Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to the Skillshare class on focusing and getting up to Sketch and urban sketching Skillshare course. Hi, I'm Mike. I love to travel. And I'm a self-taught urban sketcher from Canada. Now a few years ago I started thinking about learning how to draw and paint so I can sketch my travels, slow down and really notice where I was. I related the urban sketching community and aesthetic was right up my alley. And they also realized that I didn't need to travel the globe. So he got some sketch again. I tried to sketch as much as I can around my neighborhood. And I use that to really see the place I live in. Appreciated more. I want to get you to start thinking about your neighborhood as a place worthy of making memorable art. I want to inspire you to go out and see your own backyard as an endless opportunity for sketching. So are you new urban sketcher and maybe you're not sure of what to go out and sketch. Maybe you're suffering from artist block and you're not sure what to sketch anyway, or you just want to get out and have a pen in your hand and do something, but you're not sure what to go for. Maybe you're looking for new ways to explore this fascinating hobby. This class is for you. In this class we're gonna talk about a set of prompts and ideas to help you get out and sketch. I'm going to talk about the materials I use. I'm going to say whether you should sketch indoor some photographs or outside from life. And we're gonna talk about when you should do each one. Both are valid and I want you to make the best choice for you. We're going to talk about some ideas that you can sketch when you're just not sure what to do. How to organize your sketches around a theme and create a series. And then we're going to do a class project where you're going to put all of it together and make a series of artworks based on your neighborhood and a theme. The first thing we're going to talk about though, is materials.
2. Materials that I use: So now let's start talking about the materials that I use when I'm urban sketching. I don't take all of this stuff with me. I usually like to have a single piece of. So now let's talk about the materials I use when I'm urban sketching. I don't take all of the stuff with me. I usually bring only one of my notebooks, all of my pens and pencils, and my watercolor kit. My urban sketching kid is pretty standard. I have mechanical pencil. I rarely use this, but when I need it, I'm really glad to have him. Most of the time I do jump right in with my pen. But if I'm looking at a particularly difficult subject or something that I want to take more time to get just right. I've reached my pencil. Keep just regular HB lead net. It's something that I probably found that an office supply store, since it's I find it's possible to get light and dark lines quickly to go with my pencil. Well, I have a basic eraser and just from the Dollar Store, nothing fancy here. Since most of my urban sketching is done in pen, watercolor, I personally don't like to leave the pencil lines in. So if I'm gonna do a preliminary pencil sketch, but I'm going to do after I do with my inking is just erase that pencil line. I do have two pens. One of them is a fine liner. The brand doesn't really matter. I've used several different brands. As important thing is you're using waterproof ink. Now, I like both stapler and secured brand pens. We'd really, anything waterproof will work. When I first started, I just went to the craft store and saw what they had on sale. This particular pen is size 0.3. I find that's a good trade off between fine detail and fast sketching for, for the pen. But you might want something smaller because maybe you don't like the larger lines it makes or larger because you want to be able to sketch quicker. For me personally, if I go any bigger than at point 3, my lines start to get too heavy and it's really difficult for me to get fine lines. If I go any smaller than it's way too hard to get dark areas and I need them quickly. So I find the point 3 was a great trade off for me, but honestly I tried a number of different sizes before I finally settled. Now I also have this ballpoint pen, which I really rarely draw with. I know some people can do astonishing things with a ballpoint pen. But for me what I really use it for is if I wanted to take some notes or some journaling, I don't want to use my fine liner for