My Urban Sketching Journey, and a few simple
lessons I’ve learned along the way
My urban
sketching journey began in a funny kind of way. I’ve always dabbled in
sketching, and then in 2015 I joined a local art group on a whim, and began
painting in acrylics. I’m no great shakes as an artist, but hey, I found it’s
something I really enjoyed, and so when, in 2016, I went to visit in-laws in
the Alicante area in Spain I took my paints and brushes with me.
I didn’t
often paint en plein air at that time, but I wanted to give it a try, and I painted this
picture of the local Cerveceria – bar to you and me. I used a pad of acrylic
paper, which I haven’t used very often. Using acrylics in Spain in the height
of summer is an interesting experience – they dry quickly enough as it is, but
they dry much quicker there. Anyway, I was pretty pleased with the painting –
it doesn’t take a great deal to make me happy, And I posted it to an online
forum. One of the comments that came back was that the person who made the
comment was thinking of trying urban sketching himself. To which I replied –
Urban what? – and that’s how I first came to learn of urban sketching. If you want to get right down to basics, urban sketching is just giving a name to something that loads of people have been doing for a long time – sketching the world around them. As a movement, it began in Canada, as a group of sketchers in an online forum “for all sketchers out there who love to draw the cities where they live and visit, from the window of their homes, from a cafe, at a park, standing by a street corner.” I suppose that the big difference between this and the thousands of people who had already been doing this themselves was the idea of a community, and the use of the internet – Facebook, blogs etc, - as a forum and gallery.
You’ll notice that there’s nothing there which speaks about your ability as a sketcher, or the quality of the work you produce. In my experience, urban sketchers genuinely value every sketch each other produces. There’s no stipulation on the media or methods you have to use to produce your sketches, only that you try to do them on the spot.
What is the Urban Sketching Manifesto?
Basically, it’s the agreed set of rules and standards which true Urban Sketchers live by. It states : -
- “We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
- Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
- Our drawings are a record of time and place.
- We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
- We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
- We support each other and draw together.
- We share our drawings online.
- We show the world, one drawing at a time. “
You’ll notice that there’s nothing there which speaks about your ability as a sketcher, or the quality of the work you produce. In my experience, urban sketchers genuinely value every sketch each other produces. There’s no stipulation on the media or methods you have to use to produce your sketches, only that you try to do them on the spot.
I started
urban sketching making a promise I couldn’t keep. I promised myself to make at
least one sketch every day. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this idea, but in
practice I found it difficult. The picture opposite is a vase of lilies, which
was on my telephone table on the first day of my urban sketching journey.
*There’s nothing wrong with sketching everyday things all around you, especially when you’re starting out and trying to build up your confidence.
My earliest
sketches were all in ordinary HB pencil, like this, and I don’t think that
there’s anything wrong with using pencil. It has the advantage that you can
create much more subtle shading effects with it than you can with pen. However,
I did want eventually to start using something which made more of a contrast
with the white paper.
*You can use whatever medium you like. It’s worth trying a few different ways to get an idea what you’re really comfortable with, and what you get your best results from.
During the summer of 2016 I progressed from just taking advantage of whatever happened to be around, to actively going out and looking for sketching opportunities.
* You can find inspiration all around you – you don’t necessarily have to go very far from home all the time.
This one,
made a few days later, was one of my first urban sketches of a building. This
is the Pump House Restaurant in Swansea Marina – in a previous life it was the
Pumping House of Swansea Docks. While making this and the previous sketch I
found that I actually enjoy interacting with passers by while I’m sketching. I
rather like people having a look at a sketch while I’m making it, even if it
isn’t working out or it isn’t very good.
*In my experience, if you respond to people who seem interested in your sketches in a positive way, they will respond in a positive way back to you.
I’m glad
that I did these few sketches in public when I did, because towards the end of
August of 2016 I went to Ieper to visit the grave of my great grandfather, who
was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele. I’m not sure otherwise that I would
have plucked up the nerve to sit in public and produce this sketch of the
famous Cloth Hall, and another of the equally famous Menin Gate.
I think it’s
a good idea to look after your sketches and keep them safe, and look back at
them from time to time. The received wisdom is that if you keep sketching, you
will get better and better.
*If you keep your sketches you can certainly look back and see how your style has evolved.
If I
sketched the Cloth Hall again now, two years later, then I’d do it differently.
Not necessarily much better, but just differently.
