Tag Archives: urban sketching kit

Dip pen hack movie!

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Ed Mostly

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 →

Multi-coloured dip-pen

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 →

Posted in bamboo dip pen, coloured ink, inks, kit, line drawing, urban, urban sketching | Tagged bamboo dip pen, De Atramentis inks, non-spill ink pots, urban sketching, urban sketching kit | 12 Comments

Improving a bamboo dip pen

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 →

Posted in bamboo dip pen, blind drawing, dip pen, kit, technique, urban, urban sketching | Tagged bamboo dip pen, bamboo dip pen reservoir, bamboo dip pen sketches, improving a bamboo dip pen, urban sketching kit | 21 Comments

Muji pocket palette

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 →

Posted in Bath, kit, palettes, technique, urban, urban sketching | Tagged home-made palette, mini watercolour palette, Muji card-case palette, pocket palette, urban sketching, urban sketching kit, urban sketching palette | 10 Comments

Scrolling sketch

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Ed Mostly

My clever friend Jim (who has an excellent art blog) showed me how to display photos of a concertina sketchbook as a continuous image. I haven’t quite got the colour/lightness matching correct across the photos, but the overall effect is close to … Continue reading →

Posted in concertina sketchbooks, farm, journeys, landscape, Mendips, rural, walking | Tagged accordion fold sketchbook, concertina sketchbook, displaying concertina sketchbook, Public Image Limited, rural sketching, sketches of the Mendips, urban sketching, urban sketching kit | 8 Comments

Heading North…

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 →

Posted in Bath, brush pen, figures, ink brush, Manchester Symposium, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged brush-pen sketching, ink brush sketching, Manchester Symposium, sketching in Bath, The Smiths, thumbnail sketches, urban sketching, urban sketching kit | 6 Comments

Concertina sketchbooks

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 | 18 Comments

Wood bound sketch-books

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Ed Mostly

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 | 6 Comments

Improving a brush-pen

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Ed Mostly

My favourite media for urban sketching is brush-pen (Inktense pencils a close second), and my favourite brush-pen is the Kuretake #8. It’s the cheapest (direct from Japan here), has great ink-flow (the Pentel is very dry), the brush is springy (firmer than … Continue reading →

Posted in brush pen, ink brush, kit, Kuretake, Lexington grey, Manchester Symposium, urban sketching | Tagged best brush-pen, brush pen modification, brush-pen hack, brush-pen sketching, Kuretake #8, Lexington grey, sketching kit, They Might Be Giants, urban sketching, urban sketching kit | 4 Comments

Madeirans

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Ed Mostly

People watching in Madeira, where the fine weather encourages lots of public loafing; very helpful for sketchers! The first three were done using Derwent Inktense pencils. They’re very smooth to draw with, quick to capture an expressive line, non-smudging (the key … Continue reading →