Sketching on location

A 10 week course covering a broad range of tools and subjects. I bring to this course the experience of over 50 years of  traveling and sketching as well as conducting sketching tours of Europe for the last 20 years.
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The premise of the course is to sketch on location, be it people, landscapes or cityscapes and combinations of them all. All lessons are videos of me drawing in real situations such as the inside of an airplane, a city street or a pub. The lessons will follow in a general way the Vilppu “Sketching on Location Manual” and it is recommended that you acquire a copy.
 


All materials to be used in my demonstrations will be explained fully. In general, I travel very lightly with a minimum of tools. I use nothing larger than 8.5 X 11 inch paper (or A4) and often much smaller sketchbooks, simple, easily acquired watercolor sets, pencils and pens. I have developed some methods of working with my materials that go back to methods and procedures used over the centuries by artists which are as applicable today as they were then. I have broken the lessons into a series of steps that build upon each other. Since the demonstrations are real life situations there will be considerable overlapping so that the steps both technically as well artistically will be covered in many varied situations. The fundamentals do not change but the opportunities for their use are varied.

 

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Week 1
Materials and their demonstrations. Point to Point, the fundamental first step, learning to see pictorially.

Week 2
Thumb Nail Sketches, focusing one’s attention and development of subject.

Week 3
Planes in Space, creating the Illusion of depth, a primary first element of pictul organization.

Week 4
Light and Dark Patterns. The main element of a design that gives us the overall look of our work. This is a continuation of elements discussed in the thumb nail sketches.

Week 5
Pencil Technique. The Broad Pencil technique is a universally used approach in rendering subjects from landscapes to figures. This approach is used widely in many forms of illustration.

Week 6
The Quick Sketch as a step in developing a drawing. In this lesson the sketch on location will be used in carrying the drawing further at a later point in time.

Week 7
The Silhouette - Positive and Negative Shape. The elements of instant recognition of one’s subject.

Week 8
Three Dimensional Figures as well as the diagramming of space.

Week 9
Atmospheric Perspective and it’s use in creating space.

Week 10
Using the Camera or Smartphone as a tool.