10 reasons to sketch with coloured pencils

Today, the Derwent Pencil Company has published my article - 10 reasons to Sketch with Coloured Pencils by Katherine Tyrrell - on their lovepencils blog.

Published on the lovepencils blog 1st March 2011

I've now been sketching with coloured pencils for over twenty years - following a tip from a professional artist about how easy and effective they were to use for sketching.  I'm so convinced of their value I have no doubt I'll be sketching with them for the next twenty years too!

However I've always been really surprised that coloured pencils don't get mentioned more in art journals as a valuable sketching medium - for all the reasons I outline in the article.

As you can imagine I was absolutely delighted to be able to give coloured pencils a higher profile by focusing on value as an article for the blog!  Here are the 10 reasons - and if you want to know more you'll have to read the article!

1. Not a lot to carry!
2. As many colours as you want
3. Go where other artists cannot go
4. Scope for mixed media
5. Get a true record of colours and tones 
6. Work small - and large
7. Impervious to rain
8. If you make a mistake....
9. Coloured pencils don’t run 
10. No waiting for the paint to dry! 

I'll be putting a FREE downloadable copy of the article - in a slightly different format - on the Making A Mark Guides page of my website blog later this week. 

If you've not tried coloured pencils as a sketching medium why not give them a go!

The Love Pencils blog

The lovepencils blog was started in November last year by Derwent - the Cumberland Pencil Company. 
It was great to see a major pencils manufacturer grasp the value that a blog can have for those who are fans of their products and the company itself. 

The Derwent ladies make a point (joke!) of posting on a regular basis.  You can see the archive of past posts here.  Plus the blog has now passed the magical three month mark - which means it's "a stayer"! (It's a fact that something like 90% of blogs die before they are three months old).

I love all the people at Derwent - they're always really helpful and I'm certainly more than happy to contribute an article to this great new blog.  :)

If you're a fan of working with pencils I do recommend subscribing to the LovePencils blog.  Apart from keeping you up to date with new products and product changes, the blog also has articles by artists working with pencils in different ways.

Margaret Mee's paintbox at Kew Gardens

Usually when I'm out and about with a sketchbook, I'm sketching places and sometimes people in places.  Now and again however I sketch an object which catches my attention - such as Margaret Mee's paintbox which went with her on her travels to Brazil.

Margaret Mee's Paintbox at Kew Gardens 

(Old and New South American Botanical Art exhibition)

8 x 10", pencil in Moleskine

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was at Kew Gardens to this summer to see the exhibition of Old and New South American Botanical Art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery - and only realised recently that I hadn't actually got round to posting this sketch of her paintbox and brushes.


Links:

• The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew 
• Margaret Mee - Resources for Botanical Art Lovers

Photograph of my sketching set-up

My sketch in Moleskine Sketchbook, basic sketching kit
and cup of tea at the Mall Galleries

 I normally forget to take a photo so this is a rare example a sketch in progress!

Yesterday I went to the Mall Galleries to see the  Watercolour Academy Exhibition and had a cup of tea and a sketch as is my usual practice after viewing the exhibition.

This time I remembered to take a photograph of the sketch in progress.  I did a bit more to the colours when I got home but all drawing in was done at the gallery.  This was taken just after the ladies who I had been sketching had got up and left - via a trip to view my sketch!  As always I draw figures rather than faces and often draw people from behind so nobody is recognisable - so no objections possible!

Watercolour Ladies at Watercolour Academy
pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The exhibition review of Watercolour Academy will be on Making A Mark shortly - and the exhibition closes on Friday.  It's worth a visit.

My basic sketching kit is a mechanical pencil, a Pentel G-TEC-C4 gel ink rollerball, a Moleskine Sketchbook (lilac wrapper) and a basic set of Derwent Coloursoft pencils

Sissinghurst - and tips for time limited sketches

This is about sketching a view of the Cottage Garden at Sissinghurst and shows you my 'before' and 'after' versions of the same sketch. It also provides some tips for sketching within a time limit.

an early August evening in the Cottage Garden at Sissinghurst
11.5" x 17", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney black hardback sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This particular sketch was done right at the end of a trip to Sissinghurst in August. "He who must not be bored while I sketch" read his book sat in the chair outside the cottage while I sat on the doorstep. I also tried out my latest addition to my sketching toolkit which I'd bought earlier at the shop. This is a foam kneeling pad for gardeners. It fits neatly inside my backpack and makes a perfect lightweight pad for use when wanting to sit on the ground to sketch.

