Core Skills Bundle

Urban Sketching:
Watercolour Brushes

A brush does exactly what you ask of it, once you know what that is. These exercises go through the brushes I take on location: three sizes of flat I call pastry brushes, three round-headed brushes and the mop, and the riggers that let you draw in paint. The last lesson shows how holding a brush differently changes every mark it makes.

✓ 5 video exercises ✓ Lifetime access ✓ Watch at your own pace
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What’s Inside

Lesson 1

Your brush kit

The brushes I take on location fall into three families. The flats, which I call pastry brushes, lay in large washes wet on wet.

Lesson 2

Flat brushes

The flats are the workhorses of the watercolour stage. The large one covers ground quickly with broad, expressive, wet on wet colour. The medium gives more control while still allowing a generous wash.

Lesson 3

Round brushes and the mop

Round-headed brushes are a different tool entirely. Loaded with burnt sienna and a little water, the large one gives a precise point that widens with pressure and fades away when you release.

Lesson 4

Riggers

If I could choose one brush for an urban sketch, it would be a Pro Arte acrylic rigger, Series 203, number 1. It keeps going from a single dip, and you can also use the side of it.

Lesson 5

Holding the brush

How you hold a brush determines what comes out of it. With a medium flat loaded with cadmium red, holding it low and tight gives strong, controlled lines, while holding it loose and high gives a lighter, more luminous mark that does not disturb the layers underneath.

£8

One-time payment. Lifetime access.

Enrolment opens soon

Questions about this bundle

What is in Urban Sketching: Watercolour Brushes?

5 short video exercises: Your brush kit; Flat brushes; Round brushes and the mop; Riggers; Holding the brush. 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?

Enrolment opens soon. This page will show an Enrol button when it does.

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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