The sketching school

Learn it on the page.

Twenty-four lessons, with something to try in every one. Begin with the first six, then follow the question your next drawing raises.

Practice ticks are saved in this browser. They record the exercises you choose to try, not a test score.

0 of 24 exercises tried.

Begin where you are.

Six foundations: choosing a view, structure, line, people and colour.

The street is already a studio.
A notebook, something that makes a mark, and a place to pause. You can begin before you feel ready.
Open lesson
Move your feet before the pen.
Composition is easier to change while it is still a choice of where to sit.
Open lesson
Perspective without the panic.
Eye level, a corner and a few honest comparisons. The street need not pass an architecture exam.
Open lesson
A line does not have to explain everything.
Contour, overlap and a few useful silences. Give the pen a job beyond outlining the world.
Open lesson
People who won’t stand still.
A gesture, a direction and a place to put their feet. No one owes your sketchbook a pose.
Open lesson
Colour with a job to do.
Three washes can say more about a street than twenty carefully painted windows.
Open lesson

Values, gaps, measurement, a receding street, windows and ellipses.

Three values. No committee meeting.
Sort a complicated street into light, middle and dark before the palette gets involved.
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The gap is doing half the work.
Use the spaces between things to check shapes without an architectural survey.
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A pencil can measure. Loosely.
Comparing proportions with the tool already in your hand.
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One street. One vanishing point.
A straightforward way into the view down a road or corridor.
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The window department is closed.
Suggest a façade’s rhythm without individually interviewing sixty-four windows.
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Your coffee is not a pointed oval.
Drawing rims, bowls and tabletops with a little more confidence.
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Shadows, moisture, layers, foliage, brick and reflections.

The shadow knows where everything sits.
Use connected darks to give a street structure and weight.
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Let the wash do the weather.
Soft edges, damp paper and knowing when to leave the brush alone.
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A second wash, with a reason.
Build depth through dry layers without stirring the entire painting back to life.
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Green is not one colour.
Make trees and planting belong to the same light as the buildings.
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You do not owe the wall every brick.
Use texture selectively so the building remains a building.
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The water has not brought tracing paper.
Observe broken reflections without mechanically copying the skyline upside down.
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Cars, bicycles, trees, crowds, signs and mixed media.

Park the car on the page.
A roof, a body and a shadow before you worry about the badge.
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A bicycle is mostly air.
Draw the relationships between wheels, frame and empty space.
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Give the tree somewhere to stand.
A canopy, a trunk and the few branches that explain how the whole thing holds together.
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A crowd needs a ground plane.
Keep people in the same space without making everyone the same size.
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The sign can say less and still speak.
Lettering, shopfronts and the decision to leave some words implied.
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Bring another tool. Give it a job.
Pen, pencil, paint and opaque marks can share a page without holding a meeting.
Open lesson

Your turn

Show your sketch, ask a question or tell us what you noticed. There’s room for the wonky windows too.

Pass it on

Send them the page. A useful idea is worth sharing.