Course Overview
Dive into urban sketching with four experienced artists as they teach you how to capture the people, places, and energy of the city. Everyday Urban Sketching helps you overcome the challenges of drawing on location, from the movement of people and vehicles to the complex textures and colors of urban environments. Across 32 lessons, you’ll learn various approaches to sketching buildings, lively scenes, and journaling your urban adventures with intuitive, expressive techniques using ink, watercolor, and more.
Video Lesson List
Module 1: Expressive Urban Sketching with Suma
1. Introduction and Materials
Meet instructor Suma and review essential materials. Practice quick exercises to boost your sketching confidence on the go.
Duration: 13 min
2. Vignettes
Learn the “Read It, Frame It, Draw It” approach for choosing compelling scenes and sketching their essence swiftly and effectively.
Duration: 10 min
3. Sketching on the Move: Play, Pause, Rewind
Master Suma’s method for sketching while in motion, marking moving objects and capturing stories from daily urban routines.
Duration: 35 min
4. Adding People: Symbols, Not Statues
Bring your sketches to life by adding people as quick symbols. Learn basic proportions, clothing, and watercolor skin tones.
Duration: 22 min
5. Nature: Sky, Ground, Middle
Render natural elements in urban scenes using the “Sky, Ground, Middle” method—create landscapes quickly without formal perspective.
Duration: 17 min
6. Watercolor: Tips for Fast Sketching
Enhance your sketches with energetic watercolor techniques for unity and vibrancy.
Duration: 15 min
Module 2: Urban Journaling with Judith Cassel-Mamet
7. Getting Started
Discover Judith’s journaling philosophy, necessary tools, and how to make two types of art journals.
Duration: 30 min
8. Activating Your Journal
Infuse blank pages with energy using color, design, and even coffee or wine stains.
Duration: 24 min
9. Text as a Graphic Element
Use text artistically with headers, accents, and calligraphy for creative journal pages.
Duration: 22 min
10. Incorporating Ephemera
Learn techniques for including found materials and natural ephemera in your urban journal.
Duration: 24 min
11. Sketching Shortcuts
Find quick, effective ways to sketch your surroundings and use your camera as a visual aid.
Duration: 22 min
12. Completing Your Journal
Organize and secure ephemera, layer various materials, and add finishing flourishes to your journal’s spine and cover.
Duration: 32 min
Module 3: Travel Sketching with Marc Taro Holmes
13. Single-Line Sketching
Practice single-line sketches for speed and simplicity while traveling, and learn how to add contrast.
Duration: 30 min
14. Draw Like a Painter
Apply brush pen techniques to group light and dark forms, then translate the method to complex street scenes with water-soluble ink.
Duration: 30 min
15. Tinting Drawings in Watercolor
Layer watercolor washes over line sketches using wet-in-wet effects for vibrant urban scenes.
Duration: 27 min
16. Sketch Collecting
Plan your visual storytelling with themed sketchbook montages and create a travel log like a documentary filmmaker.
Duration: 21 min
17. Painless Perspective
Simplify perspective challenges with Marc’s methods, making urban angles easy to draw.
Duration: 24 min
18. Watercolor Sketching
Use negative painting and charging-in techniques to make focal points pop in watercolor sketches.
Duration: 21 min
19. Working in Layers
Master layering in watercolor to add midtones and finishing details for a professional look.
Duration: 17 min
Module 4: Architectural Sketching with Stephanie Bower
20. How We See Buildings
Refresh perspective basics and Stephanie’s three-step sketching process for capturing architecture.
Duration: 21 min
21. Architectural Elements
Sketch doors, windows, columns, and arches accurately in perspective using practical guidelines.
Duration: 26 min
22. Building Materials
Depict different building materials and textures, adding realistic depth and focus to your sketches.
Duration: 28 min
23. Sloping Surfaces
Easily draw stairs and roofs using simple techniques and accurately find roof centers.
Duration: 20 min
24. Tips & Techniques
Get tips for composition, lively mark-making, and boosting the energy of city sketches.
Duration: 18 min
25. Sketching Buildings on Location
Apply new skills in the field, sketching buildings on location and adding color for extra impact.
Duration: 23 min
Module 5: Figures and Storytelling with Marc Taro Holmes
26. The Pencil Gesture
Learn to quickly capture people in motion with loose, gestural pencil sketches.
Duration: 17 min
27. Adding Ink
Build on pencil gestures by refining forms and shadows in ink without losing energy.
Duration: 31 min
28. Brushwork & Hatching
Use brush pens and hatching for focal points, texture, and dynamic silhouettes.
Duration: 21 min
29. Adding Color
Finish with a portable watercolor palette, reinforce shadows, and add expressive color detail.
Duration: 26 min
30. Advanced Techniques: Water-Soluble Ink
Capture faster-moving subjects using water-soluble ink and blend for expressive effects.
Duration: 19 min
31. Advanced Techniques: Direct to Watercolor
Paint dynamic urban scenes directly in watercolor, focusing on large shapes and silhouettes, then add details.
Duration: 20 min
32. Capturing Multiple People
Tell stories through your sketches by arranging figures and using color to create captivating sequences.
Duration: 15 min

