URBAN SKETCHING – Ida Mae

Evaluate your Sketching Style Likes and Dislikes

Start by evaluating what you like most about their inking and watercolour techniques and style, and use that information to emulate what you like, and discount what you’re not interested in learning. For example, here’s my recap of the artist’s I mentioned above:

Artist	What I like Most	What I don’t like
Felix Scheinberger	Bright Colours	Ink Lines too Loose
Peter Scheeler	Nice Clean Simple Lines	Not Enough White
Nil Rocha	Simple Skies, Limited Colour Palette	Subject Matter too Fantasyesque
Matty Burnham	Simple Line Style	Perspective too precise
John Harrison	Line weight variety. Composition/layout of the scene.	Sketching style not loose enough
Albert Keifer	Expressive Lines and perspectives (but too loose for me)	Heavy shadows and desaturated colours

SUPPLY LIST

Printable Supply List Download

SKETCHING ON LOCATION

Today we sketched at Little Sugar Creek Greenway in Charlotte. NC

At Home:

Practice Drawing using Negative and Positive Space : Tutorial Click Here

Tips: Use Large Shapes, Find Patterns of Repeating Shapes, Use Varied Line Weights ( Thick bold lines define your focal point)

Urban Sketching Vocabulary Guide

Contour Drawing: Drawing the edges of a subject with a continuous line, focusing on its form and outline.
Composition: The arrangement of elements (buildings, trees, people) within your sketch to create a balanced and engaging scene.
Focal Point: The specific area where you want the viewer to look first, created using contrast or detail.
Negative Space: The empty space around and between subjects (e.g., the sky around a building).
Positive Space: The area occupied by your main subject (e.g., the building itself).
Repetition/Pattern: Visual rhythm created by repeating elements like windows or bricks; suggest it, don’t draw every one.
Varied Lines: Using a mix of thick and thin lines to create depth and interest (thick for foreground, thin for background).
White Space: Untouched paper left intentionally blank to represent light or give the eye a rest.

Try it At Home:

Composition Exercise : Include Foreground, Middle ground, and Background : Click Here Choose 5 to 10 Compositions and add to your sketchbook. Define each composition in the margins of your drawing. (Drawings can be thumbnail size and do not have to fill the page)