David Rankin's 5-Minute Sketching Recipe for Faces of All Kinds

Fast Sketching FREE resource from Fast Sketch master, David Rankin...The 5-Minute Sketching Recipe for Faces of All Kinds. Click on the link and you can down load the lesson as a PDF.

"Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street" by John Marin

John Marin's paintings do more than just illustrate a scene, they tell a story. They're filled with kinetic energy. We’ll be touching on kinetic energy as part of visual storytelling in Sketch in the City, Class 3. 

"Pertaining to Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street." (1933) by John Marin

Below is how the painting looks when you drop the color and highlight the compositional lines.

 

The painting is full of diagonals and looks chaotic. The figures are angular and look stiff, almost rigid. They also seem to be vibrating. Put it all together and you can feel how the busy it is in the middle of the street.

For my money, there's a lot you can learn from this painting. And many of these lessons can be easily applied to urban sketching.

Some of my Favorite Urban Sketches

by Sara Light-Waller

The manifesto of Urban Sketchers International (the official gathering place for urban sketchers all over the world) explains their mission like this:

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

As you can see, that covers a lot of ground! And it’s a good directive, fostering international comradery amongst artists.

I’ve been an active sketcher all my life, but an Urban Sketcher only for the past eight years. I draw all sorts of things, whatever strikes my fancy on that particular day.

Here are some of my favorite urban sketches.

Details about the Sketch in the City class series

Sketch in the City

Olympia, WA, Saturdays, March 4, 11, 18, 25 & April 1

Sara Light-Waller & Jane Wingfield, instructors

Have you ever wanted to be an urban sketcher? This class will show you how. You’ll learn everything you need to know from how to draw people quickly to sketching complex outdoor scenes. Through fun and confidence-building exercises, you’ll create fresh and expressive drawings. You’ll learn the keys to becoming a successful urban sketcher.

Every level of artist is welcome in this class.