I’m not in a position to offer any advice but this reminds me of a personal observation: I am a slow artist both drawing and painting (with or without fussy details). In an attempt to help me do urban sketching, I have done a very quick pen sketch every day fir the past 6 months. I aim to complete inside 15 mins. No paint just ink and cross hatching. It has helped me to only focus on key details and then imply everything else using hatching. It has also helped me to stop being so precious about my drawings and a more free style is starting to emerge.
You are an excellent art teacher, have been searching for a beginner watercolor instructor and I’m glad I found you and have stayed here for a while now. Nice to see your wife and family too. I wish to see more of these videos. Thanks.
Ok hopefully you don’t take this as teachy- I’m you. Details. Full blown rendering. That’s me! And I admire all the same artists styles you do! I Joined my local urban sketchers group and wow has it taught me to loosen up. We do a 30 second warm up sketch. Let’s just say -my pen never leaves the paper- and I find myself pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Then we do a 5 minute and a 10 minute. Only then do we delve off into our one hour and a throw down art show on the pavement. I have also found that using a pen that has different pressure thicknesses keeps the time spent on contrasting areas minimal and I’m loving the direction my art is going. Now to convince myself that studio time is valuable also! Lol. Challenge you to do an ornate scene like this in 30 sec, 5 min, etc. Let your naturally skilled ability to draw translate into something fresh!
This challenge for you has always been an obstacle I identify with. I look forward to learning from your style direction and solution. Happy anniversary to you and your wife! ♥
Why not do away with the pencil…. and allow the mistakes and imperfections to happen?? That, to me, is what makes a loose painting look good - I guess what they call ‘organic.’ With pencil, of course you’re still going to get the the perfect drawing. Your painting looks good, but to me it’s not ‘loose’. It’s still tight but with an attempt to make it loose, if that makes sense. Just my non-expert opinion.
I plan to do that eventually to a degree, but I go through the preliminary pencil detail as an aid to a reduction step. It helps me better visualize what to start leaving out and render in new ways.
I've learned so much from your videos. You managed to pull me from a really dark place. I was always fussing and focusing on details until glaucoma and multiple eye surgeries dictated otherwise. I thought my art life was over (it kinda was, people stopped calling). I'm on a new art journey because of you and can't thank you enough.
What a great video, thanks for taking us on this journey! I really loved the pencil/ ink sketch stage and was mentally saying “just swipe in some color!” I struggle with this too, as an architect my sketches are always very tight and detailed. I would love to loosen up!
Steve, it’s so refreshing to hear about the frustrations and challenges of what you’re taking on as a professional artist. I do love architecture, especially historical, but these days I have trouble drawing a straight line. 😳 Maybe non-straight lines will be a part of my style. 🧐 Your example inspires me to try architectural drawing for watercolor again. And best wishes to you and your wife on your anniversary.🎉
Haven't dropped in to check paintings out since I left for Savanah to paint the city. Got as far as Rocky Mount and spent 3 days in ICU. And 5 more days on ward. The beginning to the end of mobility. This makes me sad but I appreciate an artists view of that city. Thanks..
buenas... I'm Pedro, from the south of Brazil... your video is perfect.. it encourages me to move on... I'm an architect with 70 years old... trained in the technical and correct trait... I'm trying to get rid of it all.... the urban sketch is a form of freedom, but it is necessary to filter things... after all, as they say: less is more... and, most of all, the use of china ink, watercolor pencil , the tubes, white gouache, etc... all this is a universe of materials....thanks for your simplicity.
I love Brenda Swenson too. I find Delphine Prilloud very interesting. And I hope you went to Fish Haul Beach while in HH. A beautiful place for reference photos.
Well done, you showed remarkable restraint, and the result is lovely. Do you know the work of Ian Fennelly? He’s a British urban sketcher/watercolourist, and the king of ‘loose’ - I just love his use of colour. I’m British too, but I’ve also been to Savannah and on the historic tram tour - great fun, and it is indeed a beautiful city.
Love what you did! I am very familiar with Savannah and have friends who live in the historical district. Haven/t been there since I started painting 3 years ago. Definitely need to go for a visit. I am with you trying to be looser with my work. Thanks for your tutorials.
I’m in the same season. Used to love Plein Aire but now I’m second guessing everything and criticizing how it looks or how slow I am. I never finish outside in two to three hours and I’d like to. How do I find the people that are doing it? Would you actually use this method for Plein Aire? For me that style would take all day just to do the pencil drawing.
Soon as I saw that house I knew what it was.. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was an excellent book (with the perfect title), the movie was great and all of the acting was excellent. John cusack is a writer sent to Savanah down to do a House and Garden type story on an annual Christmas party which is really mundane ... until the the murder happens then he calls his editor about the murder and describes it as, "This place is like Gone With the Wind on mescaline."
Your work is awesome btw!! I think what could help you to loosen up on the sketching is at a time take the grip of the pencil or the pen higher. It's gonna make you move faster and do more gesture lines. It takes you away from that intricate precision!! Hope it helps a bit!!
Lovely house, great book, good movie. I haven’t seen many of your videos (yet) but this made me think if you were to see the movie it might inspire you to do some line and wash interiors. Or maybe you’ve done that and I just haven’t seen it (yet).