This is one of the worst urban sketches I’ve made since I started, but it’s pretty important to me. For this is the first pen sketch I made. I made it in Brussels airport, on my return from Ieper. Now, even though it claimed to be a sketching pen, its tip was far too thick, and the ink seeped into the paper. Nevertheless, simply working out what was wrong with this sketch, and with the pen with which I made it was a step in the right direction to getting a pen which I did want to work with.
* Even though you might think a particular sketch is a failure, chances are there will be something you can learn from it. So don’t throw it away – it has value.
My basic equipment consists of one sketching pen, and an A5 sized sketch book, but this is the stuff I have with me all the time, in case an opportunity for an unplanned sketch presents itself. For a sketching trip I carry a pack of sketching pens, an A4 sketchbook and an A5 sketchbook, a very small set of half pan watercolour paints, a small bottle of water, and two paintbrushes. That’s plenty, it’s not too onerous to carry round, and gives me plenty of options about how I want to make my sketch. I could go even lighter if I carried a waterbrush instead of the bottle, but I prefer using water bottle and traditional brush.
As for clothing - well, it's a matter of common sense. There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, as they say. As a rule of thumb, you need to wear warmer clothes in winter than you do in summer. Even in summer you're well advised to carry a light waterproof in your pack, bearing in mind how changeable the great British weather can be. Think in terms of what is going to be most comfortable for you - nobody says that you have to suffer for your art. On a personal level, I have a particular flat cap that I like to wear when I'm sketching outside - keeps the rain and the cold out nicely during the winter. * When it comes to sketching, a little equipment can go a long way. As a rough rule of thumb, aim to travel light. If you don’t need to carry it around in your pack, then don’t.
I continued sketching at weekends throught the Autumn
and into the winter. This next sketch is one of the first that I did with a sketching
pen that I felt really comfortable with. It shows part of the Pierhead building
in Cardiff, a striking red building faced with glazed terracotta tiles. It was
opened right at the end of the 19th century as headquarters of the
Bute Dock Company, and is now used by the National Assembly.
* When you sketch a building, or a piece of sculpture, or an object for the first time, you end up looking at it far more closely than you would otherwise have done, and this is often very rewarding.
During the early Spring of 2017 I could feel that
things were not right with me, and I was actually diagnosed as suffering from
clinical depression. I was signed off work for two months, and during that time
I would say that medication played the biggest and most important part in my
recovery. However sketching played its part as well. In order to sketch, I had
to go out and find something to sketch. That was positive. Then making the
sketch would involve sitting down, and becoming totally absorbed in something
other than myself for however long it took to draw it. That’s never a bad
thing, in my opinion. Since returning to work in May I’ve had one day off with
illness – man flu as it happens – and I don’t want to take any more time thank
you very much. However depression is a funny beast. I don’t know whether it’s
like alcoholism which stays with you for life, where you can be dry for years,
but if you took another drink it could start you off again, or whether it is
something which will eventually fade out of my life for good. I don’t know. I
tend to think of it as being like a little demon on my shoulder, whispering bad
things to me whenever it thinks I will listen. (I don’t actually hear voices.
This is a metaphor.) The key is tuning it out, which is easier to do at some
times than at others. But sketching definitely helps.
Two weeks out of the 8 during which I was off work
were actually my Easter holidays. I had booked a short city break in Prague,
where sketching was on the agenda as well as sightseeing. A delegation of my
family all sat me down, and drilled it into me that actually, this was exactly
the sort of thing I needed. And looking back, I think that they were right. I
made quite a lot of sketches while I was in Prague. In particular I love the
sketch directly on the left. I made this one on the famous Charles Bridge
across the river Vltava. I was crossing, and this monk passed in front of me. I
whipped out my book and pen, and very quickly sketched in his outline and a few
shadows. Then, when he’d gone, I just picked on other figures as they
approached me and added them to build up the scene. They were all there, just
not at the same time, which makes this a composite sketch. Then, finally, I
sketched in the bridge details and the houses – which don’t tend to move around
so much as people do.
* Any sketch has its own value, but there’s something special about sketches which tell a story.
Not every sketch I made in Prague does tell a story.
Producing this kind of picture is a skill I’ve yet to master, to be honest.
Most of the sketches were just of buildings which I liked. As far as I know
there’s nothing particularly special about this Church, which is fairly close to
Wenceslaus Square. I just liked it, and so I sketched it while I was sitting on
a bench by the street market.
The other Prague sketch which maybe tells a wee bit of
a story is the sketch that I made of the Tramway café. Prague has great trams –
and if there’s one thing I do like it’s a good tram, and two older trams have
been parked in Wenceslaus Square, and some clever entrepreneur has made a café
out of the two of them. Now, to be honest, the cup of coffee that I bought
there was certainly the most expensive that I bought in Prague, certainly not
the best tasting, and certainly brought to me by the most surly waiter I met in
Prague. Still, I didn’t make a fuss, since I felt that buying the coffee
entitled me to sit on the tables outside the tram itself, and make this sketch.
