What I Learned about Sketching on a Trip to India, #4 & #5

And here are tips #4 and #5...

4. It takes me at least a week to warm up. 

I had to push through the first few weeks of making sketches I didn't like in order to figure out how to draw and paint in India. Every place is different--different humidity (affects watercolor drying time), different colors (in Seattle, everything is gray, so the colors of India were definitely challenging), different building building and plants that I have to figure out how to represent. 

This is why instructors show up early at the symposiums...we might sketch all the time, but being in a new place requires a bit of reinvention and figuring out how to work in a new place with different variables.

Queen's Bath at Hampi--it's worth a trip to India to see this place.
This was one of the first sketches that I liked...in part because I found a spot where I could sketch without many interruptions. Plus, this amazing architecture was so inspiring!

5. Post your sketches as you go, if you can. 
I found that Facebook was slow to come up on my phone, but Instagram was very fast and worked better on the road. That is why I finally started posting to Instagram! It was fun to watch the numbers grow and also respond to comments along the way.

It's much harder to post when I'm back home and the realities of work and home, plus, it's exciting to share where you are WHEN you are there! I posted a lot compared to other trips I've taken, thanks primarily to the ease of Instagram and paying extra for higher speed data on my phone.

Good Bones and more in Melbourne

After Adelaide, I headed to Melbourne to teach a workshop...location was the University of Melbourne campus, close to the home in North Melbourne of my wonderful host, Angela Williams.  THANK YOU, Angela, for bringing me here and for taking such great care of me! It was such wonderful fun!! 

The weather looked iffy ( I hoped for late summer weather but instead got early fall weather...global climate change makes it impossible to predict!), so I spent a lot of time scoping out locations under cover should it rain. 

Practicing in the Old Quad on campus.

In the end, the Old Quad and the Old Arts Building were perfect locations for our 2 days of workshop and Sunday morning of what turned out to be a HUGE sketchcrawl! It was great to meet so many talented sketchers in Melbourne.

The workshop group was great fun, coming all the way from Perth, Brisbane, outside Melbourne, Canberra...I was so honored that folks traveled to get here!

Another highlight of my time in Melbourne was giving a talk about my work and sketching at the offices of world famous engineers, ARUP. Thanks again to Angela, who has worked here for 10 years and was kind enough to set up this opportunity. We had a large crowd after work, and they stayed until the bitter end!

Here are some of my Melbourne sketches, plus a few photos!

Another warm up sketch before the workshop, in the Old Quad. I used the front arch as a frame,
in my Pentalic sketchbook.

Lovely Meet & Greet the evening before the workshop started!

Our group at the Old Quad!

I love this view of the hardworking group sketching inside the Quad.

Me, doing a demo for the workshop...

 

Day 2, Watercolor at outdoor tables on campus...

Some examples of the many beautiful sketches done by this group! My goal is for them to not draw like me, but to draw in their style but BETTER for having a better understanding of perspective and color.

Very quick sketch while on my way to the ARUP offices to give a lecture. This is the Royal Exhibition Hall...

Great turnout for the Sunday morning open sketch crawl!!!

My sketchcrawl sketch of the Old Arts building Tower.

Thank you sketchers in Melbourne, thanks to the University of Melbourne for allowing us to draw on campus,
and thanks to Angela Williams for being so kind and generous and all her hard work!!

Workshop, Inside the Chiesa San Donato

Late June in Civita is blazing hot, so one of the ways we escape the heat is to sketch inside the Chiesa San Donato. I've done a few sketches of this lovely church on past trips, you can see the first one from 2013 in my Pentalic sketchbook below. 

The concept for this sketch above is exactly the same as for the one below...I always start with the big shapes. An advantage of this particular view what that I was also able to use that center arch as a way to determine where the elements on the far wall were located...for example, the spring line for the far arches is just about half way up the front arch.  So this makes getting shapes and proportions easier.

Here is the photo of the nave of the chiesa, and below it is the diagram I draw in the workshop to explain the concept of drawing the arches. As I always teach, we start with the shape of the space, then the VP and eye level lines, than I use this structure to fill in the basic lines that describe the space.

Pretty early on, I'll add the arches...first by drawing the rectangular bays made by the columns, then I put in the spring line where the arch starts.  You'll see I also lightly sketch in the entire ellipse, as this makes it easier to get the arch shape. Once I have all that structure in, I start filling in the sketch.

There is a lot more info on this in both my book and Craftsy classes.

Diagram sketch of the chiesa space and arches.

This is one of my all time favorite sketches!  It might be where I started doing these wide-angle views
that I love so much.

