I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: urban
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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Stockholm hot rods
We were surprised and delighted to find a massive unofficial hot-rod rally taking place on Sveavägen, the main drag where we were staying in Stockholm. It was the annual city gathering of ‘raggare’, fans of old American cars and 50’s ‘greaser’ … Continue reading
En Route
Two wide-angle train carriage views, one heading North to Manchester for the Symposium, and the other heading home. Both were done in a concertina sketchbook, and stretched across the table while I sketched. I asked the passengers if they were … Continue reading
Heading North…
All packed for four days of sketching indulgence at the USk Manchester Symposium, which starts tomorrow. I’ve done a few final brush-pen sketches about town (thumbnails of street-scenes and quick portraits of passers-by) in rehearsal for my demonstration, and have finished sourcing … Continue reading
And now for something…
…completely different. My last post was unexpectedly popular (a six-fold increase in visitors to the site!), and hopefully there are wooden sketchbooks now emerging from book-presses all over the world. Here’s a sketch from a small exhibition at the Victoria Art … Continue reading
Wood bound sketch-books
A practical post today, revealing the depths of tinkering and making that sketching has led me to. So please enjoy my ten-step recipe for making plywood covered sketchbooks that are perfect for urban sketching. The key to their suitability is the binding, … Continue reading
Posted in kit, sketchbooks, technique, urban, urban sketching
Tagged bespoke sketchbook, how to make a sketchbook with wooden covers, making an urban sketchbook, making sketchbooks, plywood cover sketchbook, sketchbook construction, urban sketchbook, urban sketching, urban sketching kit, wood bound sketchbook
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Groups and crowds
After many sketches of individuals and couples about town here are some attempts at drawing crowds and larger groups, trying to catch the body language and brief gestures that help to connect the figures. The first three were sketched from the top … Continue reading
Street photography and sketching
Five years ago I enjoyed ‘street photography’, trying to catch telling moments in Bath’s weekend busyness. After a while the hobby lost its appeal, it wasn’t quite as satisfying as it had been, and it was around then that I started drawing. Five years … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, brush pen, ink brush, Inktense, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching
Tagged ink brush sketching, sketching in Bath, sketching people in cities, sketching with Inktense pencils, street photography, street photography and sketching, street sketching, Teardrop Explodes, urban sketching
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Mostly drawing 