The sketch at the top is how it ended up - it's a sketch of an early August evening which means lots of lovely shadows and a warm quality to the light. I love sketching in the early evening and do it a lot as places often look much better than in the middle of the day.

However in this instance it was the end of the day and consequently I was very limited by how much time was left before the garden closed at 6.30pm - and below is how far I got while still in the garden. Below I'll tell you what I do if time for sketching is limited - and what I did to help me finish this sketch back at home.

work in progress - an early August evening in the Cottage Garden at Sissinghurst
11.5" x 17", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney black hardback sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Tips for time limited sketches - and how to complete them

I start a lot of sketches - but don't always finish them. Some are rubbish, don't deserve to be finished and never see the light of day again!

However other sketches are only starts because I'm working within a time limit and consequently cannot finish them properly. I can finish promising sketches back at home if I make sure I do a few things - which I'm sharing with you below.

If you have limited time to sketch here's an overview of some tips:

• PRACTICE doing short sketches - if you do a lot of sketches where you only allow yourself (say) 10-15 minutes then you soon get an idea of how much you can get done in that time period. Plus if you practice you speed up a lot as you begin to understand the possible shortcuts. (You can read more about this in my sketching class exercise Sketching for Real - so you want to learn how to sketch...... )
  
• the four most important lines: deciding just how much to draw is very important. You can carry a viewfinder - or use the viewfinder on your camera to work out what works for you. Some people just extract small slivers of a view if working quickly. I'm more likely to 'go large' as this means I have to simplify more. There's no right answer except what works best for you. It's worth experimenting to find out how much you can get down in just 10-15 minutes. (see also Making a Mark: Composition - the four most important lines)
  
• contour drawing - shapes and lines: focus on drawing in the big shapes and getting the junctions between important lines/shapes right. Forget about the details - there are more important things to do! I tend to look for the 'big' verticals and horizontals and any important diagonals eg any lines which lead the eye into the picture.
  
• sample what the photo can't give you: if you're also taking a photograph, you can use that to review your drawing of lines and shapes but it'll be useless for values (it will have a higher degree of contrast) and colours (cameras often distort natural hues - partly because of the values issue)
  
• focus on the value pattern: I always try to focus on getting the overall value pattern down. What I aim for is an expanded 'thumbnail sketch' which indicates why I was attracted to this view. You don't even have to draw all of it so long as you've got a sense of the contrast. In this example, you can see where I completed the value on the background Irish yew on the right and did a patch of the foreground Yew on the left. I also made sure I drew in and captured the light acid yellow green colour of the sunlight hitting the rim of the yew. (see also Making a Mark: Composition - why tonal values and contrast are important)
• sample the colours: if you sketch a lot there comes a point when you don't need to record colours anymore for some of your subject matter - if you've drawn it many times before from life you know what the colour is! A good reason for recording it is if it was different. In this instance the sky was a normal summer blue sky - hence no blue got recorded in the sketch! However I wanted to try and get a sample of the rim lighting on the yew and the yellows and reds of the flowers. I always do the best I can with whatever coloured pencils I have available and try optical mixes of different pencils I don't have the right colour pencil. ()
  
• get the rest of the colours down ASAP: If you do a lot of sketching and train your brain to observe, name and record colour then it's possible to do memory sketches - so long as you get the colour down fast. I find I've got to be very careful about this if I'm doing a day's sketching as all the colours in the different images can get mixed up in my memory. I find that my best bet for colour sketching from memory is always the last sketch of the day - as this was.

While I printed off a photo to check my proportions and shapes, I used my colour memory to complete this sketch and capture the early evening light. I think it worked quite well for the most part. There are bits I'd like to improve on and I may well have a go at working this one up info a more formal drawing.

Below you can find some links which provide helpful information if you want to draw or paint gardens and/or visit Sissinghurst. Plus links to previous sketches at Sissinghurst.

Do you have any tips for:

• sketching within a time limit?
• sketching from colour memory?
  