When I paint these sketches, I also approach the watercolor thinking like an architect. The first thing I'll do is paint in that pale blue (cobalt with a touch of perm. alizarin crimson) in all the openings, so that the voids appear to recede.  Next I'll use a little gray and yellow ochre to warm the walls and arches in the center nave, so that they advance in space. I'm always thinking about solids vs. voids in architecture.

And here we are at the end of the day, in front of the beautiful salmon colored Chiesa!!

Kimbell Art Museum, thanks y'all!

A few weeks ago, I contacted Texas sketcher Jim Richards to say I planned to be in his neck of the woods in early June. Although he would be out of the country, he was kind enough to let other North Texas sketchers know, and we set up a date and time to meet last Saturday.

To my utter delight, a large group actually showed up!  It was so very wonderful to make new friends and to have company while I sketched--it brightened what would otherwise be a difficult week.  Even got to do a short demo! Plus the setting, the incredibly beautiful Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth designed by one of the most famous architects of the last century, Louis Kahn, was so inspiring.  It was difficult to do justice to this exquisite building, one we studied a great deal in architecture school. The shape of those elegant barrel vaults was very tough to get right--I actually erased a lot! I would so love to teach a perspective workshop here one day...

My thanks to all the Texas Urban Sketchers--it was wonderful to meet you all.  So amazing about this USk community, instant friends around the globe...

I leave for Italy one week from today to start my summer adventures in Civita, Barcelona, Den Haag, then London and up to Manchester...I'll post as I go and plan to sketch a lot of "Soaring Spaces" on the way.

In the Quiet of Suzzallo, step-by-step

Yesterday, Seattle Urban Sketchers braved really wretched weather and one hour less sleep to meet at the University of Washington's Suzzallo Library--open only because this is finals week at UW.

I chose to head straight up to the 3rd floor reading room, as this space is probably the closest thing in Seattle to jolly old England...and I'm thinking ahead to the workshop I'll be teaching this summer at the Manchester symposium, called "Soaring Spaces"...encouraging everyone to LOOK UP!!

Here is a step-by-step of my process for constructing and completing this sketch--it's the same basic process that I show in my Seattle workshops, Craftsy class online, and that I show in the upcoming book, Understanding Perspective. The "shape of the space" is pretty simple, but wow, I had forgotten how complicated arches and vaults can be. 

But as I always say, perspective is easy when you know what to look for...and this is what you look for!!!

Step ONE, I hold up my pencil and usually measure the vertical line on the left, then use my pencil to also measure the width...all to get the correct proportions of the "Shape of the Space".  I transfer the shape to my paper, slightly off center to the right, small enough that I'll have room to show the space in the sketch.  I also place this shape very low on my paper, as I want to be able to draw a lot of the ceiling...this is "Soaring Spaces" after all!!!!. 
Then I locate my eye level and mark it in my sketch by drawing a horizontal line all the way across my paper...notice how LOW my eye level is relative to the shape of the space drawn.  And on the eye level line is the vanishing point, that tiny dot just to the right of center. That spot is directly in front of me as I face the back wall of the space, and it's the point where the many receding lines will all converge...

Step TWO--by drawing in the three elements of step one, I have everything I need to do this drawing accurately in perspective.  I can use the vanishing point to start drawing in the big lines, the major architectural elements of the space.  For this, I use a small plastic triangle, as it speeds things up to be able to snap accurate lines QUICKLY...

Step THREE-- you can see I'm putting more of the bones in...the verticals represent the columns, or each structural bay of the space.  I start to angle the lines closest to me to exaggerate the sense of height.

Step FOUR-- I start working on putting in the ceiling...big shapes get broken down into smaller shapes, then I break those shapes into even smaller shapes...that is how structure works!  I also start to put in the chandeliers, as they cover up a good bit of the ceiling. Each one relates to a structural bay in the ceiling, and the lamps on the left relate to the lamps on the right.

Step FIVE-- her is pretty much the complete line drawing.  I try to build up the focus with detail and linework at the back, allowing the lines closest to me to fade out.  I also added the book shelves, as that builds up the sense of activity at the pedestrian level and helps to ground the sketch.  Notice how FLAT the tables are because they are so close to my eye level. Notice how details are just suggested, I don't take the time to actually draw in every detail.

Step SIX--Color...I started by putting an underpainting layer of yellow on all the areas I want to be warm, usually the surfaces that advance spatially or are in the sunlight (what little there was!)  Then I layer in more colors...mostly grays, as nearly everything in this space was gray to beige...I also build up the color carefully at the end of the space, the focal point of the perspective and the sketch.


And here is a scan of the final image, complete with signature and reminder of where I was! Also a detail so you can actually see the linework.  I often lose a lot of the linework once I add color, which always makes me a little sad, as I LOVE the pencil work. 

