I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: kit
Pocket drawing board
(I don’t think I’ve done a ‘sketching kit’ post for a while. They’re usually popular so here goes…) To keep up the daily ‘drawing from life’ habit (nearly ten years now) I make sure I’ve always got sketching materials on … Continue reading
Posted in airplane, clouds, figures, kit, pencil, urban, urban sketching
Tagged park sketches, pencil sketches, pocket drawing board, Sandy Denny, tiny sketch kit, urban sketching
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Dip pen hack movie!
Zowee, New York Urban Sketcher Jeffrey Levine has made a short video showing how I modified my bamboo dip-pen. He’s improved my hack by using a Dremel to make the notches, and I think the picture wire he uses might … Continue reading
Posted in bamboo dip pen, kit, Uncategorized
Tagged bamboo dip pen, dip-pen sketching, Jeffrey Levine, urban sketching, urban sketching kit
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Small sketch notes
I love using the big square wood-bound sketch-book with bamboo dip-pen, but it doesn’t work for an everyday carry. So I’ve been carrying a much much smaller notebook (£1 from Muji) for daily sketches. It’s shirt-pocket sized and works really well … Continue reading
‘Things to make and do’
As a sort of late Spring-clean I’ve updated various bits of the blog for your perusal and enjoyment. Most of it’s kit related, but this seems to be the most popular content! ‘Daily sketch-kit’ – now includes a couple of … Continue reading
My eyes! My eyes!
A GIF-tastic round-up of some recent sketches, mostly of Bath, showing how water-colour works with drawings done in bamboo dip-pen and coloured ink. I love the way that the coloured ink lines can fade back into the sketch or be brought forward, … Continue reading
Multi-coloured dip-pen
For the last few months nearly all my sketching has been in bamboo dip-pen and multi-coloured inks. I love the juicy draggable lines I get with the dip-pen, the wide variation in width and saturation, and having a range of coloured inks … Continue reading
Improving a bamboo dip pen
My current favourite mark-maker is a bamboo dip pen. I love the free-flowing lines that can wander around the page, and it’s great for ‘blind drawing’ of foliage, clouds etc. It delivers big juicy lines that can merge into forms if you … Continue reading
Muji pocket palette
Here’s my new homemade pocket palette. It cost about £8 and two hours to make, weighs almost nothing (53 grams or less than 2 ozs, including paint…) and has lots of room for pigments and mixing. It’s small enough to be part of … Continue reading
In transit
Travelling to Stockholm and back; the view from 38,000 feet (both ways), and fellow passengers at Heathrow and Arlanda (so many free models…). I’d never noticed the plane’s fuselage reflected on the engine before, a good example of the way … Continue reading
Posted in airplane, airport, clouds, figures, journeys, kit, people watching, travel, urban, urban sketching
Tagged airplane sketches, airport sketches, sketch of clouds from plane, sketches of view from plane, sketching fellow passengers, sleeping on benches, The Replacements, urban sketching
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Concertina sketchbooks
I’ve tried using concertina/accordion-fold sketchbooks in the past, but found them very awkward to use when out and about. They’re usually spineless (like this Seawhite version and my homemade one below) with no hinge between the covers, so you can’t use a … Continue reading
Posted in concertina sketchbooks, kit, sketchbooks, technique, urban sketching
Tagged accordion fold sketchbooks, concertina sketchbook for urban sketching, making concertina sketchbooks, panoramic sketchbook, simple sketchbook instructions, sketchbook construction, urban sketchbook, urban sketching, urban sketching kit
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Mostly drawing 