that because I'm concerned that I'm going to break the tip. So if I'm going to just fill an entire page with a text describing my feelings and my thoughts about something that ballpoint pen is really what I'm going to use. Now I have a small box of watercolors. I find many Urban Skechers use watercolor over pen and ink, and that's what we're going to use in this, in this course. This particular one is a secure coin pocket sketching box. But honestly, when I started, I just went to the craft store and found whatever it was cheapest and that was only eight colors and I learned to mix and everything else. So it doesn't really matter which brand do you use? This particularly one, I really like it. It's not super expensive and I'll show you something about it. So it has 12 colors, a mixing palette here, but also it has a sponge, which is really, really handy whenever you're doing watercolor work and a water brush. Now, I use my water brush exclusively. I don't bring a lot of brushes with me. There's a little reservoir versus water and it's not a very large brush. It's not a very small brush. It's just a round standard brush. I'm certain I could do better using a different type of brush. But I like the portability and versatility that I have in this kit and that's what I tend to use. Now, I know that a lot of urban sketches use fewer colors. Some will use more colors. It really doesn't matter. What I find is a little bit of splash of color makes my drawings really pop, and that's why I like to use them. Next is paper. You'll notice I have three pads of paper here. This one is just a mixed media and it's nice and small. It's from Strathmore, but honestly the brand doesn't really matter. Again, go to the craft store, get whatever you can't can start sketching. That's the important thing. I personally like to use mixed media paper instead of watercolor paper because it's cheaper, you get more sheets for the same amount of money. I don't use sketching paper when I'm out in the field, urban sketching, because I'd like to use watercolor and sketching paper just cannot take the wet media. I have two different sizes of travel notebooks that I tend to take with me. My smaller one here is for when I don't have a lot of room and I have to just go somewhere quickly and I just grab my smaller traveled notebook and I go. My larger one is what I use if I know I'm going on a longer-term journey and I know I have a little bit more room to pack. I want to work with a slightly larger piece so that if I do want to do a larger painting or a larger drawing or whatever it happens to be, I can do that. And the smaller one just doesn't give me that freedom. The final thing I have here is a sketch pad. Now, I don't often use the sketch pad when I am out urban sketching. First of all, the papers all around, you can't handle watercolor anyway. But second, it's just too large, it's too bulky, it, so this one happens to be a nine by 12. But I really use this for, is when I'm trying to figure out maybe tree bark texture or rubrics or how to do perspective, whatever it is. This is my playground where I can use this larger piece of paper and it's cheap paper, and I can just start drawing. So if you are out urban sketching, then I really wouldn't recommend it. But if you're back home in your studio and you just wanted to play around, maybe you're even working from photo reference, then a larger, cheaper thing of sketch paper is going to be something very helpful. Now what should you use? Whatever you have? Honestly, if you have printer paper and a ballpoint pen, go out and start sketching. That's what is the most important thing, and you can start refining your calculator. I think it's much more important to get out and get sketching than it is to agonize over every choice you can make about materials. Just be sure that whichever paper you use is suited to the mediums you work in. So if you intend to use watercolor, you definitely need something that can handling, otherwise it'll just melt away. If I tried to use watercolor in this, it would just destroy the paper completely and my eulers wouldn't work out. Now I tend sometimes take a foldable stool with me. If you don't have what is it on the ground? That's the extent of my kit. And realistically, what is in it, what is not in it. It took me a couple of months to figure out and I just had to go up sketching and practicing and seeing what would happen.
