Quick & Lively Urban Sketching

Packed with creative exercises and practical tips, this book will help you breathe life and expression into your urban sketches.

In a time when most people have a camera or smartphone to hand at all times, the question of why we sketch is ever more relevant. A sketch cannot capture a scene with perfect accuracy instead, it is about something more. We sketch to capture an impression, record a feeling, create a personal interpretation; sketching is an act of personal expression. Whether you want to sketch to capture fleeting moments, experiences or locations in time, or to record impressions that you can return to and build on later, this book will show you how.

The aim of the book is to encourage you to create quick, animated drawings that are full of life and expression. Whether you are looking to discover your own sketching style, or to build on your existing knowledge, this book is packed with quick exercises to get you thinking, theory to build up your knowledge base, and beautiful artworks to inspire you. The book is divided into seven lessons: tools, colour, composition, bringing a sketch to life, urban life, landscapes and human subjects - each contains learning objectives and tips to hone your technique. Decide how strong or detailed to make your linework; when to use pencil or ink; how much colour to use, and where; how to successfully compose an image and use perspective to bring it to life; how to use contrast; how to incorporate detail; how to sketch landscapes, urban features and human subjects. It is when we bring together all these different elements of an urban scene that our sketches come to life.

Book Contents

Foreword 6
Why we draw 8
Line, shading and tonal values 10
Lesson 1: Tools and exercises 12
Pencils 12
Nibs and fountain pens 14
Lesson 2: Colour 16
Working with colour 16
Mixed media 18
Lesson 3: Image composition  22
Perspective 24
Spatial depth 25
Visual tension 26
Visual expressiveness 27
Detail sections 28
Lesson 4: What brings a sketch to life? 30
Contrast 31
Decorative detail  32
Line control 36
Colouring 39
Complementary colouring 40
Dynamism 41
Lesson 5: Urban life 42
Lesson 6: Landscapes 48
Lesson 7: Human subjects 56
Afterword 64