Edges

 

Do you find that your ink and wash sketches turn out too heavy in the ink stage and that your washes are patchy and incoherent?

This intermediate 8-week in-depth course has been designed to help your ink and wash sketches:

  • have a stronger focus so that the eye is drawn to the important part
  • create a greater sense of depth
  • be able to say more with less

 

Enroll Edges Course $199USD

Buy Edges with Buildings and Watercolour On Location – Urban Sketching Bundle – and save $140USD

 


DESCRIPTION OF COURSE

The secret to creating compelling ink and wash sketches is to have a good understanding of edges – to understand whether the edges of your subject represent a change in plane or a change in colour and whether they are hard or soft, strong or weak.

Once you can see edges in this way, the fun part of creating art starts! It’s all about interpreting what you see and making decisions about how you will record that in line or colour. These decisions are totally dependent on what aspect of your subject you respond to the most – the unique story you are trying to tell through your art. The Edges course will help you do this!

  • over 15 hours of video
  • 20 different demonstrations
  • over 70 pages of downloadable content
  • private specially designed classroom for sharing work and discussions with others
  • lifetime access to all course content and any further updates
  • self-directed course – start at any time and work at your own pace.

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Who is the course for?

This course is suitable for people with some drawing experience

  • If you are a beginner, I recommend that you work through my Foundations course first.
  • If you are a seasoned sketcher, there will be plenty of content for you – new ideas and exercises to explore.

As this is a concept course it is suitable for any way of working – whether carefully and deliberately or faster and looser.

This is not a watercolour technique class, nor is it specifically designed as a sketching architecture course.
However with my architectural background and predominant use of ink and wash you will pick up a lot of tips along the way.


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Why is this course special?

  • one essential concept per lesson, each lesson building on the previous
  • in-depth content – the concepts are clearly explained (with lots of diagrams) and then applied
  • specific assignments for each lesson have been designed to explain the concept
  • quality video demonstrations of indoor and out on location sketches
  • an indoor and outdoor exercise each lesson so you have a chance to really understand the principles before going out on location

I want to share my personal approach which combines 20 years experience as an architect with the obsessive sketching that has filled over 100 sketchbooks in 7 years. Loose spontaneous sketching but a strongly structured and conceptual architectural foundation.

I believe that the more we think about what we see, the richer our artwork will become.


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How will the course work?

  • The course will be run through a private specially designed classroom site for all lessons, sharing of homework and discussions
  • This is a self-directed course with all lessons available on registration
  • Lifetime access to course and all future updates

 

Work at your own pace

  • This course contains 4 in-depth lessons that you can work through at your own pace. Note: it is recommended that you take 2 weeks for each lesson.
  • All lessons are available at registration meaning that you can review them all initially before beginning the assignments.

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What each lesson contains

1. In-depth instruction with optional downloadable pdf of the whole lesson.
Each lesson contains a single concept that will be

  • Clearly explained with notated diagrams
  • Demonstrated by a specific exercise – high-quality video demonstrations in the studio or out on location
  • Applied and expanded upon by use of examples from my sketchbooks over the years – from simple applications to more complex (perfect for the ‘seasoned sketchers’!)
  • Thought for the week to carry with you no matter how busy you are
  • Two assignments. One indoors: applying the concept to an object or two, one outdoors: applying the concept to a more complex scene

2. A fresh step by step demonstration from the streets of Sydney.
During the first run of Edges, I went out each week for a new sketching adventure in Sydney, showing how I put the week’s concept into practice with a specific step by step demo. I checked out numerous new suburbs and of course, each week’s adventure included finding the best cafes in town!

3. Additional tips and FAQ
Although this is a self-directed course, each lesson includes additional tips and frequently asked questions for each lesson. These consist mainly of the feedback that was given during the first run of the course and address common queries and trends that come up from the lesson’s exercises.

4. Bonus Material
Extra demos and tips have been added to each lesson over the years expanding on the concepts and showing how they apply to different subject matter and techniques.

 

In addition, there are numerous replays from live Q&A sessions from previous Group Run-throughs. These include answers to common questions and live demos and they form an important part of the Edges course.



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Course Outline

Introduction – Thinking about Edges
– types of edges
– profiles of edges
– factors that affect edges

Lesson 1 – Seeing Edges: Plane vs Colour
– distinguishing between edges that are changes in planes or changes in colour or both
– working in an ordered way with changes in planes to achieve a sense of depth

Lesson 2 – Seeing Edges: Hard vs Soft
– understanding the difference between hard and soft, strong and weak edges
– creating these edges with our materials
– combining our materials (especially ink and wash) for even more options

Lesson 3 – Prioritising Edges: Line
– setting out lines
– varying lines
– losing and minimising lines

Lesson 4 – Prioritising Edges: Tone
– creating a focus with hard and strong edges
– creating focus-related depth with soft and weak edges
– meeting the viewer halfway with lost and found edges


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Materials

The lesson demonstrations will use a range of materials – mostly ink and watercolour with some watercolour pencils – but it is more important to use what you are familiar with. There will be no need to go and spend a lot of money up front getting any of my art tools!

Download PDF File: SkN Edges Materials List


Enroll Edges Course $199USD

Buy Edges with Buildings and Watercolour On Location – Urban Sketching Bundle – and save $140USD