A useful place to learn
Teoh Yi Chie shares drawing lessons, location sketches and materials discussions through his own channel and ParkaBlogs. His teaching includes the problem of simplifying complex urban scenes. The linked public film offers an entry point; his separately sold courses are distinct resources. The artwork illustrating this article is by Mark C Grant, not Teoh.
Name the largest relationship
When a scene becomes overwhelming, find the largest light shape and the largest dark shape. Put those on the page as a thumbnail. A busy market may become a pale awning against a darker shopfront, with several smaller figures below. This is our practical prompt, not a transcript of the film or a claim about how its maker drew every example.
Watch with a question
Before pressing play, choose one question: how is the main structure established, what gets left out, or how is a small figure made readable? Take a short note when the film gives you something useful. Afterwards, try the idea on a different subject. The useful transfer is the decision you learned to make, rather than a copy of the instructor’s finished page.
Your turn · 25 minutes
Take it to the page.
- Watch the linked public film with one question written beside your sketchbook.
- Choose a busy view and reduce it to three large shapes.
- Develop one area while leaving another as a simple mass.
Look back: What did you leave out deliberately? Can the larger scene still be understood?
A companion film
On location · Teoh Yi Chie
What I Learnt From Urban Sketching (LIVE STREAM)
Look for: Choose one question about working outdoors and note a useful answer.
Then try: Try one idea from the discussion on a fifteen-minute drawing from observation.
Watch on YouTube ↗Sources & further looking
- Illustration: Market Stalls, Ormskirk by Mark C Grant ↗
- Teoh Yi Chie: simplifying complex scenes ↗
- Teoh Yi Chie: public video ↗
Close-looking observations and practical exercises are this publication’s interpretation. Illustration credits are shown beside each work.