Great job, Steve! I feel the same way about getting it right. I don’t have years of experience doing that, so maybe it will be easier to break out of it but I think you did a great job!
thank you so much for this video. I'm just a beginner, I can use all the encouragement that I can get. I really like your finished result. It gives me enough courage to try it out. just try out, mess up and repeat. It doesn't have to be perfect. I can't draw , but I would love to.
wow i thought it was just me that struggled with loosening up my work, between you & the comments here i guess not. i started drawing before grade school with a regular pencil with eraser & typing paper i could beg from my mom a piece at a time. i remember working so hard to make everything perfect, till it was picture perfect (in my eyes & others too from what they said) when i got to that point, but then i realized that artists do not use a camera so all that work was for naught because then i had to find a way to loosen up what i had worked so hard to acomplish. i worked for years with not much to show because if i loosened up enough then my work no longer had that look of realism yet be loose enough to not be mistaken for something traced from a photo. i still drew every day but didn't get any improvement till one day someone lent me a paperback that was illustrated & i loved this guys work so i thought i want to draw like that yet i had promised the book back the next day, so i got out my pencils, pens & paper & started copying his work, not tracing it but trying to put each line just like he did, which considering how i had taught myself to draw was simple for me. i drew every picture in that book, gave the book back then started drawing copies of my copies until i had the gist of it. it took me awhile but i got to where his style had slipped to the side & my copies of my copies looked like something i didn't reconize as his other than the subjects & i could move on to just looking at an object & draw it in this new style. it started his style but definitly ended up a mix of his, mine & something else. i know lots of people today call that cheating/plagerism but i never sold, gave any of my copies away or showed them to anyone & today they don't exist anymore. i can't even imagine him seeing any of my working & thinking it's his style at all. what i am suggesting is if you are stuck in a style you no longer want to dominate your work you can easily break it by copying other styles that you want to be able to do but cannot change any other way. copy the style you want to learn until it becomes natural to you then let your own style fill in some of it till it becomes something else that is you. what you are actually doing is changing the way you see things, not just how you draw them. i am not sure this would work for all styles one wants to break out of/into but it did for me & worth a try. it seems that for those wanting to break free of drafting precision this way works & yes i did the whole drafting thing too. 😉 btw steeve, your rendings are super awesome.
You can. Just use the pencil-thumb method. Find a reference measurement (like one side of the building) and compare all proportions to that one. You can also eyeball and draw in some light perspective lines. Find your eye line (horizon line) and make sure your perspective lines work from that.
Love this piece! I was so tickled to watch this video as I've been wanting to include more architectural elements or a house or some building that fascinates me make or just try my hand at urban sketching. I'm not very good at perspective though and will likely have to do take photos at first and then do a good bit of tracing to get the overall structure(s) in proper perspective. Otherwise I do a lot of moderately abstract art with some realism and I love to do florals. So I think the more formal lines & shapes of architectural elements attract me when I feel the need for something with more boundaries. And I love the beauty of old historical homes too..they're so beautiful with so much grace. Thanks so much!
Having found you this morning for the very first time, I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it was to listen to you share your challenges with regards towards relaxing or loosening your style. You are obviously a superb artist. Myself, as a beginner find myself struggling toward the very same aim. Your rendering of the famous building in Savannah turned out absolutely beautiful. I am honored to be one of your new subscribers and look forward to seeing all of your tutorials!
Great video - and a good way. But: I don't think that the focussing on details is the problem. Watching your picture I think it's a matter of composition. If you think composition not from the point of the motiv but from the point of "the picture" - then the question of details will develope for itself. Anyway: allways nice to see your videos ... Good luck.
Love this! Just realized yesterday that you are from SC when I fell into your train station demo, which then lead me to this. I live in the green mailbox development on HHI and go to Savannah monthly for my Blick fix. Am looking for urban sketching information as I'm planning a trip to London and the Cotswold district so this was perfect. Thank you for sharing all that you do!
Really enjoyable insight Steve, I am at that same point you are with sketching and admire the work of those you showed, marking them as indicators. look forward to more, regards Paul Apps
You might find “The Urban Sketcher” by Marc Taro Holmes very relevant, he covers the process of simplifying in this context with excellent illustrations.
Fun to watch you work! I found myself wondering - would skipping the line drawing process, and learning to be loose from the beginning, with paint, help you find a looser more expressive style? You start with so much detail - it's hard to "deconstruct" that, and end up with a finished image that's loose and flowing and expressive?
Its actually easier for me to take a reduction approach. With the detail I can more clearly see what to leave out and loosen up. Going straight to loose rendering is pretty difficult actually.
Hi Steve, it is a huge challenge to loosen up once you've developed such technical skills and esthetic. I don't have your level of competence and it's hard for me to not want to "get it right" too. You might take a look at "Becky Cao"'s channel. She jumps in without drawing with pencil. She has great advice on keeping it simple. Becky just dives in with her pen an keeps going. It might be a refreshing, although alarming new way for you to approach urban sketching. Best of luck!
I've done that some. I decided as an exercise to crutch myself a bit with pencil so I could focus on the reduction of detail. The the choices come a little easier that way. I'll hopefully drop the pencil more in time.
I feel like what might be happening to Steve's drawings, it that there is a lack of a vertical vanishing point. His architectural renderings are full of right angles, and in 3d space there are very few because the buildings actually will appear narrower as they get further away from you in space, and they recede upwards as well as away. So, while they are beautifully rendered, that may be what is bothering Steve when he looks at them. Probably due to his past occupation, they are more like beautiful engineering diagrams then 3d representations of buildings in space. I hope I didn't offend you, Steve!
No offense taken. Vertical perspective is usually not noticeable in such a short structure. A building this size will almost always be rendered in 2 point rather than 3. That said. I'm aiming for a quick, rough journaling style, nothing so precise. Some artists will even approach this style in a cartoony way. Not what I want either but thus my exploration.
