Tombow Europe: Urban sketching: ideas & tools for creative drawings │Tombow

Learn more about the art of capturing your surroundings and putting them on paper. Would you like to become an Urban Sketcher too? Don't know where to start? We explain the basics of urban sketching.

Table of contents

What is urban sketching
How exactly did urban sketching come about?
Excursus: Urban Sketching Tutorials
6 tips for urban sketching beginners
Excursus: Drawing in perspective
What materials do I need for urban sketching?
Urban sketching products

A sketch pad with a coloured drawing is held in front of the real "Bramble & Moss" building. The illustration captures the characteristic façade of the floral shop in great detail and stands in direct comparison to the real backdrop.

What is urban sketching?

Urban sketching emerged as a global art movement. The followers of this movement are called Urban Sketchers. With their drawings, urban sketchers try to show places and life as the artists perceived it through their eyes. This happens both with everyday places and when travelling. Urban sketching also sees itself as a kind of counter-movement to rapid consumption. A photo is taken quickly, but this leads to the moment and the subject not being perceived with all its details. Urban sketching is an attempt to slow life down a little more and enjoy the art of the moment. The art movement thrives on the intensive exchange of artworks, which is why they are diligently shared on popular social media platforms.

How exactly did urban sketching come about?

The movement was founded in 2007 by journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario in Seattle. He launched the online community and quickly realised that more and more artists were starting to share their work on the web, which is why he founded the Urban Sketcher blog in 2008. There, events from everyday life were depicted and shared with a journalistic approach.

This urban sketch shows the historic Kaminarimon Gate in Tokyo, combined with modern skyscrapers and the striking Tokyo Skytree in the background. The red sun adds a strong graphic element, while fine lines and watercolours bring city life to life.

Exkurs: Urban Sketching Tutorials

Look over the shoulder of artist @Koalakimlan and create beautiful urban sketching motifs.

Tutorial: Between the Dunes

Tutorial: Dreamy Streets

6 Tips for Urban Sketching Beginners!

Small size

Especially for beginners, it is easy to start with an A6 format. You don't fall into perfectionism so quickly with a smaller format and thus concentrate only on the essentials. We recommend the Tombow Bristol paper in A6 format. It is the perfect size to start with Urban Sketching and is suitable for any drawing technique.

Little sketching

Especially in the beginning, it can help to make preliminary drawings to give yourself a feeling of security. However, it is important to only sketch the important things right from the start and not to go into too much detail.

Time pressure

You're supposed to enjoy the moment, but if you find that drawing is pushing you in a direction where you want to get everything perfect, it can help to limit yourself in time. Maybe tell yourself you only have 5 minutes for the preliminary drawing.

A watercolour number "4" with a soft colour gradient from yellow to orange-red

Beautiful motif

The best thing to do is to choose a motif that you really like and simply try the motif several times. For example, this could be a tree in your garden that you try to capture on paper in the morning, midday, and late evening sun.

A watercolour number "5" with a soft colour gradient from orange to pink

Handbook or block

Among many urban sketchers, it is common to have handbooks so that the drawings are collected all together in one book. The advantage of this is that you can document your development and have all the places bundled into one book. But a handbook isn't for everyone. With a handbook, you feel demotivated very quickly, because a not-so-successful drawing can destroy the overall picture of the book. If you don't mind that not every drawing is perfect and you like to show your development, we recommend you buy a handbook. If you are a perfectionist, a pad may be the better choice for you.

A watercolour number "6" with a soft colour gradient from pink to violet.

Perspective

In order for your sketch to look really impressive, you should take great care to choose the right perspective. This is especially important to capture the textures of architecture.