Links:

• For more of my tips about sketching see How to Sketch
• Sissinghurst Castle Garden - a great garden - my information site about the garden at Sissinghurst.
• Gardens in Art - Resources for artists - my resources site for artists who like to draw and paint gardens
• Travels with a Sketchbook - sketching at Sissinghurst
• Pastels and Pencils - travels with a sketchbook in England

The coldest snap for 20 years

Victoria Park Lake People #1

pencil in Derwent Safari sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Today it was finally warm enough for me to risk going out for a walk - as in the temperature got above freezing.

It's been very, very cold for the last few days in London with newspapers now reporting that some parts of the UK are experiencing the coldest temperatures for 20 years.

I struggled for hours this morning while trying to renew and install my security suite. In the end I decided I needed to just walk away from the problem and go for a good long walk - and wait for the support people to sort everything out.

So, my walk today took me up to Victoria Park where I'd remembered there was another pond which would be worth investigating. It's the one I always think of as the fishing pond and it always has lots of bird life around and about. Today it was frozen with just one part open for a large gaggle of birds who were all being amazingly sociable

Then I walked across to the Lake - which was also frozen except for the bit in the middle where the fountain was keeping the water moving. I can't remember the last time I've seen it frozen like that - it's been many, many years. It's a large expanse of water and it sometimes freezes around the edges but nothing like it was today. The swans and other birds were standing on top of the water and finding it difficult to locate water to 'hoover'.

Although above freezing it was still far too cold to sit outside and sketch (I've identified the thermal long johns I need - I've just not got them yet!) so I dived into the Pavilion cafe for lunch and sat and sat at the window and drew people on the terrace outside - overlooking the lake and the fountain. I ha d a lovely Chorizo, hummus and spinach stew with granary bread while I sat and sketched. The people in the cafe were a complete mix of Yummy Mummies with teenie tinies and old East Enders - a sign of how the area has changed in the last 25 years.

It struck me this might be quite a good spot to do a series of sketches of people all occupying the same space. So having done my first sketch of a couple of yummy mummies, I proceeded to a sketch of three people having lunch. They were joined by a couple of very friendly pigeons. I think some of the birds in Victoria Park have a goal of making the leftovers from the cafe their staple diet!

Victoria Park Lake People #1

pencil in Derwent Safari sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On the way home, down the Regents Canal, via the Ecology Park Pond, I found yet more evidence of just how cold it has been. The canal was all churned up suggesting that there has been some movement of canal barges - and the ice was quite fascinating as a result.

Ice on the Regents Canal 8th January 2009

In the Ecology Park everything was frozen solid - except under the wooden bridges where the moor hens had taken up residence.

Ecology Park Pond frozen - ice on the ice
and my usual seat for sketching

I discovered a new way of going sketching today. I put a pencil and a pen in the zip up pockets of my fleece. Then I use my new smaller Derwent sketchbook - and that will just go inside the sleeve of my warm furry lining jacket with the rib cuffs at the end of the sleeves. Which means I can walk around with no backpack. Yippee. I think winter sketching means more sketching in pen and graphite and less in coloured pencil - well until it warms up a bit!

Note: The Pavilion Cafe comes highly recommended by me - just what this area needed! Here are a couple of reviews from Time Out and The London Review of Breakfasts - which is a blog which is new to me! The menu board suggested they catered for both those who like a major fry-up at breakfast or the alternative healthy veggie blow-out version. Read the comments for the breakfast review!

Links:

• London Borough of Tower Hamlets - Victoria Park
• Wikipedia - Victoria Park, East London
• Qype - Victoria Park
  

Product review: The Derwent Safari Journal

Derwent recently sent me a Safari Journal which I took out last week for a trial run. It's probably best if I start by saying something about what I look for in a sketchbook - as I'm a bit picky!

Medium/Mini Derwent Safari Journal
beige soft touch cover

I like my sketchbooks to:

• lie flat easily as I often work across a double page spread. Which basically rules out wire bound sketchbooks and any where some or all the pages fall out as soon as you crack the spine and force the sketchbook to lie flat. What seems to work best are the stitched sketchbooks.
• be big enough and small enough. Size is a very personal issue - how big does it need to be? It all depends on the size you like working - and how you carry your sketching tool kit. If you're a "slip it in the pocket with pen or pencil" type then you probably like your sketchbooks to be on the small size. If it has to fit into your everyday handbag/holdall then obviously you can go larger. Personally speaking I'm a "kitchen sink merchant" who collects rucksacks like other people collect handbags and salivates over clothes with zipped pockets for secreting all sorts of useful things like battery powered erasers while out on sketching expeditions! So - on the whole - I tend towards being happier with a larger sketchbook. However the ideal sketchbook is the size which can go anywhere without me having to think too hard about how to carry it - and smaller than ideal seems to leave home more often.
  