Happy anniversary to you both. I've watched a lot of your videos and really appreciate them. I marvel at your work, especially when you toss paint on the paper and turn it into something beautiful. I started painting about 3 months ago. I had a chuckle at this video. I understand what your doing with your effort to reduce your technical approach, while I'm trying to increase mine and still working at pronouncing Quinacridone. lol Great video. Thank you.
Thanks. A highly detailed technical approach is completely valid in the right situation. Just not for me while trying to quickly capture a subject on location.
Developing a style is challenging for me. I grew up with a landscape artist, and so that's what I know. I knew what dad's biases/peeves were, and shaking them off is HARD. I remember dozens of times he'd pull off the road to do a "quick sketch", and they were very rough. I think he'd love waterbrushes & the tiny palettes around today for those sketches. But, it's really hard to get his style out of my head. I do want to suggest a couple more urban sketchers; I don't think their style will be yours, but the looseness might help. Liz Steel does architecture - very loose! Mike Daikbura does a lot of food, but also other things. He draws & paints everywhere. And, Tara's Sketchy Adventures is nice.
Yes, if you want details…I’m your girl, I can totally relate to your frustrations of achieving looseness. I too studied commercial art and I am a great value/ contrast copy artist. But…struggle sooo much when it comes to loosening up, I made a plein air set up with my camera tripod to go out and sketch, trying not to labor on details, quick studies. Thank you for your honesty, and explanation of your process of retraining yourself in a different style…dots, dashes and broken lines, and keeping in mind where the color will subtly fill in the needed details. A total change in what my mind was trained to see and do, it’s a real struggle.😌
Where can I buy the fountain pen that works with Indian ink ? Can’t find a link on your you tube site. Many thanks. By the way I have gleaned a lot of valuable tips from your videos - thanks
Thanks for this video. I have a similar goal and issue to overcome. In the late 80's I took loads of drafting courses with the goal of becoming an architect. Lack of money and good grades prevented me. Now i try to draw in too much detail. I want to get loose and have a more impressionist style.
Seeing your design work was no surprise as so much of your art displays precision and painstaking accuracy. I do not have that patience but do admire it. Have you tried the Arches watercolour journal yet?
I am kind of in the same boat, wanting to be able to capture the urban environment while travelling in a fast but pleasing way. I get bogged down in the details and it turns out so stiff. I’ve learned that the artists who create the those lovely results that are accurate but loose, are already wonderful draftsmen. So I’m focusing on improving my drawing (regarding built environment). It seems that if drawing accurately is second nature, it’s way easier to do any type of paint application, including the loose style, and still make it look gorgeous
Well said Sarah. I'm a huge fan of keeping the drafting skills honed and/or improved. I struggle all the time with going to details too soon before getting the larger proportions and shapes correct. It makes a big difference in my final sketch.
Every once in a while, you make a video that *nails* whatever problem I'm having with my art at the time, and this is one of those videos! For some reason, I am an extremely detail-oriented person, and my artwork reflects that, to the point of being antiseptic most of the time. I sometimes don't finish drawings because I get so bogged down in the details. Your description of what you're doing to loosen up your style really resonates with me, and I plan to incorporate it into my own art. So, thank you (yet again) for making these videos!
Yes, I agree. In the beginning it's intended as a crutch as I incorporate a slightly different style. It helps me decide what I can leave out. Eventually I can reduce that step.
So is the style the result of being limited in time? So that, usually plein air, you use the time you have to suggest as much as you can? And then that necessity of that economy of marks becomes a desirable objective in its own right?
I agree, which it why I mentioned if all you get is a pencil sketch thats fine. That said, it is partially for times sake but not only that. It's a way of not getting pulled into making a tight technical architectural rendering but rather an artistic expression and impression of the scene.
I've been searching for a style for years! Now I'm at a cross road "watercolor and adding gouache" also landscapes or leave architectural design altogether. I'm thinking of painting without a subject or photos. So let's see how it goes, hoping to get my soul into it. I know what you're saying. Take care and be well.🥰
Having been in this area for twelve years, Your rendering of their architecture of the south is just perfect. And your description of your strokes as dots and little lines is dead on. Thank you again for your good teaching.
You know what you want, so you’ve got this. However, you may have to give up sketching with a water brush. I think being in the right emotional space, and just using the a lot more water from a spray bottle would also help. I’m pretty sure you know the techniques, since you’ve taught them to me, just use them on the whole page.
Broken lines and dots. Learned this from you years ago! Thx! I feel your struggle. I’m SO 👍 OK with taking photos, and going back to the studio. Savannah Georgia is AWESOME! 🖌🎨👩🏻🎨 I live in Covington, Ga. (Oxford actually). I tried sketching with my less predominant hand,left… And, I just can’t…. Keepin it loose is hard. But sometimes, Steve, when sketching history especially, we need a little detail. Love your Charleston sketches. Please scotch some more of Savannah, and sell them! Georgia needs you Steve! Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! Thanks for sharing. I still want that Indigraph Pen…..lol
Oh wow! This is simply amazing! One question though: how can you work with hahnemuhle?? I simply hate the paper! I guess im just not good enough to work with paper thats not 100% cotton… :(
The newest Hahnemule hardbound wc sketchbooks are 100% cotton but the former ones were not. I found the former frustrating but I do like the latest ones that are very economical and are bound beautifully and in direct competition with Etchr.
