Sketching European City Stories

You know how one- and two-point perspective works. You've done washes and tonal studies. But a real street is a lot busier than the examples you learned on — it bends, the houses face different ways, half of it sits in shadow, and it's not obvious where to begin.

That's what these six weeks are for. The same techniques you already have, this time on scenes you'd actually want on your wall.

Six cities

Paris · Venice · Budapest · Haarlem · Prague · Salzburg

Cities you've been to, or cities you're going to. Canals and reflections, domes and dbridges, brick gables, rooftops from above, a river running through a hillside town — every scene brings its own challenge.

These are cities we've sketched ourselves — the references come from our own trips.

How it works

Each session begins with the reference: what makes this scene interesting, where the difficulty is, which techniques work here, and how to approach it. Then a step-by-step demonstration, and time to sketch with personal guidance throughout.

Recommended experience

You don't need to be good at these — you need to have met them before:

• One- and two-point perspective
• Light, dark and midtone values
• Basic watercolour: flat washes, gradients, wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry

If some of it has gone rusty, that's fine — we'll refresh as we go. If most of it is new, start with our Architectural Sketching course; you'll get far more out of this one afterwards.

Six evenings, six European cities, all materials provided.