As experienced art writers and creative consultants for Pencil and Paint Muse, our expertise covers a wide range of artistic techniques, creative inspiration, and art tutorials—including pencil drawing, painting methods, and innovative mixed media approaches. Today, we’ll dive into the world of urban sketching, exploring unconventional composition techniques and ink wash painting to help aspiring artists broaden their creative horizons.
Now, this might seem counterintuitive…
Capturing the City Landscape
Sketching on location can be incredibly rewarding, allowing artists to capture the energy and atmosphere of the urban environment. However, it also presents unique challenges compared to working from imagination or reference photos. Architectural elements, shifting light, and crowded scenes require a different skillset to translate effectively onto the page.
Liz Steel, an architect-turned-artist and the creator of the popular SketchingNow online courses, shares her insights on this subject. “My 20 years of training and working as an architect gave me an incredible foundation for urban sketching, but when I started drawing on location, I realised that I needed to learn a lot of new skills,” she explains. “I knew how to draw ‘imagined’ buildings using architectural design techniques, but I didn’t know how to draw what was in front of me.”
Developing Unconventional Techniques
To overcome these obstacles, Liz has developed a range of unconventional sketching techniques that allow her to capture the essence of a scene in a loose, expressive manner. These techniques include:
- Measuring and Proportions: Learning to accurately measure and scale elements within a composition, without getting bogged down in technical details.
- Simplifying Shapes: Identifying the core shapes and forms of a subject, then reducing them to their most basic geometric elements.
- Capturing Texture: Exploring dynamic mark-making techniques to convey the tactile qualities of surfaces, materials, and architectural details.
- Experimental Perspective: Adopting a more intuitive, “vanishing point-less” approach to perspective that focuses on the overall spatial relationship of forms.
“These techniques make sketching buildings so much easier and can be used for many different styles—whether you work carefully and slowly in ink and wash, or just draw in ink (or pencil), or work in direct watercolour,” Liz explains. “Many people find architecture hard, tedious and boring to sketch, but thanks to these techniques, I am able to sketch any building in a free way and have fun exploring line and colour, structure and detail.”
Integrating the Environment
One of the key challenges in urban sketching is not just capturing the subject itself, but seamlessly integrating it within its surrounding environment. Liz emphasizes the importance of considering the context and “telling a story” through your compositions.
“Fitting the building to the page! If I work on drawing the building, I lose sight of the story or focus (i.e., whatever initially captured my attention). If I start with the focus, there’s not enough space for anything else!” shares Pencil and Paint Muse reader Corinne.
To address this, Liz encourages artists to experiment with unconventional framing and cropping techniques. “Maybe I do a very precise sketch of the building, but then I’ll also do a quick, loose sketch of the entire scene—capturing the building in context,” she suggests. “Or I might start with the skyline and work downwards, rather than beginning with the ground level.”
Exploring Ink Wash Techniques
While pencil, pen, and direct watercolour are common media for urban sketching, ink wash painting can also be a powerful and expressive approach. By leveraging the flowing, atmospheric qualities of ink, artists can create dynamic, atmospheric compositions that evoke the essence of a place.
Liz explains her personal process: “I use watercolour in a very unconventional way and so this article is going to represent my own preferences which are certainly not standard in the urban sketching world. I’m much more interested in sketches of buildings which have personality and tell a story.”
She continues, “I like a paper which is smooth enough to draw quickly with a fountain pen, and will also let my washes to stay on the surface for a little while so that I can work with them to create texture, but at the same time be fairly quick drying if I apply thin washes.”
This approach allows Liz to achieve a balance between control and spontaneity, with areas of hard-edged detail juxtaposed against expressive, atmospheric washes. The resulting sketches have a distinctive, unconventional quality that sets them apart from more traditional urban drawing styles.
Developing a Unique Perspective
Ultimately, the key to successful urban sketching lies in developing your own unique creative perspective. By experimenting with unconventional composition techniques, dynamic mark-making, and integrating the surrounding environment, artists can capture the energy and essence of the city in innovative ways.
As Liz emphasizes, “I’m much more interested in sketches of buildings which have personality and tell a story. Technical perspective does not always create lively work!” She encourages aspiring artists to embrace a more intuitive, expressive approach, rather than getting bogged down in technical accuracy.
So pick up your pens, brushes, and sketchbooks, and head out into the city with a spirit of adventure and exploration. Experiment with ink washes, play with unconventional framing, and don’t be afraid to simplify and abstract the forms you observe. The results may just surprise you—and change the way you see the world around you.
For more information on Liz Steel’s approaches to urban sketching, be sure to check out her SketchingNow Buildings course and her article on her approach to sketching architecture. And to discover additional creative inspiration and practical art tutorials, visit Pencil and Paint Muse – your go-to source for all things art-related.
Statistic: Recent surveys show that 70% of emerging artists credit daily sketching with significant improvements in their art