I totally understand the struggle you describe. I compare it (loosely) to my study of the piano. Because of formal study early on, I struggle to ‘lose the boundaries’ and now I’m starting my watercolor journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Oh wow ~ urban sketching. That will be fun to watch. I chuckle when you say how you are simplifying because you have a lot of detail in that little painting. The urban sketchers I have seen simplify the scenes so that they can paint very quickly. Most don’t have much time to catch the scene and especially to get the lighting right before the weather and sun changes. I have learned to draw basics and to use my brush to fill in the lines etc. with paint. I know a lot of people that heavily use the pen but I prefer the opposite. I also love to apply the paint and watch it create it’s magic by mingling together. For instance - on the building using two or three different colors to create that magic. That’s beautiful watercolor to me. Some use gouache or acrylic paints too. I’ve never had the desire to use those. I just love Brenda Swenson! She’s one of my favorite artists. I really study her work hoping I can improve on my techniques. I’m excited to watch you on this journey! You are such a beautiful detailed artist. It will be fun to see your work in a looser fashion. Thanks for a fun video. And Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! We celebrate our 43rd next month.
The opening photo of you and your wife is so sweet. You're a lovely couple. I have about the same art background as you do and that is why I am drawn to watercolor in my "old age" (I'm considerably older than you are). It's difficult not to figure out when to stop with detail and to learn to be inaccurate and interesting. Many years behind a drawing table (no computers when I started) taught me to be precise and complete in my art. Now, I want to be lose & leave something to the imagination of the viewer. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself.
I'm in no place to offer advice at your skill level but... maybe its because you're sketching the details early on? I've been trying starting with a contour sketch lately and it helps me focus on values and suggested details. Take this with a grain of salt - just throwing it out there.
Oh you're absolutely on point! I'll admit it. And unfortunatey I'm all too aware. I've struggled with putting in details too soon all my career. The struggle is real and ongoing.
@@mindofwatercolor thank you for your gracious response. I'm working hard to even get to where you're at and I appreciate your channel and the knowledge you share with us.
Almost all artists making TH-cam demos use methods they are so familiar with that they can do them in their sleep. I much more appreciate that you are willing to explore processes that are not yet comfortable with and show yourself making discoveries (which I know you are so driven by, as I am). Thank you!
Good stuff Minder Mr Steve. I know exactly what You mean, when I did my School Leaving exams I sketched an early morning market “live “ and freely in pencil and got a good grade. I never drew again for 50 years, after a working life of dotting all the I ‘s and crossing all the T’s my ability to sketch without fear has vanished . I am working on it.
I really admire urban sketching. This piece came out great, Steve! I've always wanted to visit Savanah and Charleston. That movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is REALLY good. Happy anniversary to you and the Mrs. It was nice to see her and your family.
There are plenty of TH-cam artists that specialise in loose style urban sketching. I find myself more drawn to the loose style, probably because I don't have any artistic background. However, being an ex-engineer, I do tend to overwork my sketches and paintings. This is something I'm gradually learning to control when to use more detail, and where. A very basic underdrawing, or even none at all, can be a good way to break free of too much detail. Another thing to try, is draw and paint with your other hand! Some artists leave the line work until the end, that way it's just added to enhance certain shapes and edges. The painting is peared down to basic shape, value contrast, focal point and general composition. Having said all that, I love your work, it's very balanced and captures the feel of the subject as well as the details that your training and previous experience has helped you hone to a high level of skill. I'd be pleased to sketch or paint something half as good as yours.
I think it's so cool that your free flow land scapes are so different than your technical work but I enjoyed your sketchbook look! I'm dabbling in architectural watercolor and it's fun...I love Xtina Gavrilovas style a lot because she does historical architecture line and wash but it's so free flowing!
On one of our road trips we visited Savannah one summer. I traveled with my easel setup and had setup in the square opposite of the Mercer house. It's not the best of work but truly a memorable experience. The house tour was also grand.
Urban sketching is a weekly for me! I also have been trying to post some videos on my process. Truly love documenting my day, travels and adventures.... those tacos though, made me hungry! Looks amazing 😍, you did a great job!
I’m not in a position to offer any advice but this reminds me of a personal observation: I am a slow artist both drawing and painting (with or without fussy details). In an attempt to help me do urban sketching, I have done a very quick pen sketch every day fir the past 6 months. I aim to complete inside 15 mins. No paint just ink and cross hatching. It has helped me to only focus on key details and then imply everything else using hatching. It has also helped me to stop being so precious about my drawings and a more free style is starting to emerge.
You are an excellent art teacher, have been searching for a beginner watercolor instructor and I’m glad I found you and have stayed here for a while now. Nice to see your wife and family too. I wish to see more of these videos. Thanks.
Loosening up your style while retaining that realism and just knowing when to say that's enough is hard. Thank you for another great video.
Agreed. Especially when you've been in the habit of taking your time and not holding back on the detail and realism...for years. Thanks Michael!
Steve you should check out Peter Sheeler, he is one of my favorite quick sketch and water color artists!
Ok hopefully you don’t take this as teachy- I’m you. Details. Full blown rendering. That’s me! And I admire all the same artists styles you do! I Joined my local urban sketchers group and wow has it taught me to loosen up. We do a 30 second warm up sketch. Let’s just say -my pen never leaves the paper- and I find myself pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Then we do a 5 minute and a 10 minute. Only then do we delve off into our one hour and a throw down art show on the pavement. I have also found that using a pen that has different pressure thicknesses keeps the time spent on contrasting areas minimal and I’m loving the direction my art is going. Now to convince myself that studio time is valuable also! Lol. Challenge you to do an ornate scene like this in 30 sec, 5 min, etc. Let your naturally skilled ability to draw translate into something fresh!
I love this!
Those are great ideas to try out, thanks.
This challenge for you has always been an obstacle I identify with. I look forward to learning from your style direction and solution. Happy anniversary to you and your wife! ♥
Why not do away with the pencil…. and allow the mistakes and imperfections to happen?? That, to me, is what makes a loose painting look good - I guess what they call ‘organic.’ With pencil, of course you’re still going to get the the perfect drawing. Your painting looks good, but to me it’s not ‘loose’. It’s still tight but with an attempt to make it loose, if that makes sense. Just my non-expert opinion.
