Reddit reviews The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location

I love urban sketching so much and really want to get better at it. I've been bringing my sketchbook with me on vacation for a while now, but have had a tough time using it more than once or twice until my most recent trip. Here are some of my favorites.

My very first time! - this was in Cordoba, Spain. It's not at all what I was trying to do, but I still really like how it turned out. I was hoping to fit a lot more in the scene, but I drew things too big and just went with it. A french guy walking by saw it and said it was nice (I think) and gave me a thumbs up.

Killing time in Tokyo - The Fuji TV building by the Aqua City mall. My wife and I got there early and were waiting for places to open, so we found a bench with a nice view. (Bonus yoyogi park on the other page)

The river in Kyoto - This was the most relaxing place I've ever drawn. It's also when I realized the importance of sunscreen for urban sketching.

The park by my house - I try to get out and do stuff here once in a while too, but it's hard. I live in the deep suburbs surrounded by cookie cutter houses, so it can be tough finding something interesting to draw.


Some memorable things that have happend while I was out sketching:

• Someone from a church in Japan came over and tried to convert me. He was nice about it, but he stuck around for a good 20 minutes before my wife came back and saved me.
  
  
• Inquisitive little kids came up to see what I was doing and ask a bunch of questions. One of them was really curious about my sketchbook and flipped my page mid painting. It was such a ridiculous and unexpected thing to happen (maybe not unexpected to those of you with kids) it was easy to laugh off though.
  
  
• Lots of people trying to very discreely peek at what I'm doing. People are not nearly as sneaky as they think they are. Lots of people peek but very few say anything, which is kind of a weird feeling.
  
  
• Being unable to finish a drawing because I was getting attacked by bugs
  
  When I look back at the sketches I did I remember all these things and more. I take a ton of photos on vacation too, but I don't feel attached to them in the same way. Probably because a picture is so much faster to take... you're really forced to stop and take things in when you draw the scene. There's probably a life lesson in there somewhere.
  
  
  Anyways, that's more than enough about me. Here are some resources!
  
  
• The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location - this book is phenomenal and I can't recommend it enough. It's a great book even if you have no desire to go draw outside.
  
  
• Alphonso Dunn's urban sketching videos - So many of his videos are great, and I really liked these ones.
  
  
• The #usk tag on instagram - so many amazingly talented people.
  
  But really if you're at all interested in urban sketching just grab a sketchbook, some supplies, and get out there. Even if you end up not liking your art at least you spent the day outside doing something you enjoy, and that's tough to beat.

There's a lot to improve. Let's see...

• I want to try different styles for lining and colouring. The one I've used here is pretty "anime standard". Example: I would like to try a more delicate, soft colouring style sometime. Like Matcha Hazuki's, mostly famous for the One Week Friends.
  
  
• Faces pretty much define a character, so there's always room to improve how much variety I can add on that.
  
  
• Hair is still pretty troublesome to work with. Particularly, curly ones.
  
  
• For background, I can do nature just fine, but city scapes take a lot of time. I've just got a book on that as a present, so hopefully, I'll improve on that.
  
  
• I need to improve my sense of fashion - for both guys and girls. It's not a problem on most fanarts, but for original ones...
  
  
• On the past few years, I've noticed that perspective works a bit differently on manga. While the concepts are the same (ex: vanishing points), it is way more exagerated on manga. I need to work on that as well, so it does not become bland.
  
  There's a lot more I could say, but I'll stop here. Regardless, thanks for the compliment!

Hey thanks. I’d like to recommend a book - The Urban Sketcher by Holmes

I did something similar when I went to Europe and I think it's a great idea. You will cherish that sketch journal more than any number of photographs you take.

How about something [like this?] (https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Sketcher-Techniques-Drawing-Location/dp/1440334714/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=61b8Jz5saOL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR242%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=26SKFV821GS7C0C53T6T)

Caveat: I don't own any urban sketching books, so this recommendation does not come first hand. However, I know a few people that do the ink sketching style, usually with watercolor added, and this looks very similar in principle.