Urban Sketching:
Line Work Level 2
Good line work comes from three things working together: how you hold the pen, the pressure you apply, and how you vary thickness. You’ll practise each on its own with a fine liner and a Tombow brush pen, then apply all three to a San Gimignano outline, and finally look at how line carries drama and age in a Beddgelert Bridge sketch.
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What’s Inside
How to hold the pen
Holding the pen up at the top of the barrel, very loosely, gives control for moving quickly and capturing outlines. Moving down the barrel makes the line darker and more deliberate, without pressing harder.
Pen pressure
Pressure links straight back to grip. With the 0.3, strong pressure gives a deliberate line and slows you down. Light pressure makes a different line from the same pen.
Varying line thickness
Adding the N15 black Tombow brush pen, the thick part first, easing off so the line runs from thick to thin. A thick line behind a thinner one creates depth.
Line exercise, the outline
San Gimignano in Tuscany, a bit like a mini medieval Manhattan skyline. A 0.3 held at the top of the barrel sketches the whole outline almost as a continuous line, wobbles and all, expressive and dramatic.
Line exercise, pressure
The same sketch with pressure. The roof tiles along the top get strong pressure so the pattern jumps out, with solid black accents. A shutter is drawn with harsh pressure, the opposite of the soft outline.
Line exercise, thickness
Bringing in the N15 to push the range of thickness. The brushy part for the tiles and joists, one continuous up-and-down stroke to fill a dark window, then the thin end for fine bricks.
Texture, drama and context
A sketch of Beddgelert Bridge, where the line work does far more than describe shape. An outside edge that starts as a big area of black, becomes thin, then jumps out again, evoking the age of the stone.
£8
One-time payment. Lifetime access.
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Questions about this bundle
What is in Urban Sketching: Line Work Level 2?
7 short video exercises: How to hold the pen; Pen pressure; Varying line thickness; Line exercise, the outline; Line exercise, pressure; Line exercise, thickness; Texture, drama and context. It costs £8 once and you keep lifetime access.
Do I need to have done a painting workshop first?
No. A bundle is a separate, self-contained set of exercises on one skill. If you later want to see skills like this used in a whole painting, my painting workshops do exactly that.
When can I enrol?
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Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 14 days of purchase, as long as you have not gone beyond the introduction or first lesson, because by then you have received the digital content. Email mike@artyfactor.com with the bundle name and the email you enrolled with. The full wording is in the Refund and returns policy.
How long do I have access?
It is one payment of £8 and you keep lifetime access.
Where this leads
Want to see the whole picture?
This bundle covers one skill. My painting workshops show how skills like this come together in a finished painting, one stage at a time.
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