Urban Sketch Blog
Tips, inspiration and stories from the world of urban sketching with artist and educator Ian Fennelly.
Ian found all five York workshops a few minutes’ walk apart. The trick wasn’t finding new places. It was standing somewhere new.
You don’t have to plan for texture at the start of a sketch. Ian puts his hatching on last, over the paint, and it does three jobs at once.
Muted colours help an old building look its age, but they can tip into dull. Here’s how Ian picks a muted palette and keeps it alive.
The top floors on the Shambles nearly touch. Here's how to draw a street where nothing is square.
Ian walked away from a beautifully restored hall in York. Here's why.
Plain letters first, chunky letters second, and always check the spelling.
Perspective does most of the work in a street and almost none of it in a field. Here is what Ian does instead, and the four ways he separates a foreground from a background.
The lessons that came back again and again from the hardest scene we have set.
Most sketchers move straight to a new subject. Here is what the second attempt gives you that the first cannot.
Urban sketching is about what you notice, not where you sketch. A photograph takes some of that out, and you can put it back.
Why your quickest sketches often have the most life, and how to loosen up.
Five days, five villages and sketchers from around the world. Here is what we took from the Cheshire retreat.
Animals move, and for a lot of sketchers that is where the sketchbook closes. Here is how Ian catches the life of a subject that won't hold a pose.
All that steel, stone and perspective can make a bridge feel impossible to draw. It isn't. Here's how Ian approaches any bridge, from a local footbridge to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Learn when to mix watercolour on the page for life and when to mix in the palette for control, with real examples from our urban sketching courses.
The Only Watercolours a Beginner Really Needs
How to find the big shapes hiding beneath all the detail.
Most of us draw with a pen and colour with a brush. Here is how Ian draws with the brush too, the rigger he reaches for, and why it loosens everything up
Muddy watercolour is rarely about your paints. Here is why it really happens, and how to keep your colour fresh.
Flat drawings usually have one thing missing: perspective. Here's how Ian teaches it on a steep cobbled slipway in an old smuggling village.
A sketching retreat ends and the hard part begins: keeping it going at home. Real takeaways from Urban Sketch Course members, plus a simple way to make the lessons stick.
Seven Days of Colour, Community, and Confidence Across the Mediterranean
You don't need to travel far to find five completely different subjects. You need to know how to look.
What Makes Sketch Italy Different from Any Course We Have Done Before
Why tonal value, not hue, is the secret to sketches that actually hold together - and how three colours can do the work of fifteen.
Learn how to pick the right scene and avoid overwhelming subjects with practical urban sketching composition tips.
Wales or New York? Beginners or Quick Sketch? A friendly guide to choosing the urban sketching course that suits you.
Your high street is full of extraordinary sketching subjects hiding in plain sight. Learn how urban sketching transforms the ordinary into something gorgeous.
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This article reveals why the very things that make old pubs charming - the sagging timbers, faded signs, hanging baskets, and chalkboards - are exactly what make them such forgiving and satisfying sketching subjects that are perfect for beginners.
Every building you walk past is full of signposts and junction boxes. The only difference between them is whether you have learned to tell which is which.*
One Point, Two Point and Three Point Perspective Explained
A simple guide to the rigger, flat and round brushes used in urban sketching, and how each supports washes, detail and water control.