I experiment with three different ways of using line, tonal value, and silhouette to capture poses with the minimal amount of detail, but still convey depth and movement.

Inspiration from Mehmet Saygin, about how he combines ink lines and areas of spot colour. See how he defines the foreground, mid-ground and background in a sketch using a limited colour palette, and how he utilises cooler and warmer colours to define depth.

Taking a look back on my travel sketches to see what sketching style preferences are evident within the pages of my Greek Island travel sketchbook. Three individual styles bubbled to the top of my awareness.

Day 169 to 173 of sketching people in Athens and Rome. Some sketches done live, and the rest sketched from photos I took.

Day 168 of sketching people on the long and uncomfortable overnight ferry ride from Rhodes to Piraeus. Plenty of time to sketch groups, and cobble together scenes of people desperately trying to get a comfortable night’s sleep.

Day 167 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Symi. A couple of group sketches of people on sun beds. One with a clear focal point with a monochromatic background, and one where I used watercolour on the entire sketch.

Urban Sketching some Memories of our stay on the Greek island of Halki. I sketched boats, buildings, and scooters. Some small vignettes and simple scenes, and one larger double-page spread of a harbour view.

Day 166 of sketching people during our day trip to the Greek Island of Tilos. On the ferry, at the beach, and sitting in the cafe.

Day 164-165 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Halki. A mixture of travel sketches of individual people, and groups of people lining to buy or board.

Urban Sketching some Memories of our stay in Finiki on the Greek island of Karpathos. I sketched in different sized sketchbook. I used a small one for quick sketches, and an A5 for larger street scenes, where I’m mixing watercolour elements with a monochromatic backdrop with tonal shading.

Day 161-163 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Karpathos. A variety of travel sketches of groups of people where I’ve experimented with different sketching styles to add depth and interest.

Day 159 and 160 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Crete in Heraklion. Using my travel sketches to decide how to effectively combine sketching styles of monochromatic and colour to create a stronger focal point and add depth to a sketch.

Urban Sketching some Memories of Crete in a small travel sketchbook, as we explored Malia, Rethymno, Heraklion, and took the ferry towards Karpathos.

Day 158 of sketching people during a trip to Malia Beach on the Greek Island of Crete. A mix of solitary figures on a page, and one compilation that takes a little bit of deciphering because one of my sketch subjects got up and walked away.

Scouring the internet for iconic but not twee photographs that I can use as reference to practice some ink and wash Greek Island postcard sketches using loose lines and watercolour.

Flying home from the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was one last opportunity to add to my event sketchbook with more sketches of people at the airport and on the plane. It was also a great exploration into mixing monochromatic elements with colour.

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse this year I started a severe fascination about drawing wonky lines, and I wondered why a confident loose, quick, and wonky line looks so much better than a thoughtfully slowly rendered straight line. The Laws of Gestalt Psychology help to explain this phenomenon and also help to quiet your inner critic.

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse I attended the Peter Rush demonstration to experience his method of capturing s street scene that includes adding in, rather than ignoring, street signs, traffic lights, posts, recycle bins, and other street furniture and urban elements that give the street it’s personality. I took inspiration for this style of sketching along onto Saturday’s Sketch Crawl in Toulouse, and have started to use it now that I’m back home.

The Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was a four day event and I sketched people every day during the workshops, lectures, and demonstrations, as well as while I was exploring the streets of Toulouse.

Day 147 of sketching people during a speed sketching Zoom event hosted by Chloe at Drawing is Free. Using a limited set of art materials, so that I focused on the line and shade rather than colour.

My second workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Veronica Lawlor which was all about reportage and capturing stories with your sketches. We did warm up exercises to familiarise ourselves with the area using vignettes and thumbnails, and let our stories evolve organically from the elements that interested and intrigued us.

Day 145 of sketching people during a speed sketching Zoom event hosted by Chloe at Drawing is Free. Using a limited palette to explore the impact of colour on feeling and mood of a portrait.

Exploring an interesting colour triad for Toulouse buildings and street scenes. The Manganese Blue Hue provides a bright and vivid contrast to the opaque mixes created by the Indian Red and Buff Titanium.

Urban sketch of a building in Conceição de Tavira Urban Sketching a Street Scene On the way back home from…