3. Sketching indoors vs. Outdoors: So now we wanna talk about something that is often on people's minds when they first start doing some kind of art. Can I use a photo reference? The question when you're urban sketching sounds a little bit strange because usually why we urban sketch is to go out into our neighborhoods or during a Travel Session and sketch what we see. But that might not be for you. When I first started sketching, I was very self-conscious. I saw all of these amazing travel journals on the Internet and I was intimidated to go up and try it myself. The first time I went outside to sketch, I set up my trusty stolen my backyard. I hid myself in a corner, tried to sketch as quickly as possible just in case a neighbor saw me. I didn't make very good art. I didn't really like the experience. And I realized at that point that it wasn't really having any fun. And it's okay to work from photographs as long as I'm just having a pen in my hand and sketching, this is my hobby. And he really didn't want it to be on display for everyone, especially as I was just learning. Now that sounds like you and don't hesitate to go for a walk with your phone, take pictures of interesting things and sketch them when he get back inside, no one is judging you. We can make memorable art from photographs as much as we can make art sketching it from real life. Another thing to consider is whether we're time. Why would you sketch upside when you only have a few minutes? Maybe it's freezing or rainy or human. Photographs are great when you just want to get a sketching session in, but Mother Nature isn't cooperating. I have here actually something that wasn't even done from a single photograph. This is what I call the texture sheet. And I find them to be very, very helpful. And this one I'm just looking at different ways of drawing stonework or wood. And what I did here was I went out on a walk, looked at some stones, some bricks and windows and fences, that sort of thing. And then when I came back into my studio, I just open up my sketchbook and that's what it's for, just playing around. And I started saying, how can I make these textures work in an urban sketching contexts with just a pen and quickly and all of those sorts of things. I wasn't about to do that when I went out on a walk and sat up my stool and tried to do it myself. The next thing, and I'll be showing this as part of the class project as well. This was all done from pictures I took on a walk. I wanted to put it all together as part of the theme of things that we don't normally see, but really helped us live our everyday lives. And many of these things were just small quick sketches that I didn't really want to sit around for a set myself up for and get going. Now on the other hand, I do want you to think about something. Sketching outside is actually a lot of fun once you get used to it. As I became more and more confident my sketching, and as I started to understand that not everything I do, these would be an absolute masterpiece. I started sketching more and more outdoors. At first, I just sketch on camping trips and my family. The only people around where people who knew what I could do, They knew my capacities and I know I just wanted to play around and sketch. The pressure was reduced. Eventually though, I became confident enough to just set myself up in the middle of a crowd and get to work. It took awhile, but I'm glad I did it. When I sketch up doors I can achieve my goal is slowing down and really seeing the place where I'm in. I encourage you to try to make not a quiet street first just to get the hang of it. But there's no pressure if you want to take pictures and you want to draw from that. Go ahead. These are examples of two things that I did when I finally realized that I can go outside and sketch and you finally want to try it out. Here. I have a large oak tree and where they were was a place where a lot of categories were eating all the leaves. And I loved the tree bark texture. I love the gnarly ness of the oak tree. And that one took me a couple of hours. I was sitting at the beach, I had nothing else to do so I wanted to sketch. Here is an example of something I did in a crowd. People were watching me as I was sketching and he was a little weird, I'm gonna be honest with you. But what I realized was no one who was really judging me. They were just taking a look at what I could do. Could I sketch, could I not? How is it going? And then they would move on. So I encourage you, if you're ready, go out and try to sketch upside. But if you're not, go and take pictures and don't worry about it, as long as you're sketching. That's the important part.