And there it is, beginning to end.  Good practice for England this summer!! It took about 1 hour and 15 minutes, sketched and painted on location.  Paper is a Fluid watercolor block 8" x 16", Winsor & Newton watercolors, and my favorite Escoda Reserva size 10 travel brush.  Also my 1" angled synthetic brush.

If you found this explanation helpful, please leave a comment below... it would be great to get a sense for how many people actually look at this blog!  I will continue posting more sketches that show the process I use.  Thanks very much!

Block out and Color...

This morning's sketch with the Seattle Urban Sketchers at the Starbucks Roastery and Tasting Room.

This is the initial blocking out of the sketch--can you guess what vertical corner I drew first?

And this is the completed pencil and watercolor sketch. I think at least half of the pencil work
ended up on the back of my hand, so it all got a little too gray!  Got very dark in the space too, so while I painted 90% at this spot, I did take it outside near a window to add the last bits...while I sipped a green tea latte next to Sunil's talented family of sketchers!

Click on this image to see it larger!

And in case anyone is reading this post, my workshop "Soaring Spaces" 
was selected for the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester this July...hooray!! I am happy and honored...

Workshops Schedule -- 5 Opportunities to Learn!

’Tis the season to start planning sketching workshops!  And because all good sketches start with a good foundation, these workshops I offer are called “Good Bones”!

I’m so thrilled to add that my book, the fourth in the series, The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective is already available for pre-sale on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Here is the schedule for upcoming workshops through June.

If you are interested in joining any of these workshops, please contact me ASAP by email 

stbower@comcast.net to hold your spot!!

SEATTLE (3)

Pike Place Market workshops in Seattle:

March 4 -  5 + March 6 (1/2 day):  Good Bones | Perspective & Watercolor

This workshop devotes one day to learning perspective, a second day to watercolor basics, 

and a third 1/2 day to put it all together when sketching on location.

Days 1 and 2, we spend the morning working from PowerPoint lessons in a classroom at the Pike Place Market, then apply this to sketching on location in the afternoon. Sunday is a half day, when we’ll sketch and paint at the lovely restored King Street Station in Seattle.

Cost: $200, maximum 15 participants

April 9, Saturday: Good Bones | Watercolor

This one-day workshop focuses on the use of Watercolor in architectural sketching—materials, mixing colors with a simple palette, and quick techniques. We’ll look at lessons via PowerPoint in the classroom early in the day, then sketch on location in the colorful Market in the afternoon. There is nothing like watching someone paint in person for learning how!

Cost: $100, maximum 12 participants

May 13 -14 + May 15 (1/2 day): Urban Sketchers Workshop, Good Bones | Perspective & Watercolor

This workshop is offered in together with Urban Sketchers. 

Friday is devoted to learning perspective, Saturday to watercolor basics. We spend the morning working from PowerPoint lessons in a classroom at the Pike Place Market, then apply this to sketching on location downtown in the afternoon.

Sunday is an opportunity to put it all together as we join the monthly Seattle Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl from 10-1pm.

Cost: $200, maximum 15 participants

ITALY

June 24 - 30:  DRAW CIVITA 2016 in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy 

5 days of immersive instruction in architectural perspective and watercolor in an amazing hill town north of Rome.

There are only 1-2 spots still available! Maximum 7-8 participants.

More information can be found on www.stephaniebower.com

ONLINE Sketching class:

Filmed this past August in Denver for Craftsy, “Perspective for Sketchers” is an inexpensive online course that you can view any time, from any device, as often as you want.  State-of-the-art filming and approach, albeit a little on the cute side :), Craftsy has tapped into Urban Sketchers instructors and offers several really great classes on sketching. To join the over 2000 (!) other participants worldwide in my course, please use this link for a course discount:  Perspective for Sketchers

Thanks for your interest in Sketching!  And please pass this info on to anyone who might be interested!

Seasonal Sketch at Swanson's

There are so many Urban Sketchers in Seattle!  Two days ago, a small sub-group of Friday sketchers met at a local plant nursery to sketch...while there were decorations, Santa and kids, a model train village, flowers, even reindeer and a camel, I was of course drawn to the buildings!  

This is a view inside one of the greenhouses, a one-point, eye level perspective.

I also want to start showing more of my sketching process...I think because I am responding to so many questions on my Craftsy class--probably my favorite part of the teaching process online, and all the sketching process I've developed for the book. I should start showing more process information here... that will be my New Year's resolution!!

To that end, I threw my sketch on the ground and snapped this photo to show how I start complicated scenes with only a few basic shapes in perspective...it really makes the process so much easier to learn to edit and simplify...and quickly block in those basic foundation lines on my page.

You can see my eye level and vanishing point were directly in front of me, at my eye level as I sat on my travel stool. The head of the person in the background is above my eye level line!

I hope to also post my sketches from Bangkok...so stay tuned.  And thank you for checking out this blog!