Tonal study of a person sitting on a case. Ink and watercolour sketch
Posted in Art Room Europe Istanbul Lisbon Portugal Turkey

Urban Sketching while Traveling

Travel Urban Sketching at Lisbon Airport and a scene from my hotel window in Istanbul. Pen and Ink sketches.

Fist full of fountain Pens
Posted in Art Room Roving Sketchers Series

Letting Go Helps You Create a Looser Sketching Style

Want to loosen up your sketching lines? Here’s some simple tips to help beginning sketchers build this skillset.

Ink and watercolour sketch of Tower Bridge London. With people walking on the bridge and a red bus coming over the bridge.
Posted in Art Room Europe Great Britain London

Loose Sketching in London

Putting Perdo Lureiro’s sketching tips into practice on a couple of sketches I did during my trip to London. Loose ink and watercolour sketches of Borough Market and Tower Bridge. Leaving out more than I put in.

Market man delivery potatoes in Cabanas
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Cabanas Market Man on his Bicycle Delivering Potatoes

Sketching our local delivery man transporting potatoes to a local restaurant in Cabanas.

Ink and watercolour sketch of two people having dinner and drinking wine.
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Back to Sketching People Again

So good to break my people-sketching drought. I much prefer capturing people to buildings, and these people were sketched in local restaurants and cafes.

Urban sketch on Turkish Airlines flight home
Posted in Art Room Bodrum Peninsula Turkey

Urban Sketching Trip to Turkey

Taking time to sketch visual reminders of our 4 weeks in Turkey. I sketched using a paired down urban sketching kit. And sketched people on ferries, in cafes, on beaches, and some business offices. A real variety of locations and people sketches.

Life Drawing Ink and Watercolour
Posted in Art Room

How to use Life Drawing as Practice for Urban Sketching

I’ve always thought Life Drawing was so different from urban sketching. But recently I’ve realised there is an overlap.

pen sketch portraits on a train ticket
Posted in Art Room Europe Loulé Portugal

Urban Sketching on the Train: Sketchbook vs. my Train Ticket

Sketching on different papers is an interesting way to experiment with different tools and techniques with great results.

Outside of Loule Market Algarve Portugal
Posted in Art Room Europe Loulé Portugal

Urban Sketching meet up at Loulé Mercado and Saturday Market

See what inspired me to draw during a day out at Loulé Market with the Urban Sketcher’s Algarve group.

urban sketch cafe scene chairs and customers
Posted in Art Room

Loose Watercolour Technique for Urban Sketching

Sometimes you don’t go looking for your watercolour style choices, they’re just happy accidents.

Carrot People Tutorial by Andrey Shmatnik
Posted in Art Room

Tutorial: People and Urban Sketching in Different Scenarios with Andrey Shmatnik

Find out what I learned from Andrey Shmatnik’s Urban Sketching Tutorial on Etchr, and how he sketches different versions of people in the foreground, mid-ground, and background. Including how he stylises his carrot people for more character.

Blind Contour to get you out of a creative block
Posted in Art Room

Get out of your Creative Block with Blind Contour

Find out how I overcame by creative block by using Blind Contour sketches to get inspired and motivated to sketch again.

Sketch from Photo
Posted in Art Room Beach Bum One Week 100 People

One Week 100 People 2023 – Sketches 1 to 32

The first 32 people sketches for this year’s One Week 100 People.

Gentes do Mercado 2022 postcard series
Posted in Art Room Europe Portugal

Gentes do Mercado 2022 Urban Sketch postcards

The Direção Regional de Cultura do Algarve printed a set of our urban sketched postcards of Tavira market, as part of the Mediterranean Diet festival this year. One of my sketches was included.

Great Gesture Drawing Tips
Posted in Art Room

LoveLifeDrawing – 11 Steps to Great Gesture Drawing

This gesture drawing tutorial had some good tips for developing urban sketching people skills

Sketch of a group of people outside a bar
Posted in Art Room

Toby Urban Sketch – Adding People in your sketches

If you only have 15 minutes, try this YT tutorial from Toby Urban Sketch for 4 quick tips.

O Nuno Urban Sketch
Posted in Art Room

2 Urban Sketchers I discovered this month

Here’s a couple of urban sketchers I discovered this month with simple sketching styles

Urban Sketch People
Posted in Art Room

365 Days of Urban Sketching People (Book 1)

The beginning of my 365 Day of Urban Sketching People. Follow along on my journey to master capturing people live.

Natural Wines Cabanas Urban Sketch in East Algarve Magazine
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Portugal

My Sketch featured in East Algarve Magazine

My sketch of a local wine bar featured in East Algarve Magazine.

Small Urban Sketching People
Posted in Art Room

How to Draw Small Figures for your Urban Sketches

Here’s some tips for practicing sketching small and tiny figures to include in your urban sketches to add a sense of scale and context to the scene. Limiting your canvas size helps you to practice reducing the level of detail necessary. I created a list of tips that can be incorporated into your practice sessions, and share some of the challenges I encountered to help you resolve some of the hurdles you may face when sketching these tiny figures.

Urban Sketcher's in Action
Posted in Europe Portugal Tavira

Algarve Urban Sketching Event in Tavira

A recap of my first urban sketching event with the Algarve group at the Tavira Market, where we were sketching scenes to be used at the Mediterranean Diet Festival later in the year. I also did some colour mixing to create a complimentary and cohesive colour to depict Tavira stone on the local buildings.

One week 100 People Sketch Challenge
Posted in Art Room California One Week 100 People Santa Monica US

One Week 100 People 2022 Sketch Challenge

More people sketches for my one week 100 challenge 2021. I sketched figures on public transport, at cafes and at the local farmer’s market. I also had a go at a bit of reportage.

Suhita Shirodkar Craftsy Class
Posted in Art Room

Urban Sketching Figures with Suhita Shirodkar

My Sketcher Spotlight on urban sketcher Suhita Shirodkar, and a review of her figure sketching made simple class. Looking at line of action, drawing verbs, and exaggerating gestures. It’s all about identifying shapes, and making your figures expressive and loose

Culver City Urban Sketching
Posted in Art Room California Los Angeles US

People Sketches: May

A collection of people I’ve encountered and sketched during my walks around Culver City in May.