Travel Sketching in Mixed Media Live Today! Lesson Sneak Peek!
The new video course is live for registrations as of this morning! Super exciting for me – I’ve been planning this for months now, and am very pleased to see people already signing up! Thanks everyone!
As a bit of a sneak peak of what’s in the course – here’s a capsule summary of the first project: Single Line Sketching. (You can read more about this exercise over here – in my notes from my 2015 USK workshop in Richmond, VA).
My main concern when designing the Craftsy.com course was unlocking your ability to sketch quickly.
I don’t mean to pressure people about drawing faster. It’s not a race – you shouldn’t feel anxiety about drawing at a lightning pace. But on the other hand….the faster you can doodle, the more often you’ll grab a spontaneous drawing when you see one.
There’s nothing more fun than seeing a glimpse of a lovely view and saying – ‘hold on a minute, let me grab a sketch’. I hope that we’ll all gain the confidence to just dash off a drawing when we feel like it.
This is the big secret to productivity in the field. Having fun with it, being relaxed, and a little bit ‘uncaring’ about results. Just draw, and enjoy the feeling of capturing the memory of a place. You’ll love showing those sketches to friends and family later, or even just looking back at the books yourself.
Single Line Sketching is something that is easier to show than to explain :) Which is what’s great about video :) But here is the sketch I’ve made from this view, in only a minute or two.
The idea is to follow the horizon line with one continuous line – without picking up the pen. Just make a scribble that loops back across itself and wanders around the important silhouette edges – like dropping a thread that drapes over the horizon.
The technique might seem overly simplistic – but it’s a sure fire way to teach yourself to simplify and find the important shapes. And it’s also just the first step in the process.
If you have a few minutes more – or if you can steal some time later on as you’re travelling (waiting in train stations or airports, taking a break in the cafe, all those bits of downtime that you have on the road), the next steps are accenting your drawing with darks, and then – where the real fun begins – tinting into the sketches with color.
You’ll be able to see me go through a few of these examples in the video, showing how easy it is to bring your sketches to life with glowing shapes full of color.
There are still quite a few concepts after this first sketchbook drawing style approach. I’ll go on from there to talk about working from shapes instead of a linear drawing, some discussion about simplifying perspective, and then moving on to demonstrate the steps I use to rapidly sketch in watercolor using a stack of layered shapes. More about all that in future posts!
I hope I’ve intrigued you about the class. If you head over to register now, I’m offering $20 off the retail price – just for being a supporter of the blog. These courses and my books are what allow me to keep on sending you drawings. So I hope you’ll enjoy the program, and get inspired to go sketching! And please – share these links with your friends. I’d like to reach as many sketchbook artists and journal keepers as possible.
Thanks
~marc
Citizen Sketcher 
Wow, those paintings are beautiful!!! Love the colors!
Just signed up! Can’t wait to get started!
Thanks, Marc, for the preview and the discount! Just used the link to buy the course! Loved your first Craftsy course!
Hey Marc, I was so excited about this course that I downloaded it straight away. You are without a doubt a fantastic artist and teacher and I’m looking forward to seeing how you approach sketching the landscape/travel sketching. I love your book and your other Craftsy class – they are brilliant. Keep up the good work – and thanks for the discount!
Is there a book too?
I only have the one book out: The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location. I would say it’s a good companion for the videos lessons. (or vice versa). There are a lot of similar ideas, but they don’t cover the topic in exactly the same way.
I just bought it. The Sketching People one is fantastic, and I’m really excited to learn from this one too. I’m very happy you did this followup!
I am so on it – bought already and thank you for the blog follow discount! A win-win situation for sure!!
I can’t register – it just says ‘coming soon’. Is that because I’m in the UK?
That is probably the reason – (being in the UK) – let me ask my Craftsy contacts and see what they say.
Interestingly it looks like I can buy it from the webpage but not the iPad app. I guess there’s just a delay pushing onto the app?
Great that you solved that – thanks for letting me know.
Only partially solved for me – I need it on the iPad before I buy as I only have time to view classes offline on my long commute, but I’ll keep an eye on it. Thanks Marc.
Hooray!! It’s there on the iPad app now!! Will watch on the way to work! I spent the evening doing sketching of people yesterday having watched your other course. Thanks so ,ugh for all the great tips.
I bought the class! I really enjoyed your other class, your book, and your blog posts. Keep creating!
Reblogged this on D.Katie Powell Art and commented:
If you love good classes take this one by Marc Taro Holmes — and if you do it soon you can take advantage of the discount if you go there from this page! Excellent teacher, entertaining, etc.