Sketchbook challenges & Art in the Park
What I did for April’s sketchbook challenge; A new challenge for May; An in person Art in the Park workshop
Sketchbook challenges
It’s the first Friday of May, and thus time for the new sketchbook challenge for this month. But before I get to that, let me show you my sketch from last month’s challenge. I chose to study the colours from Van Gogh’s painting Kreupelhout met twee figuren. And here is the sketch I made in our local park, using those colours. I love how the colours he chose gives off such a spring vibe?
This month we will be looking at simplification. This is probably one of the trickiest things to master as an urban sketcher - taking the overwhelming amount of information that you see in front of you and simplifying it into something that makes sense and that isn’t overwhelming any more.
The idea here is to group things together to make simple masses, leaving out all the details. Then shade/colour those masses into suitable tones. Let me give you an example:
I used this photo to make this sketch:
I did these two in Procreate to give you an idea of what I was thinking while I did it. It starts with identifying the basic and important masses:
Tips for doing this:
First try it out at home from a photo. This will make it a little less overwhelming.
Don’t look for perfection, this is an exercise. Approach it with playfulness.
Once you feel more comfortable, go outside and try to apply this simplification technique in the “wild”.
Art in the Park
Now that the weather has at last turned, I have decided to host an in person Art in the Park morning.The theme will be (drumroll…) Explore: Simplification!
We get together for an hour and a half, one morning. The first 30 minutes will be a workshop/demo, whereafter you will have an hour to try out what you have just learnt.
If you are interrested and find yourself in the vicinity of Haarlem, the Netherlands, in May, reply to this email so I can send you more information as well as how you can book your spot. There will be space for a maximum of 10 participants.
Thank you for reading and coming on this adventure with me! I hope that you enjoy this month’s sketchbook challenge and that it brings joy to your creative journey.
Happy sketching!
Nino