• have paper which works well with my media. It might seem an obvious thing to say but in discussions with people I often find people buy sketchbooks because they like the look of them. Personally speaking I can't buy them unless I've got the cellophane off and can feel the paper. Yes, I'm that funny person over in the corner in the art shop surreptitiously running my finger tips very lightly over the paper to feel how it's been made and pressed. The reality is some paper just sets my teeth on edge and I can't work on it at all. I'm looking for a plate feel finish on a paper which can absorb and deliver saturated colour. It has to work with pen and ink and a dancing line - as well as with graphite and coloured pencils, burnishing and erasing with a battery powered eraser - and not become abraded in the process. I don't need it to work with watercolour as I don't tend to use it - and tend to leave other people to do those reviews.........but I've had a little go with this one! ;)
  

So - what are the features of the Derwent Journal?

Overall it looks remarkably like a Moleskine with a few differences. The question is - how important are those differences to a dedicated Moleskine user like me?

Design: Anybody who has a Moleskine will recognise this straight away. Rounded edges on front and back covers - good because they then don't get damaged and bent back when tucked into any sort of space available. A nice big fat expanding pocket at the back for 'things' (so useful when it comes to tickets and mementoes!) plus they go one better and have a smaller one at the front as well. I missed the 'in case of loss' printed info bit on the first page. I'd have happily given up a page for this - as I tend to record what's in the sketchbook on that page - but I'd started my sketch before I realised!

Cover: The cover is designed as a tactile faux animal hide and it comes in two shades warm terracotta and rich earth. It's jolly nice to the touch but feels like it would be heard wearing. It also has one of those elasticated bands (like the Moleskine) which keeps it shut when not in use. I think the should be mandatory on all sketchbooks as they avoid paper being damaged inadvertently.

Paper: Derwent's website tells me that each journal contains 80 sheets of high quality, 200 gsm acid-free cartridge paper. For American readers cartridge paper is a high quality drawing paper - and there'll a post about its origins and other uses on my other blog Making A Mark later today. (see What is Cartridge Paper?)

The paper has a slight creamy colour which will be very familiar to those using Moleskines. It's very smooth but I have a slight feeling that it is not quite as 'bond' like as I like it and it's weight suggests it's lighter than the 250gsm paper used in a Moleskine - which I really like. I think the Moleskine might also be just a teeny weeny bit smoother.

Media - pencils:

The Ecology Park Pond - pencil study
pencil, 6.7" x 9.25"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This journal's paper takes pencil very well indeed. I was using a mechanical pencil with a slightly soft lead to get a good range of values in my sketch of the willows around the the bridge over what the park authority call a lake - and what I call a pond - in the local Ecology Park.

A quick tip for those out with only pen and pencil to hand. Write out colours on your sketches. Those light coloured reed in the centre have an annotation of "zinc yellow"!

On the next nice day I'll take a trip back to try this sketch again in coloured pencils!

Media - pen and ink: I tried a pen and ink sketch of the Regents Canal just north of the Old Ford Lock. There's a nice wall for parking oneself on while sketching the canal and the barges.

The Regents Canal looking towards the Approach Road Bridge entrance to Victoria Park
pen and sepia ink, 6.7" x 9.25"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

My feeling is that it's well suited to pen and ink work. The paper did not abrade with repeated hatching and the surface was smooth enough to enable me to work quickly

While processing my sketch in PS I discovered that the format of a double page spread gives you a perfect 5x7 aspect ratio! A double page spread actually measures 6.7" x 9.25" - but the ratio is the important bit if you use it for large thumbnail sketches before embarking on a larger drawing plein air or back in the studio.