I plan to do that eventually to a degree, but I go through the preliminary pencil detail as an aid to a reduction step. It helps me better visualize what to start leaving out and render in new ways.
I've learned so much from your videos. You managed to pull me from a really dark place. I was always fussing and focusing on details until glaucoma and multiple eye surgeries dictated otherwise. I thought my art life was over (it kinda was, people stopped calling). I'm on a new art journey because of you and can't thank you enough.
Fantastic!
What a great video, thanks for taking us on this journey! I really loved the pencil/ ink sketch stage and was mentally saying “just swipe in some color!” I struggle with this too, as an architect my sketches are always very tight and detailed. I would love to loosen up!
Steve, it’s so refreshing to hear about the frustrations and challenges of what you’re taking on as a professional artist. I do love architecture, especially historical, but these days I have trouble drawing a straight line. 😳 Maybe non-straight lines will be a part of my style. 🧐 Your example inspires me to try architectural drawing for watercolor again. And best wishes to you and your wife on your anniversary.🎉
Thanks Nancy!
Haven't dropped in to check paintings out since I left for Savanah to paint the city. Got as far as Rocky Mount and spent 3 days in ICU. And 5 more days on ward. The beginning to the end of mobility. This makes me sad but I appreciate an artists view of that city. Thanks..
buenas... I'm Pedro, from the south of Brazil... your video is perfect.. it encourages me to move on... I'm an architect with 70 years old... trained in the technical and correct trait... I'm trying to get rid of it all.... the urban sketch is a form of freedom, but it is necessary to filter things... after all, as they say: less is more... and, most of all, the use of china ink, watercolor pencil , the tubes, white gouache, etc... all this is a universe of materials....thanks for your simplicity.
I love Brenda Swenson too. I find Delphine
Prilloud very interesting. And I hope you went to Fish Haul Beach while in HH. A beautiful place for reference photos.
I really enjoyed watching this video as I do all of your videos I really liked the style and your painting
Well done, you showed remarkable restraint, and the result is lovely. Do you know the work of Ian Fennelly? He’s a British urban sketcher/watercolourist, and the king of ‘loose’ - I just love his use of colour.
I’m British too, but I’ve also been to Savannah and on the historic tram tour - great fun, and it is indeed a beautiful city.
Love what you did! I am very familiar with Savannah and have friends who live in the historical district. Haven/t been there since I started painting 3 years ago. Definitely need to go for a visit. I am with you trying to be looser with my work. Thanks for your tutorials.
I’m in the same season. Used to love Plein Aire but now I’m second guessing everything and criticizing how it looks or how slow I am. I never finish outside in two to three hours and I’d like to. How do I find the people that are doing it? Would you actually use this method for Plein Aire? For me that style would take all day just to do the pencil drawing.
You need to let your hair down and just paint!!
just fantastic - really a push in the right direction for sure. just amazing. I love thiswork,
Soon as I saw that house I knew what it was.. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was an excellent book (with the perfect title), the movie was great and all of the acting was excellent. John cusack is a writer sent to Savanah down to do a House and Garden type story on an annual Christmas party which is really mundane ... until the the murder happens then he calls his editor about the murder and describes it as, "This place is like Gone With the Wind on mescaline."
Your work is awesome btw!!
I think what could help you to loosen up on the sketching is at a time take the grip of the pencil or the pen higher. It's gonna make you move faster and do more gesture lines. It takes you away from that intricate precision!! Hope it helps a bit!!
Lovely house, great book, good movie. I haven’t seen many of your videos (yet) but this made me think if you were to see the movie it might inspire you to do some line and wash interiors. Or maybe you’ve done that and I just haven’t seen it (yet).
Great job, Steve! I feel the same way about getting it right. I don’t have years of experience doing that, so maybe it will be easier to break out of it but I think you did a great job!
Savannah is better then Charleston. Glad you like my hometown...
The house of interest , surrounding area is very similar to Cape May, N.J. Vogue archetype of the time.
thank you so much for this video. I'm just a beginner, I can use all the encouragement that I can get. I really like your finished result. It gives me enough courage to try it out. just try out, mess up and repeat. It doesn't have to be perfect. I can't draw , but I would love to.
wow i thought it was just me that struggled with loosening up my work, between you & the comments here i guess not. i started drawing before grade school with a regular pencil with eraser & typing paper i could beg from my mom a piece at a time. i remember working so hard to make everything perfect, till it was picture perfect (in my eyes & others too from what they said) when i got to that point, but then i realized that artists do not use a camera so all that work was for naught because then i had to find a way to loosen up what i had worked so hard to acomplish. i worked for years with not much to show because if i loosened up enough then my work no longer had that look of realism yet be loose enough to not be mistaken for something traced from a photo. i still drew every day but didn't get any improvement till one day someone lent me a paperback that was illustrated & i loved this guys work so i thought i want to draw like that yet i had promised the book back the next day, so i got out my pencils, pens & paper & started copying his work, not tracing it but trying to put each line just like he did, which considering how i had taught myself to draw was simple for me. i drew every picture in that book, gave the book back then started drawing copies of my copies until i had the gist of it. it took me awhile but i got to where his style had slipped to the side & my copies of my copies looked like something i didn't reconize as his other than the subjects & i could move on to just looking at an object & draw it in this new style. it started his style but definitly ended up a mix of his, mine & something else. i know lots of people today call that cheating/plagerism but i never sold, gave any of my copies away or showed them to anyone & today they don't exist anymore. i can't even imagine him seeing any of my working & thinking it's his style at all. what i am suggesting is if you are stuck in a style you no longer want to dominate your work you can easily break it by copying other styles that you want to be able to do but cannot change any other way. copy the style you want to learn until it becomes natural to you then let your own style fill in some of it till it becomes something else that is you. what you are actually doing is changing the way you see things, not just how you draw them. i am not sure this would work for all styles one wants to break out of/into but it did for me & worth a try. it seems that for those wanting to break free of drafting precision this way works & yes i did the whole drafting thing too. 😉 btw steeve, your rendings are super awesome.
