Travel Sketching Essentials: Capture the Light!

A great travel sketch can transport you, in a way that great books and cinema do. There are a number of factors at play—composition, lively lines, color—but the secret sauce is LIGHT! In this class you’ll learn to capture the dramatic effects of light in relatively simple ink and watercolor techniques from a master urban sketching instructor, raising your own sketches to a new level.

You’ll learn: 

• How dramatic shade and shadow heighten the impact of a scene, in real life and in your sketchbook.
• How to create a quick, loose and lively line sketch to act as the framework for color, shade and shadow.
• How to use wet-in-wet watercolor to create beautifully subtle depictions of architecture.
• How to add bold shade and shadow to transform your flat sketch into a dramatic, 3-dimensional sun-drenched scene.
• How and where to add small details to delight the eye and complete the scene.

This is a class for all skill levels, from beginners to professionals. The lessons are drawn from Jim’s decades of on-the-spot sketching and teaching experience in 40 countries across the globe. By the end of the class, the lessons will be your own, and you’ll be drawing your world with new skills and confidence.  

• Introduction
• Your Class Project
• Inspiration: Depicting Light
• Quick Line, Shade and Shadow
• Thumbnails and the Decisive Moment
• Capturing Light: Quick Line Drawing
• White Space and Watercolor
• Dramatic Shade and Shadow
• Delightful Details
• That's a Wrap