Media - pen and ink and coloured pencils: my very first sketch was actually of the Arts Pavilion in the Arts Park in Mile End Park - which turned into a bit of a mess - I should remember not to do reversed out neon signs! However, the mix of pen and ink and coloured pencils worked just fine.

Similarly, laying down coloured pencils for the next test back home also suggested that this paper is very receptive to coloured pencils.

Media - watercolour: The type of paper suggests that it's propobably not suitable for 'proper' watercolour - like the Moleskine sketchbook. So I tested it for a modified form of watercolour.

Rather than proper watercolour paint and a proper brush, I used my watercolour pencils to create a swatch of colour and a waterbrush. A very light application of water over half of the swatch does not cause the paper to buckle. Adding water via the waterbrush created a pretty good intensity of colour if not too much was added to the pencil marks. Saturation could be lightened by brushing out the colour across the page without the paper buckling. See the swatch to see what I mean.

You can also see where I used a battery powered eraser to remove both pure watercolour pencil and WC pencil converted to a wash from the paper. The paper stands up well to the rapid abrasion from the eraser and allowed me to remove colour almost back to the pure natural colour of the paper - only a slight tinge remained. Unfortunately once water has been applied the removal is both less obvious and less successful.

Overall though it looks as if this journal is much better suited to dibble dabble using a water brush and/or dry brush watercolour rather than saturating paper and working wet in wet. Try the latter and no matter how heavy this paper is my guess is it will buckle or refuse to accept the watercolour. If you want to use watercolour you must get a sketchbook with proper watercolour paper.

Binding: The journal is stitched and consequently will lie flat - which is great. The real test always comes at the start or the end of a sketchbook when getting it to lie flat is most difficult (OK - I'll be frank "downright irritating" would be more accurate if it doesn't!) but this journal presented no problems on that front.

Overall it looks well made. However there are no perforations and this is not a sketchbook for people who like to remove pages. It's a sketchbook for people like me who like to keep their sketchbooks intact as sketchbooks!

If you want something to use for working drawings to extract and play around with this is not the journal for you

Size: It comes in a choice of two sizes which seem to be variously described depending on where you look on the Derwent website or catalogue. The Medium/Mini - the one I tried - is 120mm x 170mm (that's 4.72in x 6.69in). The Small/Pocket is 90mm x 140mm (3.54in x 5.51in). Frankly the latter is far to small for me - and I'd be far more likely to use a larger size - if it existed.

The Medium is smaller than the larger Moleskine - and in some ways that makes it a more attractive proposition as a 'small' sketchbook compared to the larger sketchbook Moleskine is just a little too large for the handbag scenario. Personally speaking I find the small size of the Derwent Dafai Journal just a tad too small for me - but as I indicated earlier that's always very much an issue of personal preference.

Price: I note that Artifolk are selling these journals online for £6.99 for the small size and £8.99 for the Medium Size. I'm guessing you may see them at various prices in the shops - depending where your local retail version of heaven is.

Overall - I think this is a good quality product which will suit people who like to keep proper journals of times in their life or their travels. However, it's too expensive for people who just need some paper to try out roughs and i's not appropriate for people who want to do serious and/or 'wet' watercolour and/or want to remove their work from the stitched journal.

I'll certainly continue to use this Derwent Safari Journal and will add it into my basic toolkit - and I'll also report back again when I've finished it - I have a sneeking suspicion it's going to be the perfect size for the pocket of my heavy duty cold weather anorak.

I think on the whole the Moleskine continues to have the slight edge for me when I'm carrying a backpack - mainly because of the paper which has proved to be very reliable and very suitable for the media I use. However I couldn't find a Moleskine I'd happily use this instead and I think people who like slightly smaller sketchbooks would find it a good size.

Useful art materials for sketching

Sunday morning in Mirepoix - without the people!
coloured pencil on Canson Mi Teintes
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is a summary of posts on my other blog "Making A Mark" that comment on and contain useful materials for sketching. I mainly use coloured pencils (artist quality and watercolour) and pen and ink.