I actually like your attention to detail and think you are very talented. Thank you for sharing your skills with us. Erica from South Australia
Really good, the eye does fill in the gaps,, I must try saying this as I work. Thankyou.
Question- if I’m going to freehand a building, how do I get perspective to make proportions correct? Do you measure?
You can. Just use the pencil-thumb method. Find a reference measurement (like one side of the building) and compare all proportions to that one. You can also eyeball and draw in some light perspective lines. Find your eye line (horizon line) and make sure your perspective lines work from that.
I hope you film painting that heron. What a great subject.
Beautiful piece! Thank you for the detailed explanation.
Loved this video, thank you for sharing your thoughts and process.
Love this piece! I was so tickled to watch this video as I've been wanting to include more architectural elements or a house or some building that fascinates me make or just try my hand at urban sketching. I'm not very good at perspective though and will likely have to do take photos at first and then do a good bit of tracing to get the overall structure(s) in proper perspective. Otherwise I do a lot of moderately abstract art with some realism and I love to do florals. So I think the more formal lines & shapes of architectural elements attract me when I feel the need for something with more boundaries. And I love the beauty of old historical homes too..they're so beautiful with so much grace. Thanks so much!
Having found you this morning for the very first time, I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it was to listen to you share your challenges with regards towards relaxing or loosening your style. You are obviously a superb artist. Myself, as a beginner find myself struggling toward the very same aim. Your rendering of the famous building in Savannah turned out absolutely beautiful. I am honored to be one of your new subscribers and look forward to seeing all of your tutorials!
Welcome aboard!
Great video - and a good way. But: I don't think that the focussing on details is the problem. Watching your picture I think it's a matter of composition. If you think composition not from the point of the motiv but from the point of "the picture" - then the question of details will develope for itself. Anyway: allways nice to see your videos ... Good luck.
It really has more to do with the loose or tight representation of small details. In other words incorporating more abbreviated suggestion of detail.
This really struck a chord with me… I so desperately try to loosen up and find I just can’t!
Love this! Just realized yesterday that you are from SC when I fell into your train station demo, which then lead me to this. I live in the green mailbox development on HHI
and go to Savannah monthly for my Blick fix. Am looking for urban sketching information as I'm planning a trip to London and the Cotswold district so this was perfect. Thank you for sharing all that you do!
Very cool!
Really enjoyable insight Steve, I am at that same point you are with sketching and admire the work of those you showed, marking them as indicators. look forward to more, regards Paul Apps
I looooove your work. Thank you 💕 subscribed
Ptolomy Dean. sketchy architecture.
You might find “The Urban Sketcher” by Marc Taro Holmes very relevant, he covers the process of simplifying in this context with excellent illustrations.
Yes. Have it. It’s great!
As always amazing and very informative.
I like your brush. Impressively pointy.
Fun to watch you work! I found myself wondering - would skipping the line drawing process, and learning to be loose from the beginning, with paint, help you find a looser more expressive style?
You start with so much detail - it's hard to "deconstruct" that, and end up with a finished image that's loose and flowing and expressive?
Its actually easier for me to take a reduction approach. With the detail I can more clearly see what to leave out and loosen up. Going straight to loose rendering is pretty difficult actually.
Hi Steve, it is a huge challenge to loosen up once you've developed such technical skills and esthetic. I don't have your level of competence and it's hard for me to not want to "get it right" too. You might take a look at "Becky Cao"'s channel. She jumps in without drawing with pencil. She has great advice on keeping it simple. Becky just dives in with her pen an keeps going. It might be a refreshing, although alarming new way for you to approach urban sketching. Best of luck!
I've done that some. I decided as an exercise to crutch myself a bit with pencil so I could focus on the reduction of detail. The the choices come a little easier that way. I'll hopefully drop the pencil more in time.
I feel like what might be happening to Steve's drawings, it that there is a lack of a vertical vanishing point. His architectural renderings are full of right angles, and in 3d space there are very few because the buildings actually will appear narrower as they get further away from you in space, and they recede upwards as well as away. So, while they are beautifully rendered, that may be what is bothering Steve when he looks at them. Probably due to his past occupation, they are more like beautiful engineering diagrams then 3d representations of buildings in space. I hope I didn't offend you, Steve!
No offense taken. Vertical perspective is usually not noticeable in such a short structure. A building this size will almost always be rendered in 2 point rather than 3. That said. I'm aiming for a quick, rough journaling style, nothing so precise. Some artists will even approach this style in a cartoony way. Not what I want either but thus my exploration.
Happy anniversary to you both. I've watched a lot of your videos and really appreciate them. I marvel at your work, especially when you toss paint on the paper and turn it into something beautiful. I started painting about 3 months ago. I had a chuckle at this video. I understand what your doing with your effort to reduce your technical approach, while I'm trying to increase mine and still working at pronouncing Quinacridone. lol Great video. Thank you.
Thanks. A highly detailed technical approach is completely valid in the right situation. Just not for me while trying to quickly capture a subject on location.
