Urban Sketching and Beyond: Solid Foundations, Exciting Application

I am very glad to announce that I will be at the Madeline School of the Arts again in July 2025!
This is so exciting! I love the time I spent on stunning Madeline Island, in the charming and cozy environment of the school's campus. 

Cheers to our 2025 course!

Urban Sketching and Beyond: Solid Foundations, Exciting Application

The same team will be reunited: me, Oliver Hoeller, Nina Johansson and Jane Blundell. We had a great time as friends and teaching together. 

Don't waste your time and go check and apply to this incredible course on this link! (there's great gifts if you submit early!)

This time, I will be teaching a workshop titled:

"Visual Reading - Using your Perception to Build Scenes"

The goal of this workshop is to develop tools and approaches to create a drawing of a building and its setting, with character and atmosphere.

It is based on a perceptive approach to perspective, measurement, proportions, depth and tones.

We will be using the school's beautiful buildings for our studies. There is a charming little storage building that is perfect for exploring perspective and visual measurements. Additionally, there's a good-sized barn with great character (where we enjoy our incredible meals!) that will serve wonderfully as the main subject. Of course, the subjects can change, as there are many aspects to consider while on location.

In addition to nature (especially trees, which is the topic for the 2024 season), I love drawing buildings, as well as exploring architecture and drawing techniques.

This time, I will use all my knowledge to help students improve their skills in creating scenes that involves buildings.

This is how my workshop will unfold: 

Morning session

During the morning, we will study, and practice basic concepts related to drawing a scene. We will review the main aspects of perspective both in class and on location, creating small line drawings. Then, we will learn how to measure angles and distances on-site so that we can begin to compose a scene. We will draw some of the charming buildings on the school campus.

Afternoon session

We will start a larger drawing using pencils and/or pens on toned paper. First, we will ensure that the subject fits on the paper and determine how much space will be left for the surroundings. To add character, we will apply white pastel and colored pencils on toned paper to create sophisticated effects.

Below you will find a few examples of this topic.