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.

I keep capturing this little street with different sketching styles. Probably more to come…!

This year’s One Week 100 People challenge was great for honing my style and getting me using my Tombow pens for shading instead of watercolour.

20 days into my 100 day Project and I’m learning how to improve my 15-minute building sketches.

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.

The 100 Day Project is starting on February 18th 2024. I’m taking part. Are you?

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.

My very paired-down urban sketching art kit for our 4 week trip to Turkey. Traveling Light with just split primaries, one brush, one pen, and a watercolour book.

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

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

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

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

Discover how I’m approach June’s Tonal challenge with my current urban sketching watercolour kit.

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.

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

A review of the Hahnemühle Watercolour Book, which is ideal for urban sketching.

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