Media

• A portable sketching kit - watercolour pencils and waterbrush
• Russ Stutler's observations on the waterbrush - all you need to know about waterbrushes
  
• Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour pencils - I've used these for over 15 years and they are recommended by me
  
• Royal Talens Van Gogh Coloured Pencils - these include a lot of blues and greens which are useful for the plein air sketcher
• How green is my coloured pencil collection? - colour swatches of all my choice of greens for sketching landscapes plus comments on brand
  
• Derwent drawing pencils - good for skin - but also good if you anticipate scenes with lots of neutral colours
• Colourfastness of coloured pencils - big improvements in lightfastness mean a need for a review
• The Rotring Art Pen - used by a number of sketchers

Sketchbooks, supports and other useful kit

• Two new sharpeners - including a battery powered sharpener for sketching outdoors which is excellent for heavy duty work all day long.
  
• Sketching bluebells - includes comments about the need for bulldog clips!
• Amazon and Moleskine Books - check out apparent bargains carefully when buying sketching sketchbooks online
• Reloading a Moleskine - Martha at Trumpetvine Travels advises on how to use the front and back boards with a paper of your own choice
  
• Abrasive supports for pastels and coloured pencils #2
• Which sketchbook? - reviews the sketchbooks I use
  

I will update this thread as and when new threads are produced so that it acts as a summary which can be bookmarked.

Please feel free to bookmark this thread in your browser or in a links section on your website.

[Updated: 11.10.07]

Note: The sketch is of one side of the square in the thirteenth century bastide town of Mirepoix - which lies half way between Carcassonne and Foix in south west France. The centre of town comprises an arcaded market square which is one of the most attractive in the whole of France.

The square is bordered by houses dating from between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries, and a relatively harmonious modern halle on one side, but its highlight is the medieval Maison des Consuls (council house), whose arcaded rafters are carved with hundreds of unique portrayals of animals, monsters, and caricatures of medieval social groups and professions, as well as ethnic groups from across the world.
France-for-visitors.com

In the time available I had the option of getting the architecture done or adding in people and only getting half of it done - guess which won! This was sketched from a cafe table at one end of the square.

Links:

• Making A Mark Writing about: Making marks with pastels, pencils and pen and ink - Creating new drawings and paintings - Influences on developing both artwork and art careers - Interviews with artists - Information about resources for artists and art lovers
  
• Ariege Pyrenees - Mirepoix
  
• Pyrenees Guide - Mirepoix
  

A sketching tool kit......for travels with a sketchbook

This post is going to link to all the posts I've previously written about assembling a tool kit for sketching plein air.

Pencil cases (for coloured pencils) and Sketchbooks (Daler Rowney and Moleskine)
My sketching toolkit for day trips
Photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

First off, everybody's idea of what they need is different - there is no one right answer. You need to experiment to find out what works for you. Different circumstances also require different kits - you need to think about where and how long you will have to carry your kit.

These are just my ideas of the different ways I assemble a tool kit of materials when travelling with my sketchbook.

Sketching toolkits

• A portable sketching kit - designed for those who like to use watercolour pencils 
• Plein Air Sketching at Kew 04.05.06 - includes a photo and list of the kit I typically take out with me when I travel around the UK with the intention of doing some serious sketching 
• Sketch toolkit - what I take overseas - when going on a serious art holiday the kit comes first and the clothes come second!

The following posts include photos of my set-ups at different places in the USA during the summer of 2006.

• 250 miles riding 'bitch' in the desert - a minimalist kit for when space is at a premium
• Plein air sketching in Albuquerque - kit for a morning's sketching of the hills above Albuquerque
• A visit to an art store and Walden Pond - includes photo of my plein air pastel set-up and comments on using a StudioPak from ArtBin for the first time
• Rocky Neck and Rockport Massachusetts - includes a photo of my set-up and a description of the sketching kit for a day's sketching

Art Materials and Advice on Sketching

In addition, on my website I have:

• a page dedicated to describing the art materials I use. Any materials I mention in the above blog posts can be found on this page - usually with a photograph
• advice on sketching - which includes reference to the sketching toolkits mentioned above

I'll update this summary as and when I write about items in sketching toolkits.

Next I'll provide links to posts about individual items which are recommended for sketching plein air.

Links: [these have been updated as sites have changed]

• Advice on Sketching Toolkits and Materials
• Sketching for Real - a class with assignments
• Travels with a Sketchbook - tips and techniques PLUS Making A Mark FREE Guides:
• Starting to sketch with coloured pencils
• 10 Reasons to Sketch with Coloured Pencils
• Sketching plein air with coloured pencils