Ink and Watercolour Sketching For Beginners

Welcome to this beginner's course that will get you started in ink and watercolour sketching.

The aims of this course are to:

1. Develop our understanding of simplicity in art

2. Consider how ink adds textures and character

3. Keep watercolours light and loose

4. Be able to sketch in one and two point perspective

5. Have a plan towards being independent

This is a space for your own reflection - so you can look back at your answers when you have finished and see just how far you have come.

Here is one of my sketches from a few years ago. It's really exciting to look back at it now and enjoy it for what it is. But also to consider just how much my style has moved on in that time.

I'd love to see some of your art now, but also let me know what you'd like to achieve in this course.

This first workshop will get you started on basic ink and watercolour techniques and producing your first high quality sketches.

The concepts we are going to cover are seemingly simple, but they have a surprising depth. We will be looking at them from a beginner’s perspective in this course ensuring you have strong foundations for the future.

These concepts are…

• Character of line

• Seeing shapes

• Simple washes

Having taken the first steps with ink and watercolours, it’s time to focus down a little more on the specifics. This workshop will be all about making your ink sketching that little bit more fun and effective.

In this workshop we will be covering the following concepts:

• Proportions from observation

• Suggesting textures

• Adding structure

Now, in a logical progression from diving into ink, we will do a deeper look at our watercolours. In this workshop we will look at how to keep your watercolours simple and effective

In this workshop we will be covering the following concepts:

• Key properties of watercolours

• Painting in layers

• Avoiding busy colours

• Leaving space

Perspective is a challenging subject for a number of reasons. And it does have the potential to be endlessly complex.

In this course we are focusing on ‘horizontal linear perspective’. We are not covering ‘vertical’ or ‘atmospheric’ perspective, which are more advanced subjects and in the more advanced courses. But from this baseline, you will find it simple to build on your knowledge in the future.

In this workshop we will cover the following concepts:

• Horizon line

• One point perspective

• Two point perspective

• Vertical consistency

• Avoiding common pitfalls

The next step is to become independent in your sketching. That is being able to select a scene, sketch and adapt that scene, and feel content with the process and results.

The scenes in this workshop are definitely the most challenging. But we’ll look specifically at making decisions that help to create your version of each scene.

The concepts we will cover in this workshop include:

• Thumb-nailing

• Picking a reference

• Artistic decisions in …

  • Ink (removing, moving, adding)

  • Watercolour (space, abstract colours, busy colours)

• A step-by-step plan towards independent sketching

In this section we'll review our progress, all the art we've created, and consider the next steps we could take!