Pocket Urban Sketching with Gabriel Campanario To become a fearless and prolific urban sketcher, there’s nothing like drawing on a notebook the size of this booklet to fuel your motivation. A small, easy-to-carry notebook makes sketching less intimidating and is ideal to create fast drawings on the go. In this workshop, Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario shares practical drawing tips from more than a decade capturing mundane and extraordinary moments in his pocket sketchbook.
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Small
The skethchbook spread is your canvas. A dynamic layout often involves scenes of contrasting size and shape. I follow a small-mediumand-large rule to organize multiple drawings.
Medium
Draw a collection. Use a ske tchbook spread to capture a series of related objects you see around your town: street signs, light posts, benches... It’s a good warm up before attempting more complex sce nes.
Off-cent er. Placin g th subject o f your dra e wing off cente r in relati on to the sketc hbook sp rea creates a balanced d composit ion.
Storytelling. A mini-portrait of the artisan who makes wooden pens out of this old boat turns this spread into a little story. I used a fou ntain pen for expressive linework and skipped adding any color.
tchbook. Writer ske s use the I sometime und my margins aro to k drawings pocketboo e v ti a rr a The n write stuff. ted la re n u r ted o can be rela u ing itself. Yo to the draw gs, n si u m rivate may write p arly tes or the e random no novel est-selling draft of a b g! in the makin
. Artist sketchbook ok is A pocket sketchbo ercolor ideal for quick wat ay use as studies that you m works reference for larger rmat later. The small fo complete means you’ll likely er. your painting fast
t. A pocket Experimen can double sketchbook ry le laborato as a portab new t can try ou where you used I s. chnique tools and te e m onochro a layer of m ncil over this pe watercolor e to fix th value study . to the page graphite on
Architecture. Leav e extra room in front of the buildin g so people can “walk� into your sk etch as if they wer e walking into the re al building.
Crowds. Mak e the figures closest to you more defined and suggest the rest with just a few strokes.
n to the Wide wiew. Pay close attentio in the nts smallest and largest eleme yers pla cer scene. In this case, the soc is ke stro are so tiny that a simple re. enough to suggest their figu
Savor the m oment. Every drawing you make on your pocket sk etchbook will bring mem ories of fun ti mes recording the world around you.
This 3.5-hour urban sketching crash course offers useful tips to draw on location with a basic tool kit consisting of a pocket sketchbook, pencil, pen and watercolors. Learning goals • Become comfortable with basic tools and techniques to practice urban sketching • Become familiar with small format of the pocket sketchbook and learn to draw standing up • Learn to fit wide scenes onto the small pages of the sketchbook • Learn basic layout principles to arrange drawings and writing on the pages • Learn basic tips to use watercolor successfully • Gain drawing confidence by working through a sketch from start to finish without hesitation Supply list • Sketchbook: A free Stillman & Birn pocket sketchbook is included with registration. • Pen. Bic, Uniball Vision and Micro Pigma are good brands of waterproof pens. You may also bring your own fountain pen. • Pencil or mechanical pencil. Try bringing both hard and soft pencils, such as 2H, HB, 3B and 6B. • Watercolor kit. Winsor & Newton and Royal Talens Van Gogh pocket kits are a good start. • Waterbrushes (Niji or Pentel) • Water container and rag or paper towel • Brushes. My favorite is an angle brush. Workshop sponsor: