Urban Sketching Destinations are Anywhere You Want to Be
You can do urban sketching anywhere. Inside. Outside. Out in nature. In cities. In the suburbs. At museums. At festivals and events. On the bus or train. Commuting. At lunch in your favorite restaurant or a food car. At home — having coffee in the morning, or tea in the afternoon. The city you live in or travel to.
Even though it’s called urban sketching, it does not need to be in a city environment. The key to urban sketching is sketching on location, not from a picture.
Start by looking around you. What do you see that’s interesting to you? What catches your eye? Those are good places to start.
If you’re at an event or festival, what is it that catches your eye? Is it the banners, the colors, the performers, or the people watching? Start there. When I first started sketching, I tried to sketch everything in my line of vision. It’s too much — I couldn’t fit all into my sketchbook page. Pick a small part of the scene in front of you, and sketch that.
For example, I went to Rockefeller Center to see the flags last summer. Rockefeller Center always has flags flying — many flags, and many colors, Flapping in the wind. I always thought those flags were the flags from countries around the world. Then I found out that they sometimes have a contest. People can submit flag designs around the theme for the contest, some of them are chosen, and flags are made and put on display. Last year I learned that ten of the New York City Urban Sketchers had flags flying at Rockefeller Center. The theme was food. The NYC Chapter of Urban Sketchers Held a group sketch there, and I joined them.
The flags were very colorful, and it was very festive. At the same time, I couldn’t capture everything I saw in my sketchbook. There was too much. And two large a space. So I picked a vantage point that showed many of the flags at once. I was lucky to find a place to sit, so I sketched the flags that I saw. I didn’t try to sketch the buildings around Rockefeller Center this time.
Small, private destinations may be best if you’re not yet comfortable sketching outside. For example at home or indoors at a restaurant or cafe. In New York we have public spaces where you can buy or bring food and sit at a table. Those are good places to get started, too.
To find new destinations, look for interesting things going on in your area or areas you want to travel to. There may be an Urban Sketching chapter in an city you want to travel to, and you may be able to join one of their group sketches or workshops. That adds fun to your sketching because you meet people who are interested in and doing the same things,
Check out these for more ideas:
Instagram and Facebook in your area
Urban Sketchers who have websites and post to YouTube – you can Google Urban Sketching to find many of them. They sometimes also offer workshops and online courses.