Developing a style is challenging for me. I grew up with a landscape artist, and so that's what I know. I knew what dad's biases/peeves were, and shaking them off is HARD. I remember dozens of times he'd pull off the road to do a "quick sketch", and they were very rough. I think he'd love waterbrushes & the tiny palettes around today for those sketches. But, it's really hard to get his style out of my head. I do want to suggest a couple more urban sketchers; I don't think their style will be yours, but the looseness might help. Liz Steel does architecture - very loose! Mike Daikbura does a lot of food, but also other things. He draws & paints everywhere. And, Tara's Sketchy Adventures is nice.
I'm familiar with Liz but not the others. Thanks!
Yes, if you want details…I’m your girl, I can totally relate to your frustrations of achieving looseness. I too studied commercial art and I am a great value/ contrast copy artist. But…struggle sooo much when it comes to loosening up, I made a plein air set up with my camera tripod to go out and sketch, trying not to labor on details, quick studies. Thank you for your honesty, and explanation of your process of retraining yourself in a different style…dots, dashes and broken lines, and keeping in mind where the color will subtly fill in the needed details. A total change in what my mind was trained to see and do, it’s a real struggle.😌
Where can I buy the fountain pen that works with Indian ink ? Can’t find a link on your you tube site. Many thanks. By the way I have gleaned a lot of valuable tips from your videos - thanks
A link is in the video description. It’s an Indigraph fountain pen.
Thanks for this video. I have a similar goal and issue to overcome. In the late 80's I took loads of drafting courses with the goal of becoming an architect. Lack of money and good grades prevented me. Now i try to draw in too much detail. I want to get loose and have a more impressionist style.
Exactly.
Seeing your design work was no surprise as so much of your art displays precision and painstaking accuracy. I do not have that patience but do admire it. Have you tried the Arches watercolour journal yet?
Yes I have a couple of the older ones before they stopped making them. Very glad they rereleased them.
I am kind of in the same boat, wanting to be able to capture the urban environment while travelling in a fast but pleasing way. I get bogged down in the details and it turns out so stiff. I’ve learned that the artists who create the those lovely results that are accurate but loose, are already wonderful draftsmen. So I’m focusing on improving my drawing (regarding built environment). It seems that if drawing accurately is second nature, it’s way easier to do any type of paint application, including the loose style, and still make it look gorgeous
Well said Sarah. I'm a huge fan of keeping the drafting skills honed and/or improved. I struggle all the time with going to details too soon before getting the larger proportions and shapes correct. It makes a big difference in my final sketch.
Thankyou!!!
Hi Steve, do you have a video about wc granulation? I' ve really liked your videos because you explain things so well!
Yes, I have a few though I don't have the links in front of me at the moment.
Every once in a while, you make a video that *nails* whatever problem I'm having with my art at the time, and this is one of those videos! For some reason, I am an extremely detail-oriented person, and my artwork reflects that, to the point of being antiseptic most of the time. I sometimes don't finish drawings because I get so bogged down in the details. Your description of what you're doing to loosen up your style really resonates with me, and I plan to incorporate it into my own art. So, thank you (yet again) for making these videos!
Check out Marc Taro Holmes. He's one of my favorite urban sketchers.
Yes, I have his book. I participated in his 30x30 challenge a few years back. I have a few channel videos on it too. Good experience!
Thank you for the lovely pictures, loved the heron. Still intend to try your accidental pen and watercolour sketches.
Please do!
I really like the result but I think you would save even much more time if you avoid so much detailed pencil drawing.
Yes, I agree. In the beginning it's intended as a crutch as I incorporate a slightly different style. It helps me decide what I can leave out. Eventually I can reduce that step.
So is the style the result of being limited in time? So that, usually plein air, you use the time you have to suggest as much as you can? And then that necessity of that economy of marks becomes a desirable objective in its own right?
I agree, which it why I mentioned if all you get is a pencil sketch thats fine. That said, it is partially for times sake but not only that. It's a way of not getting pulled into making a tight technical architectural rendering but rather an artistic expression and impression of the scene.
Love this, and I love your style.
Brenda Swenson would be impressed.
I love how this came out. TFS
Great well written book as is your work great to see!
I've been searching for a style for years! Now I'm at a cross road "watercolor and adding gouache" also landscapes or
leave architectural design altogether. I'm thinking of painting without a subject or photos. So let's see how it goes,
hoping to get my soul into it. I know what you're saying. Take care and be well.🥰
Unbelievable detail! Beautiful!!!❤
Having been in this area for twelve years, Your rendering of their architecture of the south is just perfect. And your description of your strokes as dots and little lines is dead on. Thank you again for your good teaching.
You know what you want, so you’ve got this. However, you may have to give up sketching with a water brush. I think being in the right emotional space, and just using the a lot more water from a spray bottle would also help. I’m pretty sure you know the techniques, since you’ve taught them to me, just use them on the whole page.
The movie Woman in Gold had your name in the credits as “the artist” . You?
Nope. Not me.
I do have a question? Did you ever erase your pencil lines?
Probably not. I usually don't.
Thank you for the reply...
Broken lines and dots. Learned this from you years ago! Thx! I feel your struggle. I’m SO 👍 OK with taking photos, and going back to the studio. Savannah Georgia is AWESOME! 🖌🎨👩🏻🎨 I live in Covington, Ga. (Oxford actually). I tried sketching with my less predominant hand,left… And, I just can’t…. Keepin it loose is hard. But sometimes, Steve, when sketching history especially, we need a little detail. Love your Charleston sketches. Please scotch some more of Savannah, and sell them! Georgia needs you Steve! Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! Thanks for sharing. I still want that Indigraph Pen…..lol
Lovely to see you and your family having a fun vacation. I loved the drawing & painting, I think you nailed that looser, less detailed style!
