Sketching European Castles & Fortresses

A castle on a cliff, a fortress standing over a plain: you look at one and your imagination wanders off into another century. Then you pick up a pencil, and the towers, walls and roofs tangle together. Where do you even start?

This course gives you a way in. You learn to see what a castle is made of and how to give it weight on the page, so it looks solid and like itself. By the end you know how to start.

What we'll do

Ink and watercolour sketches of castles and fortresses from different corners of Europe. Each one is a lesson in catching the essence of a building: what to keep, what to leave out. You finish with six A4 works.

Along the way you learn:

• Proportions and composition — catching the main proportions fast and placing the sketch on the page
• Linear perspective — depth and realism
• Light and shadow — volume, and tonal contrast that makes a sketch expressive
• Ink — the base of the sketch, and texture
• Watercolour — flat washes on dry and wet paper, dry-brush texture, a minimal set of colours

How it works

Each three-hour evening starts with the castle itself: what makes it worth drawing, where the difficulty is, which technique helps. Then a step-by-step demonstration in pencil, ink and watercolour (several passes): the teacher shows a stage, you draw it, and we move on together, with personal guidance and feedback while you work.

Recommended experience

No prior experience needed. If you have never drawn, or drew a little a long time ago, this course is built for you. If you already sketch, castles are a good subject to practise on.

Six evenings, six A4 castle sketches, all materials provided. Just bring yourself.