Techniques for Beginners

Techniques for Beginners: How to Build a Practice for Sketching on Location by Suhita Shirodkar is one edition in the Urban Sketching Handbook Series, a collection of compact references on creative techniques and on-location tips and advice. Techniques for Beginners answers all of the questions that the urban sketching beginner might have from assembling your kit to fundamentals of line, contour, and value. Suhita shows multiple ways to approach any artistic challenge, exemplifying the idea that there’s no singular right way to sketch. She provides inspiration for you to experiment and find what works for you!

Special Note: Look for Maria Coryell-Martin’s painting, Blue Haven Boats, on page 64, pictured here!

Special Note: Look for Maria Coryell-Martin’s painting, Blue Haven Boats, on page 64, pictured here!

Suhita Shirodkar is an urban sketcher, visual journalist, visual storyteller, and educator based in California. She teaches sketching workshops locally and around the world. Suhita is currently a Creative Ambassador for the City of San Jose and has received grants for her projects from the Knight Foundation and Belle Foundation.

Suhita draws and shares stories from the world around her. Her work is full of energy and color and appears regularly in magazines and books. She hopes that teaching and popularizing sketching will help open the doors for many more people to see themselves as artists, makers, and recorders of the world around them.

Learn about Suhita’s work at suhitasketch.com.

If you love the rich, layered quality that mixed media offers but are overwhelmed by all the different materials out there, this workshop is for you! With guidance from instructor Suhita Shirodkar, students will learn how to design a compact mixed-media kit for plein air sketching and render a scene using different techniques and tools. In this workshop, Suhita invites you to expand your creative process by using a variety of supplies in a single sketch, such as pens, colored pencils, crayons, and, of course, watercolor!