The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location

Love this book very informative and I loved the artwork.

I received this book from Amazon yesterday and it is a treasure chest of interesting advice very well illustrated in accessible tutorials. It is a joy and if you have not yet read it I recommend it v highly. His illustrations do just the things I Iove and I am sitting reading it muttering “Exactly!”, “Yes Yes!” under my breath. He concentrates on making satisfying images not on recording exactly what he sees in front of him. He is helped of course by being a talented draughtsman and having a genius for colour and composition. He has some very good, illustrated advice about using watercolours. Simple, practical tips which I wish I had know 40 years ago. Five stars for Mr Taro Holmes.

Great book from a author with Talent keep sketching and remember Talent is from hard work and a sharp pencil

Primarily about urban sketching but a really good introduction to drawing in general.

You won’t go far wrong if this is your ONLY book for starting out drawing and painting in water colour. The advice in this book coupled with the wonderful drawings are a master class. JUST BUY THIS ONE BOOK AND YOUVE CRACKED IT…..THEN ITS GET OUT THERE AND DO IT! ‘SunofgilARTS’ FERNHURST

This is an excellent, go to book and one that I will return to for ideas, techniques and inspiration. It is written in an engaging tone light but also authoritative, Marc is a well known and respected Urban Sketcher with a range of experience both personal out on the streets sketching and also teaching groups. The book is full of sketches and many are shown in stages or 'passes' to completion. This is very much Marc's style and he stresses the 3 pass approach to sketching where more detail is added at each pass. An excellent book

Content of the book is excellent, well written and a good method to work through to help you sketch from life. However, the quality of the printing/photos is truly awful, can't recall seeing another book that is as poor. The photos are dark and really odd looking with poor colour rendition. The background of the pages is printed with a linen effect, it is so poorly printed I though the pages were dirty at first. While this does not affect the usability of the book it did effect my enjoyment, as part of buying a physical book and especially an art book is enjoying the visuals. Glad I did not pay a great deal for this.

this is an excellent book. I really enjoyed Marc's course on craftsy & looked for more of his work & found this book. I was not disappointed. He has a lovely, free style and has really helped me break out of the mould I was taught found at school, that is, all the paper must be painted, no white bits left, and always have a black line around your work. His 3 step method is super and his text really helpful and inspiring. I always look out for his work now and any further books he writes, or courses he makes, I shall be buying straight away.

I came across this author on YouTube several years ago and enjoyed his work and his commentary on Urban Sketching. I also knew about this book for quite awhile, in fact I had it in my cart - save for later - bin for about six months and finally purchased it. I am impressed with this book because of the authors writing, I know, you say, 'but it's a book about sketching', and yes it is, but he talks you through his examples and writes about his art and subjects like you are sitting with him on location. I love how he describes his drawings as stories and graphic novels. He doesn't want to just document a scene, he guides you into being a storyteller through the pencil, pen and ink medium. Don't get me wrong, he definitely gives many solid tips on how to get to the story through how you use the pencil but he in essence is a teller of the story first of all. He guides you to making the viewer feel what you feel while sketching. He uses terms like, narrative, guided tour, a trail of breadcrumbs in describing his style. He leads you into the language of visual narrative with terms like, gradient of interest, eye magnet, placement, contrast and detail. When writing you're told to -'show don't tell'; but in Urban Sketching we actually do show by what we put on the page. But this author intimates that we should TELL with the sketch, leading the viewer into our composition. I like this book, I think you will as well.

M. T. Holmes notre guide pas à pas de façon très fluide et bienveillante à oser se lancer dans le sketching. Il partage ses 'trucs', tant sur le matériel que sur la pratique et la technique, et propose des exercices assez libres et très motivants, tout en illustrant ses propos par des exemples de réalisations, par étapes. Clairement structuré, clair, agréable à lire et abondamment illustré. Le matériel nécessaire n'est pas délirant (ni immense ni trop cher, il réduit les besoins au moins, appréciable pour les petites bourses et pour voyager léger). On sent que c'est quelqu'un qui adore ce qu'il fait et qui aime les autres et partager. Il nous donne finalement une sorte de triple cours express de dessin, encre et aquarelle (waouh!). Le tout est simple, sympathique et très libérateur : on se sent avoir envie d'oser et de se lâcher pour se faire plaisir. Bon, reste à s'entraîner pour parvenir à trouver notre style et à obtenir des résultats qui nous plaisent (et si possible aussi beaux que les siens, rêvons un peu !)

I like the no BS approach the author shows, and how he has divided the book into sections for measuring the right size of objects, ink drawing, watercolours with pencils and brushes, as well as practical tips and exciersises, coupled with various theories for how to plan your sketch, and how to draw the eye of the viewer to certain objects. The book is packed full of useful tips, techniques and art lessons, starting from the beginners to the advanced Urban Sketcher. Much recommended!

Todos los ejercicios que propone el autor ayudan a desarrollar confianza para principiantes e intermedios de forma muy didáctica. Lo recomiendo mucho!

Un libro muy interesante con tecnicas y con imagenes muy faciles de seguir, con bastante contenido, sin duda es una buena compra.