Light and Shade: Making Your Sketch Look “Real”
PREMIUM: Getting light and shade right in a sketch goes a very long way to making a sketch believable, to give a feeling of “being there”. Here’s how I approach it.
Sketching On Holiday: Now It’s Me Time!
PREMIUM Lots of us would love to capture a few memories on holiday in a sketch, but what do we bring with us, and how do we keep everyone happy?
How to Sketch the Sky in Watercolour
PREMIUM A beautiful sky is the most effective way to add atmosphere to your sketch; all kinds of cloud conditions can be realistically depicted with the aid of a few simple techniques.
Planning an Urban Sketch: 10 Tricks for your Toolbox (Parts Two and Three)
PREMIUM The second and final part of my 10 Tricks for your Toolbox. Elements four through ten are some of the things to consider when planning your sketch.
Planning an Urban Sketch: 10 Tricks for your Toolbox (Part One)
PREMIUM It’s good to do some advance planning before you put pen to paper. Far from removing spontaneity, it gives you freedom to express yourself, confident that you know what you’re doing.
Urban Sketching Kit 1: Watercolours
PREMIUM With an almost endless choice of watercolours to choose from, it can feel daunting to choose just a handful for your urban sketching paintbox. I’d like to share my choices with you.
Making Colours Pop – As Easy as 1, 2, 3
PREMIUM Sketchers often wonder why their watercolours don’t “pop” with bright, clear colour. The solution is really easy, and I describe it in this article in 3 simple steps.
Know Your Values: Speed and Light with Versatile Indigo
PREMIUM article. Light and shadow can be effectively conveyed with the use of just one colour added to an ink line. Here the colour used is indigo, but Payne’s grey is equally effective.
Only Human, After All: 10 Dos and Don’ts When Drawing People
PREMIUM article. While it’s potentially very rewarding, drawing people is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face as a sketcher. Get the inside track of tips and techniques to make it easier…
The Colours In My Paintbox: How They Earn Their Place
PREMIUM article. Finding you’re missing a crucial colour can be annoying at best..but choosing just twelve colours for your paintbox is hard. Here I describe mine, and why they’re there.