Day 39 of Sketching people in ink and watercolour. Social Commentary urban sketch with a short poem about doom scrolling, and today’s Earthsworld portrait challenge from Facebook.

Day 32 of sketching people. Out and about at Tavira Market, in search of sketching shoppers with dynamic poses. I urban sketched in Pencil and then added ink and watercolour later.

Day 24 of sketching people. A quick and loose urban sketch of a boy waiting for his mum. And at night I attended the speed sketching portrait event with Dylan, and churned out some pretty consistent portraits within the 30 second to 6 minute time limit.

Day Twenty-Three of a 365-day people sketch challenge. Ventured to a cafe for some live sketching of people, and then joined the Drawing is Free speed sketching zoom session for some live portrait practice.

Urban Sketchers Org daily prompt list calendar for January 2026

Refining my urban sketchers watercolour palette for 2026, by replacing Indigo Blue with Cobalt Blue. Exploring the way to mix replacements for my premixed greens. Discovering if I really have a use for my Phthalo Green.

So you’ve started your figures too long on the page, and you don’t have room to sketch the feet? It’s a common problem. Here’s a review of how to use ink lines and watercolour to approach the problem of running out of room at the bottom of the page when people sketches. My thoughts on which approach works best, and what doesn’t look good.

On day five of the people sketching challenge, I sketched from a video and share a creative tracker that helped to focus creative intentions and activities. I also did the Earthsworld Portrait Challenge.

A roundup of the Draw This In Your Style challenges I attempted this week including a couple of floral adorned buildings.

Back to gesture drawing with short timed poses from Gesture Drawing Party on YouTube. Good practice for Urban Sketching.

What is Ink and Wash style of urban sketching and where can you go to find inspiration for developing your line and wash style.

An overview of the colours in my urban sketching palette and why they’re in there.

Here’s some tips and inspiration when you’re looking to refine your urban sketching watercolour palette to create a set that will be useful in any scenario. I worked with Jane Blundell a colour triad and watercolour mixing aficionado, to revamp my palette, and create one that would work for the subjects I like to paint.

Here’s some tips for sketching groups of people, without getting overwhelmed by the crowds and complexity in your scene.

A day out at the Vila Real beach fair to sketch people, and using it to learn what art tools I actually need in my urban sketching kit.

Some ideas and inspiration for creating interesting sketchbook page layouts when urban sketching people.

Urban Sketching during our trip to Turkey. In Istanbul, and at the beaches and cafes of Bodrum. Also sketched during a windy ferry ride to Datca. All Ink Sketches, no Watercolour.

My practice sketches for creating ink and wash bougainvillea in vibrant watercolour.

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

Come along with me to Cabanas fishing boat jetty as I explore how to simplify some complex shapes in ink and watercolour.

Sketching seagulls from life isn’t easy. So I think it’s best to capture their character with a loose sketching style. I sketched them walking on the sand at low tide, and dive-bombing the fish that the fisherman were throwing into the water. All Sketching in ink and watercolour.

First attempts at capturing the Cabanas fishing jetty and local seagulls in a fast and loose sketching style.

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

30 days into my 100 day Project and I’m putting what I’ve learnt so far, into my 15-minute building sketches.