Sketching Street Scenes in Ink and Watercolor
What you'll learn
- How to use one-point perspective and other measuring techniques to draw street scenes
- How to add details such as cars, people, trees, and lampposts
- How to add shadows and depth with ink and watercolor
- How to use watercolor to show light and texture
Requirements
- Beginning art skills
Description
The best part of travel sketching is capturing lively, bustling street scenes, whether it’s a big city like New York or a small village in Europe.
To do that quickly and accurately, it helps to have a grasp of the basics of perspective.
In this class, we’ll work on simple one-point perspective with New York as our model.
Then we’ll go to France and look at a village scene where those rules of perspective have to be tweaked to handle a sloping, winding road and a jumble of buildings that are lined up in a row.
Finally, we’ll go to Italy and work on adding just enough detail to really capture all the elements that make a scene so compelling.
Using pencil, ink, and watercolor, we’ll work on:
Perspective
Light and shadow
Varying line weights
Differences in color and shading in the foreground and background
What details to focus on, what to simplify, and what to leave out entirely
By the end of this class, you’ll have all the skills you need to incorporate lively street scenes into your sketchbook practice, when you travel and also in your own neighborhood.
Who this course is for:
- Beginning and intermediate artists
Instructor
![Amy Stewart](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 210 Reviews
- 854 Students
- 18 Courses
I'm the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and Girl Waits with Gun. I've been a full-time author for twenty years, and in that time my books have sold over a million copies worldwide and been translated into 17 languages.
I love talking to writers and artists, and bonding over the creative process. I started teaching so that I can inspire others to take the leap.
I believe that writing, drawing, and painting are all teachable skills. Forget about talent--it doesn't exist, and you don't need it. With some quality instruction and lots of practice, any of us can make meaningful, honest, and unique art and literature.
When I'm not writing or traveling on book tour, I'm painting and drawing in ink, watercolor, gouache, and oil. Come find me on my website or on Instagram to stay connected.