Adventures In Urban Sketching Part 4
As the coronavirus pandemic tightened its grip, the world ground to a halt.
While millions of us were locked down in our homes, worried about what the future might hold, Ian worked away in his studio to bring us the Virtual World Sketching Tour.
What made this course so special was the heartwarming feedback from so many grateful people who were feeling isolated and scared during lockdown.
Virtual World Sketching Tour gave people a wonderful escape from the present reality by ‘transporting’ us to four different countries, where Ian revealed all his best-kept secrets for sketching from photos of beautiful locations around the world.
Once restrictions started to lift, we took advantage of the quiet streets and filmed the Greatest Hits of London course.
Ian selected several iconic London landmarks to demonstrate how you can create incredible sketches in less time using his 3-Step Quick Sketching process.
Sketching London in a quiet time was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you’ve watched an apocalypse movie, then you’ll understand how we felt sketching all these usually chaotic landmarks in peace and quiet – it was completely surreal!
FUN FACT: The zoo sketching course started out with a Toucan and changed to a Parrot because the colour was much more vibrant.
We all agree that there’s nothing better than being out on location sketching in the sun. But there’s one man who seems to love working in the sun more than most…
Introducing our superstar behind the lens; Cam the cameraman!…
But the real reason why Cam loves filming in the sun is not so that he can top up his tan, but because of the copious amounts of ice cream he gets to eat!
Robin Hood’s Bay served the most delicious ice creams. If there was a record for ‘number of ice creams consumed in a week’, we’re certain Cam would be up there. Ian even made reference to it during one of the workshops!
Fortunately, Robin Hood’s Bay is a very hilly place so we quickly burnt off all those excess calories (those hills also gave Ian the perfect opportunity to teach you his advanced lessons in drawing perspective and depth).
But Cam wasn’t the only one who enjoyed a tasty treat. As we filmed Ian sketching the Smugglers Inn, the store next to us was attacked by a hungry seagull.
He didn’t get an ice cream, but he did manage to steal a packet of mint humbugs. Hmm, I’m not convinced they’re a seagull’s favourite though!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading a few of our stories from behind the scenes and learning a little more about the Urban Sketch team.
Despite all the challenges of filming on location, creating these courses is a labour of love for us. We pour everything into making, what we hope is, an enjoyable and engaging learning experience for you.
The incredible results that our students are achieving and the impact that Ian’s teachings are having on people’s lives makes everything we are doing worthwhile.
You can find our complete range of courses here. I hope to see you on another one soon. And please remember to share all your work in our Urban Sketch gallery – we never tire of seeing them!
Best wishes,
