Liverpool, UK

You might be a complete beginner who has never held a fineliner. Great! That’s exactly where most people start with Ian, and it’s a perfect starting point because you’ve got no bad habits to unlearn – and a week of personal guidance ahead of you.

You might be someone who’s taken Ian’s online courses and now wants to step up a level and experience what it’s like to learn directly from him, in person, in a city that practically begs to be drawn.

Or you might be someone who came on a previous retreat and already knows what impact this week has. (Some of our guests are on their fifth!)

What you don’t need to be is “talented.” You don’t need to be experienced. You don’t need to have it all figured out before you arrive.

You just need to want to spend a week doing something entirely for yourself, surrounded by people who understand exactly why that matters.

Every day follows a rhythm that our past retreat guests describe as “intense but never overwhelming.”

After a good breakfast, mornings start with Ian demonstrating at the day’s location – breaking down what looks impossibly complex into the logical steps that have made him one of the most respected urban sketching teachers in the world. 

Then you sketch. Ian moves between the group, working with each person individually. This is the part you simply cannot get from a screen. The moment where he stands at your shoulder and says, “See that roofline? Forget the windows. Just catch the angle” – and suddenly something clicks.

Afternoons are typically spent back at the private studio adding later steps, refining your work, and making new breakthroughs. 

Throughout the week you’ll be supported by the Urban Sketch team. Rebecca, Kayla, Neil & Annette are there for one reason: to make sure you don’t have to think about anything except your sketching. Logistics, questions, supplies, dinner recommendations – it’s all handled. One past guest described it as being like “travelling with Mum and Dad again, only more fun.”

Liverpool is one of Britain’s most dramatic cities to draw. A UNESCO World Heritage waterfront, Victorian grandeur on a massive scale, and a creative energy that you can feel in the street.

It’s a city that doesn’t apologise for itself – and that makes it extraordinary for sketchers. Every neighbourhood has a different character, a different scale, a different story.

In seven days, you could sketch:

The Three Graces at the Pier Head – the Liver Building, Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building, standing shoulder to shoulder against the Mersey

The Albert Dock, where cast iron and brick create some of the most satisfying industrial geometry you’ll ever put on paper

Both Liverpool Cathedrals – the Gothic Anglican masterpiece and the bold, circular Metropolitan Cathedral at either end of Hope Street

The Baltic Triangle – Liverpool’s creative quarter, full of street art, converted dock buildings and independent studios

The ornate Victorian terraces of the Georgian Quarter and Toxteth’s broad, leafy streets

Stanley Dock and the Tobacco Warehouse – the largest brick building in the world, and one of the most unexpected sketching subjects in England

Everything is accessible. Everything is distinctive. And Ian knows exactly which spots will stretch you, teach you, and – by the end of seven days – leave you wondering why you’d never drawn here before.

No – and that’s deliberate. Part of what makes Ian exceptional is his ability to read the conditions on the day and put the group in the right place at the right time.

If the light is better by the river in the morning, that’s where you go. If a street is too crowded to set up, he knows three alternatives within a five-minute walk.

If the weather changes, he adapts – a covered courtyard or the studio instead of an exposed terrace. If the group needs a simpler subject after a tough day, he adjusts.

This isn’t a fixed tour itinerary – it’s a week of teaching by someone who’s sketched in more cities than most people will visit in a lifetime.

What’s guaranteed is that every location will be chosen for a reason, you’ll be challenged, and your skills will be visibly better by Friday than they were on Monday.

If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to contact our support team on [email protected].

A real human will get back to you within 24 hours.