Core Skills

Short, focused practice sessions delivered one skill at a time.

A handful of videos, one specific technique, one low price, designed to fit around your schedule and build real confidence on the page.

Watercolour and ink studies of a tiled roof, a rowing boat, a seagull on a post and a tree, with a paintbrush and two swatches of colour
Close sketchbook study of terracotta roof tiles, moss, a gutter and a brick chimney, with a hand inking the tiles with a black fine-liner
£8

Roofs & Tiles

Sketch rooftops with confidence: front elevations, perspective views, individual tile textures, chimneys, and thatched roofs. Six focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

6 Videos · Pen & Ink · Urban Sketching

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Close pen sketch of weathered brick wall and boulders shaded with hatching, cross-hatching and stippling, with a hand hatching a brick with a black fine-liner
£8

Bricks & Stonework

Read and capture brick, stone and pavement texture with confidence: weathered walls, cracked slabs, scattered pebbles. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Pen & Ink · Urban Sketching

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A sketchbook page of pen technique exercises: a line-weight ladder, hatching, cross-hatching, stippling and a shaded pebble, with a hand finishing the pebble with a black fine-liner
£8

Essential Pen & Line Techniques

Learn what each pen is for and how to make a line do a job: fine liner sizes, hatching, and taking a line for a walk. Seven focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

7 Videos · Fine Liners · Pen & Ink

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Sketchbook study of a seagull perched on a post, drawn in black fine-liner and grey brush pen, with a hand adding detail
£8

Seagulls & Birds

Draw seagulls that belong in the scene: a bird with attitude, one in flight, and flocks in the sky. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen and grey brush pen study of a still pond with a bare tree and reeds mirrored in the calm water, with a few ripples and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Water & Reflections

Make water read as water: where it meets the shore, how reflections connect a structure to the surface, and how marks change with distance. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Sketchbook study of a leafy tree with a hatched trunk and loose swirling foliage in pen and grey brush pen, with a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Trees & Foliage

Draw any tree without drawing a specific tree: leaves that belong, grass, weeds and ferns, and stylised palms using positive and negative space. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen and grey brush pen study of a wooden rowing boat propped on blocks, with curving hull planks and a dark shadow, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Boats & Harbour

Draw a beached boat and the harbour details around it: planks, lettering and shadow, then the rusty interlocking links of a chain. Six focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

6 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Sketchbook study of the words FRESH FISH in chunky hand-drawn capitals with dark back shading, and a hand holding a brush pen
£8

Lettering & Signs

Make lettering belong in your sketch: chunky and funky letters in a few simple steps, and sandwich boards that tie the pavement to the building. Seven focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

7 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen study of old cobbles and paving stones in perspective with hatching that follows the perspective, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Paving, Cobbles & Roads

Ground that carries weight and pulls the viewer in: slabs and cobbles in perspective, road textures, pavements and herringbone. Four focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

4 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen and grey brush pen study of a beach parasol on a scatter of pebbles with its cast shadow, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Beach Stones & Parasols

The seaside ground and its landmarks: pebbles with real variety, and a parasol as a single shape with its shadow. Six focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

6 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen and grey brush pen study of a striped deckchair with its interlocking wooden frame, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Deckchairs & Beach Litter

The small details that make a seaside scene: the interlocking frames of a deckchair, and plastic bottles half-submerged in pebbles. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Brush Pens · Fine Liners

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Pen study of a hill town skyline of towers and rooftops in thin and thick lines, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Line Work Level 2

Three things behind every good line: how you hold the pen, how much pressure you use, and how you vary thickness. Practised on San Gimignano and Beddgelert Bridge. Seven focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

7 Videos · Fine Liners · Brush Pens

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Pen study of a street in one-point perspective with faint guide lines radiating from a vanishing point, and a hand holding a fine-liner
£8

Perspective Essentials

Vanishing points, eye level, one-point and two-point perspective, and then how to bend the rules for effect. Eight focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

8 Videos · Fine Liners · Brush Pens

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Pen study of a small street cafe scene drawn inside a faint nine-section rule of thirds grid, and a hand holding a brush pen
£8

Composition Shapes

Four simple shapes to hold a sketch together: the square, the rectangle, the cross and the rule of thirds. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Composition · Urban Sketching

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A hand holding a round watercolour brush beside three brush marks in a sketchbook: a broad flat wash, a pointed stroke and a fine line.
£8

Watercolour Brushes

Know what each brush does before you take it outside: the flats, the rounds and the mop, the riggers, and how your grip changes the mark. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Watercolour · Brushes

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A hand painting beside a grid of six muted mixed-colour swatches in a sketchbook, with a puddle of mixed watercolour.
£8

Colour Mixing & the Palette

My limited palette and why every colour is on it, the colour wheel, and three mixing exercises that teach you how colours really behave. Five focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

5 Videos · Watercolour · Colour

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A hand holding a brush over a small watercolour of a warm ochre building framed by cool grey and green, with bare paper left white.
£8

Colour Balance & Mood

Colour is more than matching what you see: leaving the white, using less colour, abstract against local colour, splashes, and the emotion that finds its way into your choices. Six focused video exercises with Mike Mills.

6 Videos · Watercolour · Colour

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Where next

Ready for a whole painting?

Each bundle teaches one skill. My painting workshops put them together in complete pictures, step by step.

Explore the painting workshops