I look at the sketches that I made in Prague, and at
least part of me thinks that if I hadn’t made the sketched while I was there, I
wouldn’t probably have realised that I did actually enjoy the trip, and that it
did help me. I was into my 4th week on medication while I was there,
and it had the effect of calming me, but at the same time distancing me from
what was happening. In a way it was a little bit like watching a video of
myself doing all those things. But the sketches helped. That’s a fact.
As I recovered, and felt able to go back to work, I
wanted to continue with my sketching. Every weekend, I would set out with my
pad, and try to capture something which showed an aspect of Port Talbot, the
town I live in. This is one of my favourites, because although it looks
relatively simple, it was quite a difficult sketch to make. I had to go very
quickly to get the cyclists down in
outline before they disappeared, and then filled in some of the dark patches
from memory. The lady with the dog thankfully didn’t move anything like as
fast. Looking at it now, I can see how I was developing into sketching whole
scenes rather than single buildings.
* If you challenge yourself from time to time, it won’t always come off, but when it does, it feels great. Even if it doesn’t you can still learn something from it.
Speaking of challenges, when I realised that I’d made
over 50 sketches of Port Talbot, I challenged myself to make this into a
hundred. Challenging yourself is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, but I
found that having a focus like this made me more likely to get out and look for
different aspects of the town that I could try to sketch. I even created a blog
called “100 Faces of Port Talbot” to showcase the sketches.
I think I learned two main lessons from the challenge.
I’d never really tried to get to grips with using colour in sketches before
this. My earlier attempts at line and wash, were frustrating. When I make a
sketch with a pen, much of the time it ends up looking the way I want it to
look, or a way that I’m happy with it looking. I struggle with colour, and when
I use watercolour, it rarely ends up looking anything like I intended. Still
simple persistence meant that I could, after a time, produce something like the
picture on the right which actually looks a bit like the place its supposed to. The
urge to try to use colour came when I was chatting to the Head of Art at work,
who mentioned that he’d seen the sketches in “100 Faces of Port Talbot” and
suggested I might like to try using watercolour washes, as in his opinion I
might be able to bring a whole other dimension to my sketching if I did.
* Encourage criticism and advice. It can really help you by pointing out things you hadn’t thought about before.
By the start of the summer holidays towards the end of
July I could, on a good day, produce something like the next sketch, of which
I’m really rather proud. It shows the Masonic Hall and various buildings around
it in the centre of Port Talbot, and I think that I just spent a bit more time
than normal really looking at the colours. It also helps I think that I didn’t
do too much with the pen and ink before I started applying the watercolour.
One other thing you might have noticed is that I’ve
written quite a bit more on the picture than I had been doing previously. This
came about throught the blog really. One of the things I really enjoyed about
making the blog was writing the text to go with each picture, explaining what
it was, what it had to do with Port Talbot, the context in which I made the
sketch etc. This has begun leaking it’s way onto the pictures themselves.
The summer of 2017 marked both a return to European
travel, and the first anniversary of my making the painting which led to the
start of my journey. I made quite a few sketches in both Alicante and Berlin,
lots of them of nice buildings, but not all of them. I found I was using line
and wash more often than before as you can see in these sketches: -
However, I still made my pen and ink sketches as well. This monochrome sketch just above I made in Berlin.
It shows the Altes Museum, one of the five world class Museums located on the
Museum Island in the River Spree in the centre of Berlin. It’s just a pen and
ink sketch that I made while I had a bit of time to while away waiting for the
Express bus to Tegel airport, but something about it tickled the fancy of
passers by. I had three lovely conversations, and the Italian guy selling ice
creams nearby even asked if he could have a photograph of it. If he had but
known, if he’d asked, then I would have given him the sketch itself. Looking
back, though, I’m glad that I didn’t. Berlin was a very happy time, and the
sketches help keep the memory alive for me when I need it.
* If you enjoy urban sketching anyway, joining a group is a good way to enhance that enjoyment. You’ll get support, encouragement, and good advice.
So, coming bang up to date, in less than 2 years,
urban sketching has given me a huge amount of pleasure, and contributed to an
improvement in my mental health. It’s just enjoyment for me, and I don’t look
on it as some kind of competition, either against somebody else or myself. Yes,
I’d like to get better at it – wouldn’t we all – but I’m never going to beat
myself up over it.