4. Ideas to get sketching: I'm always amazed at myself when I can't think of what to draw. There's so many things around me, but I have trouble focusing on just one painting or drawing. Sometimes you might get the dreaded artist's block knowing you want to create art, but not knowing where or how to do it. If you just want to get out and sketching, but you don't know what to look at. Let me give you a couple of simple ideas that you can use to get sketching. The first idea I have is textures, and I'll show you a couple of the works that I've done with just textures. If you can't think of something to sketch, the problem might be that you really don't want to spend the time measuring proportions, drawing the skeleton, drying, filling it with watercolor, whatever it is. Maybe you just don't want to take that amazing amount of time. It takes, an amazing amount of mental effort it takes, and you just want to get the pen in your hand and produce some kind of art. You don't want to create a finished artwork, you just wanna do. This is we're doing a texture study comes in very, very handy. First of all, it's going to help you get better at doing those textures in the future. So here's a couple of mine. This one here is an old fence post and you'll notice I didn't complete the fence post. I didn't bother. I just wanted to look at that really, really good weather worn look of the wood. And so all I did here was I took a picture. You'll notice this is in my larger sketchbook. And I brought it home and I just wanted to sketch, I just wanted to draw something. And so I said, Well, how do I get those crags and the cracked wood and everything else? And I really like watching that. I didn't bother looking at proportions. The fence post probably went on for many more feet. And it really didn't matter to me because I just wanted to get the pen in my hand. Here's another one. There's an old tree that I pass every day I was at work and it has the coolest bark. Now with this tree here, I didn't really have a lot of time to sketch it. It's something I either I'm going into work in the morning or leaving at night, and I don't really want to set up my stuff and sketch in front of my office. So instead I took a picture of this cradle treat and this one was done over several days actually were I just wanted to get myself sketching something. And whenever I had 10 minutes and I just wanted to sketch, I figured let's do some texture work on the old tree painting. And that's what I did here. By working with textures. The first thing you're gonna do is improve your ability to see them. But also you're going to remove that pressure of having to get the composition or the proportions right, you can just jump right into sketch. The second idea is to look for something unusual. And here's a picture that you've already seen. And you'll notice it's a tech talk about with a face. This guy is known as Theodore tugboat, and he's a giant type boat that came into a city near me. And kids can go ahead and look at him. They love him. Apparently, he's part of a show. And I didn't really know exactly what it is that I wanted to draw. I didn't exactly know that I wanted to sketch Theodore tugboat, but as I was out on that walk in that different city, I notice something very unusual, which is this tug of war with a face. So I chose, well, let's do a quick painting. If you're struggling with what to draw, then maybe go for a walk and find the most unusual thing you can. It might be something like Theodore talking about. It might be a little library in front of your neighbor's house. Maybe it's interesting piece of trash. Maybe it's a house that stands out from its neighbors. Try and make a game of it. Find the most unusual things in your neighborhood and sketch them all. The next idea is to look for interesting contrasts. And I don't just mean in color or light and darkness. When I say the word interesting contrast, what I mean is to look for something that doesn't fit right together. Here's an example of that. Walking alone by the Coast. I saw that in the background, there is this industrial background. The entire coast of a lake was covered by this industrial complex that was producing any manner of things. And so that's what this one is here. It's a giant factory in two big silos. But then passing in front of that was this tall ship, this ship with beautiful sales. It was made of wood and it was an outstandingly well done. And to me that was some really interesting and funny contrast. So I wanted to sketch both of those things. Now you'll notice that I didn't really bother putting the ship in front of the industrial stuff in the background here. That's my maybe what's going to be there and it's not very detailed at all. But the fact that it was this contrast between these two different things I found was really, really interesting. And I thought it was something that I really needed to sketch. The final theme. If you're thinking about, well, what good is that I can do in urban sketching contexts? Well, why don't you go with what a lot of people already do? So in this case, here's an example of a door that I didn't some sketching and actually sketch this 13 or four times. And this is just my preliminary back at home in my studio sketch from a picture I took back in my city and things like doors and windows. A path, pathways are really, really useful for urban sketching because it kind of cool where do they go, especially if they're next to a building. And in this particular case, this green door. I just love this brick texture and the wood texture and everything else all coming together. And so I know I have to sketch it. So my advice to you is if you're not sure about what to sketch, pick something from this list. Remember we have four different things. You have textures, something unusual, contrasts and common themes. Put it all together and try to pick something in your neighborhood right now and go and sketch it.