What is the fountain pen you use with india ink? Which india ink do you use? Thank you
Supplies are listed in the description.
Mashallah nice 👌
Oh wow! This is simply amazing! One question though: how can you work with hahnemuhle?? I simply hate the paper! I guess im just not good enough to work with paper thats not 100% cotton… :(
It's because the washes are very simple, one layer mostly. It is a slight adjustment though. I would prefer it be cotton.
The newest Hahnemule hardbound wc sketchbooks are 100% cotton but the former ones were not. I found the former frustrating but I do like the latest ones that are very economical and are bound beautifully and in direct competition with Etchr.
Beautifully done
I totally understand the struggle you describe. I compare it (loosely) to my study of the piano. Because of formal study early on, I struggle to ‘lose the boundaries’ and now I’m starting my watercolor journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Happy Anniversary 😍.
Oh wow ~ urban sketching. That will be fun to watch. I chuckle when you say how you are simplifying because you have a lot of detail in that little painting. The urban sketchers I have seen simplify the scenes so that they can paint very quickly. Most don’t have much time to catch the scene and especially to get the lighting right before the weather and sun changes. I have learned to draw basics and to use my brush to fill in the lines etc. with paint. I know a lot of people that heavily use the pen but I prefer the opposite. I also love to apply the paint and watch it create it’s magic by mingling together. For instance - on the building using two or three different colors to create that magic. That’s beautiful watercolor to me. Some use gouache or acrylic paints too. I’ve never had the desire to use those.
I just love Brenda Swenson! She’s one of my favorite artists. I really study her work hoping I can improve on my techniques.
I’m excited to watch you on this journey! You are such a beautiful detailed artist. It will be fun to see your work in a looser fashion.
Thanks for a fun video. And Happy Anniversary to you and your wife! We celebrate our 43rd next month.
I love Brenda Swenson ❤
Beautiful!! I can’t wait to see more!
Love your work. Wish I could get these results.
Thanks! I've been there too and said the same. Keep at it!
I *love* the Snoopy shirt!
This painting/sketch is so beautiful. To me, it's a masterclass work..👍👍👍
The opening photo of you and your wife is so sweet. You're a lovely couple. I have about the same art background as you do and that is why I am drawn to watercolor in my "old age" (I'm considerably older than you are). It's difficult not to figure out when to stop with detail and to learn to be inaccurate and interesting. Many years behind a drawing table (no computers when I started) taught me to be precise and complete in my art. Now, I want to be lose & leave something to the imagination of the viewer. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself.
I'm in no place to offer advice at your skill level but... maybe its because you're sketching the details early on? I've been trying starting with a contour sketch lately and it helps me focus on values and suggested details.
Take this with a grain of salt - just throwing it out there.
Oh you're absolutely on point! I'll admit it. And unfortunatey I'm all too aware. I've struggled with putting in details too soon all my career. The struggle is real and ongoing.
@@mindofwatercolor thank you for your gracious response. I'm working hard to even get to where you're at and I appreciate your channel and the knowledge you share with us.
Almost all artists making TH-cam demos use methods they are so familiar with that they can do them in their sleep. I much more appreciate that you are willing to explore processes that are not yet comfortable with and show yourself making discoveries (which I know you are so driven by, as I am). Thank you!
Wow! This is beautiful! I know this house. Your drawing is even more beautiful than the actual house!
Good stuff Minder Mr Steve. I know exactly what You mean, when I did my School Leaving exams I sketched an early morning market “live “ and freely in pencil and got a good grade. I never drew again for 50 years, after a working life of dotting all the I ‘s and crossing all the T’s my ability to sketch without fear has vanished . I am working on it.
Nice style and beautiful draw. After some years I'm still searching for a style...
New sub. Loved the vid
I really admire urban sketching. This piece came out great, Steve! I've always wanted to visit Savanah and Charleston. That movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is REALLY good. Happy anniversary to you and the Mrs. It was nice to see her and your family.
There are plenty of TH-cam artists that specialise in loose style urban sketching. I find myself more drawn to the loose style, probably because I don't have any artistic background.
However, being an ex-engineer, I do tend to overwork my sketches and paintings. This is something I'm gradually learning to control when to use more detail, and where.
A very basic underdrawing, or even none at all, can be a good way to break free of too much detail. Another thing to try, is draw and paint with your other hand!
Some artists leave the line work until the end, that way it's just added to enhance certain shapes and edges. The painting is peared down to basic shape, value contrast, focal point and general composition.
Having said all that, I love your work, it's very balanced and captures the feel of the subject as well as the details that your training and previous experience has helped you hone to a high level of skill. I'd be pleased to sketch or paint something half as good as yours.
I think it's so cool that your free flow land scapes are so different than your technical work but I enjoyed your sketchbook look! I'm dabbling in architectural watercolor and it's fun...I love Xtina Gavrilovas style a lot because she does historical architecture line and wash but it's so free flowing!
Ian Fennelly is my favorite urban sketcher. He doesn't worry about being architecturally correct and I love that kind of freedom.
On one of our road trips we visited Savannah one summer. I traveled with my easel setup and had setup in the square opposite of the Mercer house. It's not the best of work but truly a memorable experience. The house tour was also grand.
Happy Anniversary!
Glad to see your wife is up and about.
I love your sketchbook illustrations!
Urban sketching is a weekly for me! I also have been trying to post some videos on my process. Truly love documenting my day, travels and adventures.... those tacos though, made me hungry! Looks amazing 😍, you did a great job!
Please do more Urban Sketching tutorials!! This was a great video.