Urban Sketching in Singapore

Welcome to Urban Sketching in Singapore. Urban sketching is a fun way to create fresh and spontaneous works while also enjoying some time outdoors. It combines the benefits of ink drawing and watercolour painting. Urban sketching is a great way to improve your drawing and painting skills. In this course, you’ll learn how to transform some urban scenes of Singapore into some beautiful line and wash sketches.

This course is aimed at beginners with 4 line and wash demonstrations which I’ll help guide you through step-by-step. There are scans, drawing and tracing templates included for each demonstration to help you transfer your drawing over quickly and easily. You can follow along with my real-time drawing and narration videos for all of these demonstrations.

In this course, I explain every technique I use while I’m drawing and painting, such as using watercolour to paint shadows on a building. I’ll be going over the basics of line and wash sketching. I’ll show you how to sketch with a pen quickly and accurately using a variety of techniques including drawing lines in segments, hatching and using different-sized nibs to your advantage. I’ll also talk about what materials you’ll need, your options, and which ones I use and recommend. If you have a pen, some watercolour paints and paper, then you’re set to go.

In this course, I will cover basics such as:

• How to draw simple to complex buildings with a pen, and how to use watercolour to imply light, shade and mood with a variety of colours.

• How to sketch figures and people.

• Materials – what paints, paper, brushes and pens you will need.

• Hands-on pen sketching techniques – follow along and sketch with me. Learn how to hold your pen for different effects, draw basic lines and shapes, and create depth and light/darkness in your drawing through the use of ‘hatching’.

• Understanding light sources and how to paint realistic shadows.

• How to sketch a subject quickly by simplifying a landscape into basic shapes, and using a combination of loose and accurate drawing styles.

• Hands-on lessons on essential watercolour techniques such as wet-in-wet and wet-on-dry.

• How to paint skies, buildings, land, figures, trees and shrubs, and other objects.

*Course scans, references and resources are available under the ‘Materials Required’ lecture.

So join me in this course – let’s create some beautiful drawings and paintings that you can be proud of!

Project Description

Assignment:

Your course project is to draw and paint your own urban landscape! This can be a scene featured in one of the course demonstration videos or based on one of your own photographs or scenes you have observed outside.

You can also refer to the scanned drawing/painting templates attached below which will allow you to trace the drawings if you choose to do so. I recommend drawing each scene free hand. Drawing is an important step in improving your painting skills. This provides you with an opportunity to compose and plan your painting. Once you’ve finished the drawing, use the watercolour steps and processes included in the course demonstrations to complete your painting.

Materials:

Use any permanent black ink pens, watercolour paper, and brushes you have available. I recommend:

• Lightfast/Permanent ballpoint ink pen (0.5mm nib) or pigment liners

• 100% cotton watercolour paper or sketchbook

• Watercolour Brushes – mop brush and a variety of round and flat brushes.

Getting Started:

Review the course demonstrations first. There are 4 different urban landscapes that you can draw and paint from. You can also download the tracing templates to transfer over your drawing.

Are you looking to sketch and paint another scene? Research some free reference photo websites, pick one of your own reference photos, or simply find an outdoor location where you can sit and paint. Using the steps and processes included in this course, create your own unique urban sketch.

Sharing Your Work:

Share your final illustration and progress shots with the course by uploading them to the “Q&A or Discussions” section on Udemy. If you have any questions or need more tips, please let me know. I’m happy to help.

Who this course is for:

• Beginner painters looking to learn how to draw and paint
• Beginners learning line and wash sketching
• Beginners looking to improve their urban sketching skills