Read about my sketches on my blogs "Making A Mark" and "Travels with a Sketchbook in......".  

See images from my sketchbooks  in the Travels with a Sketchbook Gallery. 

View my sketches of places where I live and where I travel to

in the UK ( London, England, Interiors ) and overseas (eg. USA, Australia, France, Venice and Bali).

Sketching: Information about Tips, Techniques and Toolkits Read on if you like what you see and would like my advice about  how to develop or improve your skills in sketching.  This page provides links to my advice on approaches to sketching and sketching toolkits plus Word files for FREE DOWNLOAD for personal and educational use only.  It's organised as follows: Advice on Sketching Toolkits and Materials Sketching for Real - a class with assignments Travels with a Sketchbook - tips and techniques Starting to Sketch with Coloured Pencils From sketch to painting - a slideshow of a work in progress More information about sketching and travels with a sketchbook

Sketching: The Mailing List If you would like to know when new items are added to the 'Advice on Sketching' page please join the mailing list by adding your e-mail into the box below.  Click "I'd like to join..." to submit.  Your e-mail is safe - please see my Privacy Policy

Advice on Sketching Toolkits and Materials

These are links to webpages and sites where you can read about sketching toolkits and the different materials people use for sketching.

1. Art Material and Other Resources (on this website) provides details - with images - of the various items that I use when sketching.  It also provides links to known suppliers.
2. A sketching toolkit......for travels with a sketchbook - I've written on both my blogs about the sketching toolkits I use at home and overseas on various occasions.  This is the post which is worth bookmarking as it contains links to all the posts which follow.  Some of the posts include photos of my set-ups at different places in the USA during the summer of 2006.
• Travel sketch toolkit - what I take overseas (with images) - this details what I personally regard as essentials for my trips overseas - but everybody has a different perspective
  
• Plein Air Sketching at Kew (with images) - this is the sort of kit I carry around on a regular basis when plein air sketching in London and on day trips.
• A portable sketching kit - this looks at a toolkit for using watercolour pencils (with images)
• 250 miles riding 'bitch' in the desert - a minimalist kit for when space is at a premium - on the back of a motorbike
  
• Plein air sketching in Albuquerque - kit for a morning's sketching of the hills above Albuquerque, New Mexico
  
• A visit to an art store and Walden Pond - includes photo of my plein air pastel set-up and comments on using a StudioPak from ArtBin for the first time for carrying my Unison Pastels
  
• Rocky Neck and Rockport Massachusetts - includes a photo of my set-up and a description of the sketching kit for a day's sketching
• Which sketchbook? - an overview of my sketchbooks and views from others as to their favourite sketchbooks
• In praise of my sketching chairs - it covers my recommendations as to sketching chairs - plus recommendations from other people about what they use
3. Drawing and Sketching - Resources for Artists (my external information site) includes a module about "The Drawing and Sketching Toolkit"

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Sketching for Real - a class with assignments

In May 2006, I was the tutor for a sketching class in the Drawing and Sketching Forum's Classroom on the Wet Canvas website.
You can read more about how successful it was in the blog posts linked to below.

• Drawing Class 102: Class 3 - Sketching for Real
  
• 1000+ hits, five stars and two catdrawings - written after 36 hours
  
• "Sketching for Real" - two weeks and 10,000 hits later - written at the end of the two week online class.  At the time of writing the class has now had nearly 27,000 hits

• Introduction (why do the class; what is a sketch; why sketch; outline of the assignments)
• Assignment 1: So you want to learn how to sketch.............
  
• Assignment 2: Sketching the Familiar - from life and outside
  
• Assignment 3: Getting out of Your Comfort Zone - Sketching in Public
  

PLEASE NOTE: No licence is granted for commercial use.  You MAY download and print out the information in the files listed on Advice on Sketching - for your private, personal and individual use only.  Teachers may provide a note of the URL (http://www.pastelsandpencils.com/sketching.html) in any list of websites they provide as useful information.  They may not copy the material.  All other use is subject to licence.  See the download page or Making A Mark Publications for further details
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Travels with a Sketchbook - tips and techniques

I share tips and techniques about my approach to sketching in posts to my blogs Making A Mark and Travels with a Sketchbook.  Below are links to blog posts which provide advice.  Some of them provide links to further resources.

• Sketching plein air with coloured pencils  - this is about a sketch I started at Kew Gardens and completed at home.  It covers: how to get used to a place; how to use your camera selectively and for reference purposes; my version of a thumbnail sketch; how to consider and select colours; developing a sketch plein air and finishing it at home. 
  

This is now available FREE as a Making A Mark Guide to print out - for personal and education use only - DOWNLOAD NOW (pdf file)

• More sketching at Sissinghurst  - covers my approaches to preparation (and what happens when you forget!), proportion and perspective. 
  
• How Monet used his sketchbooks - my analysis of how Monet used a sketchbook from the information to be gleaned from the an online exhibition of Monet's Sketchbooks associated with 'The Unknown Monet' exhibition and catalogue.  Links to exhibition and all relevant sites publications included in post.
• More Mistral sketching - from the car - an option for sketching when a strong wind is blowing
  

All text and images are copyright protected - see below for what that means.

• 10 Tips for How to Sketch People - Drawing and sketching people is an invaluable way of developing a wide range of artistic skills. I've been drawing people for very many years - family, friends, people in cafes and restaurants, life class models - and other artists. This post provides 10 tips on how to sketch people – or at least my understanding of how I sketch people.

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Starting to sketch with coloured pencils - by Katherine Tyrrell

First published in "From My Perspective" (July 2006 ) - Ann Kullberg's online magazine for coloured pencil artists.

We're all familiar with the way in which coloured pencils can be used to produce some very fine artwork.  However, many of you may be less familiar with how to use coloured pencils for sketching.  This article looks at the benefits of sketching aims to demystify 'how to sketch' for those who have not tried it before   outlines why coloured pencils work so well for sketching	The benefits of sketching with coloured pencils Sketching with coloured pencils helps you to: Expand your portfolio of subject matter Get a true record of the colours and tones you see Develop your freehand drawing and observational skills Learn how to draw more quickly Learn how to draw outside - and in public! Learn how to choose what to sketch
This is now available FREE as a Making A Mark Guide to print out DOWNLOAD NOW (pdf file) This can be reproduced for your personal, individual and educational use only so long as the copyright notice is respected and maintained.  You may not reproduce it further without my written permission

From sketch to painting - a slideshow of a work in progress

	A slideslow shows how a painting can be worked up from two of my initial sketches - made in front of the subject (in France) - to a finished painting which was completed back home in England.
The first sketch in pen and ink focuses on the view which interests me.		The final artwork - a fine art drawing in coloured pencils.
Six slides show the development of a full sized coloured pencil drawing (above right) from the two sketches and photos taken at different times of day.  Click the link to see the slideshow of a work in progress. top of the page

More information about sketching and travels with a sketchbook

I've developed two more websites which also provide information about sketching.  These sites are part of my 'Making A Mark - Resources for Artists' suite of information sites.  They provide lots and lots of links to different websites and yet more information about drawing and sketching. 

Why don't you bookmark them now?  You can save or share the links to these sites - scroll down and check out the various options in the right hand column of each site.

The sites are:

• Drawing and Sketching - Resources for Artists - This lens shares information about drawing and sketching - materials, forums, books and other resources which support the development of drawings and sketches.
• Travels with a Sketchbook - Resources for Artists - This lens provides resources for people who like looking at travel sketchbooks and people who'd like to keep a travel sketchbook but need a few tips first.   It has links to the sketchbooks of other people, books about sketching and sketchbooks which can be bought from Amazon.