I know many of you have waited a long time for this, and it’s finally happening: I’m very excited to announce that my new class Landscape Sketching Fundamentals is out now, available on my website.
If you’ve ever wanted to capture the mood of a landscape that caught your eye and make it come alive on paper, but didn’t know how, this is the course for you.
In Landscape Sketching Fundamentals you’ll learn to create expressive landscapes using graphite and watercolor (some ink and colored pencil techniques will also be shown).
Over the last few years, I’ve been exploring landscapes in my sketchbooks, using graphite, ink, and watercolor to portray the natural world. I’ve helped countless artists gain confidence in expressing nature in their sketchbooks. My approach focuses on close observation and decisive mark-making while keeping everything loose and spontaneous.
In this course, we’ll cover the essential foundations of landscape sketching: composition, light and shadow, color, and creating depth and texture. You’ll learn to simplify complex scenes, capture the essence of different environments, and develop your own unique style.
This course is designed for artists of all levels—whether you’re a beginner building a foundation or an experienced sketcher refining your techniques. Through clear demonstrations and hands-on exercises, you’ll develop practical skills using graphite and watercolor, though the concepts can be applied to any medium you prefer.
By the end of the course, you’ll have the confidence and practical skills to sketch any landscape that inspires you. Through hands-on exercises and guided practice, you’ll develop your own creative toolkit for capturing the essence of a scene.
The whole class has over 10 hours of video and over 30 demonstrations with various types of landscapes, light situations and mediums.
Each week (or chapter, you don’t have to work through each one in one week) will build on the previous one and give you a structured learning experience that will build your skills step by step:
Week 1 – Mark-Making and Thumbnails
Week 2 – Value
Week 3 – Depth and Composition
Week 4 – Color
Week 5 – Testures, Details, Edge Design
Week 6 – Bringing it all together
Here’s an outtake lesson from the course showing you how you can create a compelling composition by working with a photo reference, as well as exploring a minimal palette to get a hang of color.
Create a compelling composition from a photo (video lesson)
Composition and color are two of the core concepts of this course, and each week, you will be guided through the lessons with lots of exercises and assignments to give you some practical experience.
The class comes in two different variants:
- You can either take it as a self-directed class in your own pace
- or you can sign up for an intensive 6-week run-through with structured assignments and individual feedback from me for everything you send in. You won’t get this kind of in-depth guidance anywhere else. This version is great if you want more commitment and a concentrated approach to get better at sketching. Places for the feedback course will be limited.
The starting date for the 6-week class with feedback will be October 15 2026 (it ends on November 26 2026). You will keep access to all class materials afterwards. The starting date for the self-directed class is whenever you want to start!
Sign up here:
Self-directed class
6-week class with individual feedback
This course will exclusively be published on my website, it will not be available on Skillshare.
I’m very excited that this course is finally out there, because it contains everything I know about landscape sketching, and everything I wish I knew when I started out. And I believe this course can really transform the way you approach your landscapes and the often overwhelming first steps with landscape sketching.
I hope you will join me for this course to start your landscape sketching journey!
Hallo Julia,
verkaufst Du auch Deine Aquarelle?
Liebe Grüße,
Petra Grams
Hallo Petra,
generell ja, sofern sie nicht im Skizzenbuch sind und ich das Bild noch da habe.
Schick mir am besten eine Email. :) mail@juliabausenhardt.com
Hi Julia! I am considering this! I’ve never taken a class with feedback! I am scared I won’t be able to keep up.
I did have a question for you!! The only color pencils I have are watercolor pencils but I have been eyeing the Derwent drawing pencils. But I see many people use the Caran Dache Luminance pencils. What is the difference? I would use it to layer over watercolor. Is one preferred over the other?
I think I have equivalents to the watercolor colors you have on your palette. I have mostly Daniel Smith. Is that ok?
I purchased your sketching class and started it months ago but got hung up on one of the lessons and then set it aside because life got so busy. I am hoping that a live class would keep me moving forward. Do you know the time of the zoom calls?
Many thanks,
Betty
Hi Betty,
most of your questions like time commitment and how the feedback sessions actually work is mentioned in the FAQ, you can see it if you scroll way down below the course description: https://juliabausenhardt.gumroad.com/l/landscapesketchingfundamentals
But for reference I’ll post it here too:
– You will need 1-3 hours every week for the lessons and assignments.
You will need 1-1.5 hours for each chapter to watch the videos, and then another 1-2 hours to do the exercises and practice the concepts.
In the feedback version, you will get weekly emails with exercises and assignments.
There will be no live video calls or streams you need to attend, you can work through the weekly lessons on your own, and send in your work to me – all communication and feedback will happen via email.
– Basic sketching tools will be sufficient: Pencil or another drawing tool, a watercolor palette, and a sketchbook (or loose paper). You can bring any other media you like (like colored pencils, markers,…) but that’s optional. These are the materials I use throughout the course: https://juliabausenhardt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1-Tools-Materials.pdf
Just to add: All of the pencils you mention would be fine for the course. You can use any watercolor palette you have available, you don’t even need the same colors as me. It’s about learning how to sketch landscapes with what you have available. :-)
I’ve heard from many students who’ve taken the feedback class that it helped them to stay on track. Of course it’s still a time commitment, and you will get most out of the class if you can set aside at least 2-3 hours per week for watching the lessons and for your practice. I know that’s a lot, we are covering a lot of ground in this course.
I hope that helps!