I like to think that when you sketch a view, rather than photograph it, you engage more with your subject matter and therefore share your emotional response to what you see. A sketch tells us far more than a photo—not just about the view but also about the artist.
You can also map your response to the same view on different days. Is the sun shining, or is it a washed-out, overcast day? What about sunlight and shadow, rain and snow? Some sketches capture the vibrant warmth of summer, while others evoke miserable weather, depending on where in the world you are! The mood you convey will be determined by the colors that you choose, and the type of marks that you make.
SHARI BLAUKOPF
Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
The sketch above is Catalunya Square in Barcelona, by Shari Blaukopf, sketched on a sunny day. Cheery yellow and orange dominate the foreground, while people in bright clothing and happy pigeons help create the sense of a summer’s day. Contrastingly, my own sketch of Lake Como (below) was drawn quickly as rain clouds gathered over the scene. I wanted to show the oppressively dark sky, blurring into the mountains behind the town. It was hard to know where the mountains ended and clouds began.
SIMONE RIDYARD,
Lake Como, Italy
Shadows are a great way of adding drama—they help create a feeling of depth, and can establish strong tonal values. They also help capture the mood of a sketch, particularly if you are adding color. When the sun is overhead, shadows will be shorter, whereas at the start and end of the day they will be longer, and more of the view will be in shade.
STEPHANIE BOWER
Pont Louis-Philippe, Paris, France
Stephanie Bower is particularly accomplished at integrating shadows into her sketches in a harmonious way, and she often uses purple, as in her Paris sketch below. Stephanie uses color to define volumes of spaces, and, as she explained at the 2014 Urban Sketchers Symposium in Paraty, Brazil, she often matches cool and warm versions of the same color within a sketch.