How to Make an Urban Sketch in Ten Easy Steps

Andrea Joseph’s Sketchblog

How to make an Urban Sketch (in the North of England in Autumn (i.e. it’s cold)) in 10 easy steps;

(Optional step; Turn up to the location and realise you’ve brought all your inks but no pen. No really (I told you I was a rubbish urban sketcher). Go buy pens)

Step 1. Find a coffee shop with a window seat and a view

Step 2. Have a coffee and sandwich. This is one of the more complicated steps; I’m in the Northern Quarter, of Manchester, so will have to decide between ten different coffee beans, made in fifteen different ways, then there’s the bread…sour dough, brioche, rye….

Step 3. Make a mess of the table

Step 5. Have another coffee. And a Danish pastry. Try to hide the mess you’ve made of the table when they bring it over.

Step 6. Add lettering to try to take away the focus from the awful colour work

Step 7. Pigeons

Step 8. Scrub the table then go outside and take the obligatory out of focus urban sketcher photo, whilst holding your book in front of the building with one hand and trying to take photo with the other hand whilst worrying that somebody is going to snatch your phone.

Step 9. When all else fails go shopping