5. Creating a series based around a theme: So the next thing we're going to be talking about is working with a theme. This is where you group your subjects and focus your art in something called a series in order to make it easier for you to go out every day and say, I'm going to do an urban sketch about something. And rather than being overwhelmed, you're going to be able to focus. So what does a series which is a theme? There are a set of artworks that go together. So loosest possible definition we can give. They really help you to focus. If I go inside right now and I look at all of my neighborhood and I tried to understand what's going on in it. There's a lot of things to sketch. There's homes, there's beautiful gardens, there's the road, there's everything. If I go out and looking for a theme, maybe I'm just sketching. And then I'm only going to be looking for those subjects that really catch my eye within that theme. And I can ignore all of the other things that I might want to sketch later. But today I'm going to focus on many famous artists actually made series. So Van Gogh's sunflowers is a really famous example of a series where he painted sunflowers and vases on flowers in different lighting conditions and all that sort of things that really spoke to him as an artist. And he wanted to communicate that to the world. I like to think of making a series in four steps. The first is choosing a theme. If you don't know what the theme it is, then the series is going to be kind of difficult to do. Then you're going to choose the number of sketches, take a walk, and finally dive in. Let's talk about choosing your theme. I like to group them into two different sets versus literal themes. And next is abstract themes. If you're just starting out and you're not sure about how to choose your theme, I recommend choosing a literal theme. This is where you find subjects that fit together in an easy to understand way. So if you show people all of your different artwork in a series, they're going to be able to say, oh I see. Your series was on trees or on old buildings. Some examples that you might want to consider, our doors and windows, because I find doors and windows are very pretty. And often if you want to work with the brick texture and the window texture, you have the glass, you have the maybe the wooden window pane. It's an interesting texture, but it's also not really that far beyond many people's abilities. Stepping up in difficulty might be old buildings. If you live in a city that has a lot of old buildings, then this might be a great theme for you. Keep in mind, it's a little bit harder to do because there's so much detail and old buildings and you have to decide what to keep and what to leave out. And it might be something that you might want to do for your second or third series. Trees and paths are really interesting to me because I like the idea of a tree or nature. And then next to it is a building. So we can talk about the urban places where we live in all of it is a path telling us to go somewhere. And I kinda like that. But it doesn't have to be nearly so complicated. It might just be things that are read, something that interests you is what is going to be your first name. An abstract themes or things where they have meaningful connections to you. But if you're going to show people these five or six different paintings that you did. They may not immediately understand what exactly it is that you were trying to get across and you have to explain it. For me. One of the most fun themes that I like to paint about is invisible infrastructure. These are things like the fire hydrogens or the water connections to your home, or even those Internet boxes where there's all the wires coming in and going out to the different houses. I love these things because it's something that we almost never noticed. Think about this. How many street lights are on your street? Do you know? Can you count them? Will sure. But have you ever done that? I find this invisible infrastructure, all the stuff that we take for granted to be something that's fascinating to me when I'm urban sketching. It might be something really abstract like learning and maybe that might include school. Okay, well that's a more literal interpretation. But maybe a bunch of children who are playing a new game, where maybe a bunch of people outside who are learning how to garden. And of course, adventure, any abstract theme that makes sense to you and really, really makes it passionate to go out and start sketching is something you can work on. Now the next question you have to ask yourself is, well, how many sketches am I going to make? Well first, at least two sketches. Otherwise you're not doing a series. But I recommend you try to keep it reasonable, especially if it's your first series. The problem with series is that sometimes you want to go out and do something different. And so if you commit to yourself and say, I'm going to sketch a 100 trees next to a 100 buildings. That's a huge amount of work that you've just committed to. So I recommend keeping it reasonable. And in our class project, we're going to have at least three sketches that you're going to be doing altogether. But the sky's the limit. You can do as many or as few as you want. Step three is, is go and take a walk. You might want to bring your kit if you're comfortable sketching outside, but I recommend first just going for a walk around your neighborhood. Don't bring your kit, maybe take your photo, take some pictures and start looking for subjects that excites you about your theme. Explore your neighborhood, and look for those things. Finally, just go for it. Go and start sketching, maybe outside, maybe from her photo references, and start creating your theme.
6. Class Project: Now let's talk about your class project. Where you're going to be doing is thinking of a theme. I want you to try to keep it literally if this is your first series or if you're a new urban sketch it and then do at least three different sketches about that theme. Now you might consider to do those sketches on different sheets of paper and make them really big. Or like I'm about to show you little vignettes of individual subjects. Here's my example. I call it invisible in plain sight. There are all these little tiny things that we just walked by and they're a crucial infrastructure for our cities. So I wanted to do them in one page and I put them a little vignettes is so I could have them altogether. That may not be for you. That may be what you wanna do. I want you to make that choice. Then I want you to share what you have with the class. I'd love to see your work. I think you can do it. So get out there and get sketching.
Michael Cooper-Stachowsky, Creative explorer
