immerse myself into reportage, but realised I actually want reportage-light – as touted by Veronica Lawlor in her workshop.
• Bit-by-Bit Reportage: How to build reportage projects into your everyday life with Suhita Shirodkar – After a double workshop the day before, I overslept. Gutted I missed this.

Here’s the key takeaways from the demonstrations I attended:

• I joined the demonstration I signed up for, but didn’t like the instructor’s communication style. Naming no names, but it didn’t feel inclusive or inspiring so I ejected myself from this demonstration, and over to an adjacent demonstration which delivered a completely different and incredibly inspiring experience.
• I snuck into the Peter Rush‘s demonstration, and he showed his approach to simplification of building a scene as a collection of small elements, and building your sketch out.

Key Lesson I Learned

Not every instructor will resonate with you. I overhead somebody who took the demonstration I didn’t like, and she sang its praises. Likewise, at the airport I spoke to a sketcher who took one of the same workshops as me, and didn’t take much away from it and thought it was a waste of her time, whereas I got really inspired by the content. So this was a valuable lesson, about choosing your workshops and demonstrations wisely, and having realistic expectations about what it can deliver.