I am trying to focus more on figures than I’ve done in
the past. With a couple of noticeable exceptions, like the monk sketch, when I
have included figures in a sketch they’ve tended to be small silhouettes – for example in this picture I sketched in Prague. As you can see, they definitely add to
the sketch, but they don’t really add much to the ‘story’ of the picture, if indeed there is one. Still, if I think about the way that the picture would have looked if I hadn't included the figures, then it was at least an indication to me that I should be thinking of integrating figures into my sketches.
I’ll finish with a list of questions. These are the questions that I haven’t already answered, which I think that the 2016 me, who knew nothing about Urban Sketching before that comment in the online forum, might have asked.
* Do you have to have any qualifications or skill?
No, of course not. I haven’t had a proper Art lesson
since I was 13, and have no qualifications whatsoever. This is about doing
something for pleasure and personal fulfillment. It isn’t a competition.
* What can you draw for an urban sketch?
Anything you like. If you can see it, sketch it. I
really like buildings and street scenes, you might like something else. There’s
no rules – go for it.
* Do you have to draw on the spot, or can you take a photograph and sketch it later?
If you want to call yourself an Urban Sketcher, then
you have to get into the habit of drawing on the spot. Think of it this way. If
you take a photograph of a scene, and then sketch from the photograph later, then
the camera has already done a lot of the work for you. It’s decided the angles,
and it’s done the work of translating a 3D scene into a 2D image, which you’d
have to do for yourself on the spot, and which is a skill you should aim to
develop. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with practising by
making sketches from photographs. This can help to develop your skill, style
and draughtsmanship, but it’s not the same as making a unique sketch on the
spot, and this should be something you aim to do as often as possible.
* Do you have to join a group?
No. It’s your choice. I’ve already listed some of the
benefits, but if urban sketching is a little corner of your life you want to
keep to yourself, then good luck to you.
* How can I improve my sketches?
Most importantly, keep sketching. In his book about
the importance of practice, Matthew Syed explained that you really need 10,000
hours of practice to really master a skill. That’s a lot of sketching
expeditions.
Now, as sketches there's nothing that wrong with either of them. The problem was that I only managed to make the two of them in about 2 and a half hours, and on a typical sketchcrawl I wouldn't have a lot more time than that.
Still, once my euphoria over achieving what I'd set out to achieve had faded a little, I did start to look at the sketches with a more critical eye. I don't think that there's anything particularly wrong with any of the individual sketches. But the problem for me is that this is what they are - individual sketches which do not, although they are all on the same page, contribute to an overall picture. So I challenged myself to find a way to link different images sketched in the same place to make a consistent whole where the individual elements combine together to make something a little more than just the sum of its parts. I looked at loads of images of urban sketches I liked on the net, and then 3 days after I made that last sketch, I went to the Swansea Waterfront Museum, and made this sketch.
There aren't as many images this time, only 4. However I did think a lot more carefully about how I was going to use them. One of the things that links them together is making the Trevithick locomotive the obvious 'star', being that much bigger than the other images on the double page. I also used colour to link them. My scanner has a problem with turning blues into greys - the glass of the building at the top left is actually blue-green, and the skies on the bottom are more purple grey, but even allowing for that you can still see the way that the colours combine and leak into each other. The only spaces I deliberately left as bare paper were the areas I knew I was going to write my captions in. There's another point as well. Many years ago I taught myself calligraphy, and for these sketches I made the conscious decision to write in Italic for the headings, and foundation basic for the captions themselves, and again, at the moment I'm thinking that they add a little bit of class to the sketch.
Now, if I look back on the Glynn Vivian sketches, I still think they're not bad in any way. However, I think that this double page sketch is such an improvement, and for me very much a pointer for a way forward for the future.
There are many free tutorials online, which you can
find if you use google or another search engine.Then there are a number of good
books which can help you develop your skills. A quick search on Amazon will
bring up lists of titles, and you can read the online reviews to help you
decide which one you think will be most helpful to you at this stage. I found Marc Taro Holmes' "The Urban Sketcher" was helpful getting me started.
I don’t know if you’re likely to find a specifically
urban sketching class or course, but chances are there is a course available
fairly locally in Life Drawing. Although not exactly the same as urban
sketching, following a life drawing course will definitely help you improve
your technique.
* What do I do with my finished sketches?
Whatever you like. Personally, I usually keep mine. They’re
a nice record of progress. I also share mine – usually digitally. I post most
of my sketches on Pinterest, on the South Wales Urban Sketchers’ Facebook page,
and on my blog, but there are other places you could do so in cyberspace.
Flickr comes to mind.
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