Illustration + Nature Sketching
Warmer days are here, spring allergy time is over, so field sketching is becoming an option for me again. I realize I haven’t really shared my regular sketching bag setup before. Here’s a video version of this post: What’s in my sketching bag (video) When I first started outdoor sketching, I used to put my … Read more
Announcement Before we go ahead with today’s topic, a short announcement: I’m currently filming for the last episode of the seasonal nature journaling classes – it’s summer and there’s a lot to see and sketch in nature. So far I’ve planned on taking a look at sketching summer flowers, tree shapes and portraits, insects, small … Read more
Here’s the next video from my landscape sketching series about folk tale landscapes. Today we’ll visit a gothic church ruin. This was one of the places I felt lucky to stumble across last year, I found it had a very special atmosphere. The remains of this 14th century church sit on a hill at the … Read more
It’s time for another sketchbook tour. This one spans from March to late May 2021, and it’s all about spring. While I’m often focused on sketching birds during the winter months, I enjoyed sketching the first soft green and the different spring flowers this year. We had a slow start this year, with very cool … Read more
Just a quick post this week with a very special bird sketch: hoopoes have a beautiful large crest and interesting patterns and colors. All in all, a very impressive animal. It’s a joy to draw these birds. I hope you enjoy the process! Sketching a hoopoe (video) More resources for sketching & painting birds:Tips for … Read more
There are a few different ways you can mix neutral colors. You can get interesting greys and browns with just the slightest hint of their base colors by adding complementary colors together, or simply use the muddy parts on your palette to add neutral areas. Other possibilities are using premixed greys (there are a couple … Read more
Here’s my next video from my landscape sketching series about folk tale landscapes. Today I have another autumn scene. I like the very calm atmosphere of this particular landscape, to me it had a very idyllic feel and I tried to reflect that in the color choices. I used a lot of warm color like … Read more
In the next outtake from my new class Sketchbook Composition + Layout I’ll show how you can use color to make your compositions more dynamic and interesting. Color is a very powerful design tool, even just the monochrome variant like in the example. Here’s the video: Adding color to sketchbook pages – Sketchbook Composition (video) … Read more
My new class Sketchbook Composition + Layout has just opened and one of the central topics are the individual layout elements you can find on each page – all the elements that you add by drawing, painting, writing and annotating or highlighting. Here’s an outtake video from the course: Layout Elements for Sketchbook Composition (video) … Read more
I’m excited to announce that I have a new online course ready for you, it’s called Sketchbook Composition and Layout.This class is all about how to create beautiful and interesting sketchbook pages. It will introduce you to basic layout and composition principles you can use on each page and in each sketch, so that your … Read more
In this bird painting video, I show a detailed painting of a ruby-throated hummingbird. These little creatures are amazingly colorful and with their iridescent feathers they look like sparkling jewels. So sketching a hummingbird can only be an attempt at capturing their exceptional beauty. In hindsight and after studying more references of this particular bird, … Read more
From time to time I like to try out new paints to see if they fit my way of working. Receiving and trying out new paint is always exciting, even if it’s not strictly necessary. I’ve been interested in Holbein watercolor paints for a while, since they’re often described as very transparent, very even paints, … Read more