The Urban Sketching Handbook Sketch Now, Think Later

Jump into Urban Sketching with Limited Time, Tools, and Techniques

Mike Yoshiaki Daikubara

• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781631595097
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Techniques d'art

Boston-based urban artist Mike Daikubara gives beginners a crash course in location sketching that you can usein any city in Sketch Now, Think Later. Everyone wishes they could sketch stylish scenes, but busy lives leave almost no room for sitting down with a pad and pento practicing. Many people give up on their potential hobby (and artistic outlet) because they feel they just don't have the time to lay the groundwork. Here's a secret though: you do!All you is a strategy forincorporate sketching into your daily life. Sketch Now, Think Later covers the tools, techniques and tips that author and Urban Sketching Correspondent of Boston Mike Daikubara has developed in his more than 15 years as a practicing artist, and will show you how to fully dive into any sketching situation with limited time and tools, and still be able to produce memorable, great looking, fun sketches!

02 Line Techniques

The first step in the Sketch NOW approach is to be able to jump right into capturing the scene with lines. It’s drawing directly in ink with no pencil underlines or erasing. This can be intimidating for people who are used to doing preliminary pencil drawings, but within a short time you will begin to notice something quite wonderful. The sketch you produce may not be as accurate a representation of what is being seen, but in contrast, drawings done without underlines tend to have:

• Spontaneity

• Energy

• Dynamics

All these qualities more than compensate for any lack of accuracy. Documenting a scene exactly down to the last detail can be easily be achieved by taking a photo.

There is something wonderful about a sketch that a photograph cannot capture, and that is the main goal of Sketch NOW.

SUE (T-Rex)

The world’s largest most complete and preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The Field Museum Chicago, IL

Pen to Paper

When starting out a sketch, simply begin drawing what you want to draw with a pen. No pencil underlays, just straight drawing with a pen. Any pen is fine (although I prefer the Fude fountain pen) as long as it’s a medium you cannot erase. You might be tempted to use an eraser if you draw with a pencil, but using a pen will eliminate this temptation.

This approach is:

• fast and forces you to focus hard since you can’t erase.

• The more you do it, the better you get.

• I see sketching as similar to any sport—it’s hand-eye coordination, which means the more you do it, the better you will get.

You’ll soon discover that this approach is really fun!

Fude Fountain Pen

Over the past ten years I have gone through dozens of pens and fountain pens looking for the ultimate sketching pen. I’m still searching, but the Fude fountain pen currently meets most of my sketching needs and desires.

What’s great about this pen is that it gives me the ability to draw very thin to very thick lines and everything in between with this one pen, eliminating the need to carry various pens in my sketch bag.

There are three ways I use this pen:

Positions 1 to 2: thin to thick lines.

Vertically upright for the thinnest line, laid down so the bent nib is horizontal to the paper for the thickest line. All angles in between for various thickness. There are slight differences in drawing the lines moving up/down and left/right too, so try experimenting.

Positio...