How to Start Urban Sketching When You’re New to Drawing
If you are new to drawing, start urban sketching with one small view, a pencil or pen, and a short, comfortable sitting. Your first task is to fit a few large shapes on the page and show how they relate; you do not need to draw a whole street or add color. Choose a view with a clear focal point, block it in lightly, then add a few identifying details. This guide takes you through one first sketch, from choosing a spot to deciding what to practice next.
What counts as a good first urban sketch?
A useful first sketch is a record of a view you chose, not a test of whether you can reproduce every detail. Pick one visible subject: a shopfront, a bus stop, a row of windows, or a café table seen from outside. Keep enough of the surrounding scene to show where the subject sits, but leave out details that do not help explain it. Urban Sketchers’ tutorial recommends choosing between a broad view and a smaller close-up, deciding where the focal point sits, and paying attention to the edges of the page. Urban Sketching Tutorial: Starting a Sketch
A practical first-session goal is to finish a simple drawing that includes the main outline, one or two clues about depth, and a few distinctive details. For example, a corner shop might need its awning, doorway, and the angle of the side wall; it probably does not need every brick or sign. This is an exercise in choosing what to include, based on what makes the scene recognizable to you.
Choose a manageable spot and frame the view
Find a place where you can sit or stand comfortably for several minutes, away from moving traffic. A view from a window, a building across a quiet street, or a bench facing a small group of trees can all work. The University of Reading’s urban-sketching resource suggests looking for a comfortable place to draw and using your hands or a cardboard frame to explore composition. Urban Sketchers learning resource
Before drawing, make a small rectangle with your fingers and move it around until the view feels simple enough to fit on the page. Notice what touches the left, right, top, and bottom edges. If a tall building is cut off awkwardly, shift your frame or choose a smaller part of it. If everything looks equally important, crop closer until one feature becomes the clear focus.
Make a tiny thumbnail in a page corner, or use a scrap of paper, to test the placement of the main shapes. A thumbnail is not a finished drawing; it is a quick layout check. The Urban Sketching tutorial also recommends testing different views and placements with small thumbnails before beginning the larger sketch. Urban Sketching Tutorial: Starting a Sketch
Pack only the tools you need
For a first outing, use whatever paper and drawing tool you already have. A small sketchbook is easy to hold, but a loose sheet or notebook will work too. Liz Steel’s beginner guide suggests keeping materials simple and describes an inexpensive A5 sketchbook, pencil, and fineliner as workable choices; it also notes that ordinary drawing paper is not suited to watercolor washes. How to Start Urban Sketching
Choose one of these simple setups:
You do not need color for the first sketch. If you later want to try watercolor, use paper intended to handle water; thin drawing paper may buckle or behave unpredictably when wet. Start with the drawing first and add another material only when it serves a clear purpose, such as indicating a large shadow or a bright sign.
Block in big shapes before details
Begin by comparing the largest parts of the view. Ask how tall the building is relative to its width, where the roofline sits, and how much of the page the street or foreground takes up. Lightly mark the top and bottom of the main subject, then sketch its broad outline. Add the neighboring shapes only after the main subject fits.
For a building seen from the corner, look for three basic directions: vertical edges, the horizontal roof or window lines, and the lines that recede along each side. You can use a light pencil guide for the main angles without constructing a full technical perspective drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art explains one-point perspective through a horizon line and a vanishing point, with receding lines leading toward that point; this is especially useful when a street or corridor faces you directly. Cleveland Museum of Art: Perspective
If you are looking straight down a street, notice whether the road edges and rows of buildings seem to converge toward a point near the horizon. If so, a simple one-point structure can help: mark the horizon at your eye level, identify the direction in which the street recedes, and keep the lines that run away from you broadly consistent. The Chicago Art Institute’s perspective overview describes how a horizon line and vanishing point organize receding forms on a flat page. What Is Perspective?
Not every view behaves like a neat one-point exercise. When you stand at an angle to a building, its sides may recede in different directions. Do not force every edge toward one point; observe the direction of the actual roofline, windows, and pavement. In a quick sketch, matching the big angles is often more useful than building a complex grid.
Add details that identify the place
Once the large shapes sit comfortably on the page, choose a few details that distinguish this view: a striped awning, a row of balconies, a traffic light, or a tree that overlaps a wall. Use different line weights if your tool allows it: a slightly stronger line for the main outline and lighter or shorter marks for secondary features. Avoid outlining every window or leaf. The University of Reading resource encourages sketchers to consider how to suggest textures such as grass and bricks without drawing every individual element. Urban Sketchers learning resource
Look back and forth between the scene and the page. Check proportions by comparing one visible distance to another: is the doorway roughly a third of the wall height, or is it closer to half? These are visual comparisons, not measurements you need to calculate. If a line is misplaced, leave it and continue; the extra mark can remain part of the drawing. Working from large shapes toward smaller ones is also the sequence recommended in the Urban Sketching tutorial. Urban Sketching Tutorial: Starting a Sketch
Use a short, repeatable first-session routine
Try this sequence for your first outing. The timings are a planning aid, not a rule; take longer if you need it, or stop when the view or conditions change.
The order matters because detail cannot fix a layout that does not fit. If time is short, stop after the big shapes and a few identifying marks. The page can still function as a record of the view. The University of Reading resource recommends noting the place and date, and Cleveland Museum of Art suggests returning to a familiar setting from different positions to compare views. Urban Sketchers learning resource, Cleveland Museum of Art: Perspective
When the sketch feels difficult, simplify the task
If the whole scene feels overwhelming, reduce its scale: draw just one doorway, a bench, or the corner where two walls meet. If the buildings look tilted, check whether the page itself is angled in your hand, then compare vertical edges in the scene. If the drawing feels crowded, leave out background objects that compete with the main subject.
If you hesitate over the first mark, make a few light guide lines for the outer bounds of the subject. The University of Reading resource describes lightly blocking in the scene to help it fit on the page and keep proportions in view. Urban Sketchers learning resource Then choose one edge to draw and follow it into the next shape. Keep the first session focused on completing the observation, not fixing every line.
What to practice after the first drawing
Repeat the same small task in a familiar place. On another day, choose a different framing or sit somewhere else, then compare where the main shapes fall and which details you noticed. The Cleveland Museum of Art proposes drawing a familiar setting from different positions and comparing the results, a useful way to see how viewpoint changes composition. Cleveland Museum of Art: Perspective
Keep notes brief: the location, date, tool, and one thing you want to observe next time. You might write, “The roof angle was steeper than I expected,” or “I left too little space above the sign.” This turns the next outing into a clear practice step: watch for that feature and try again. When you are ready, add one new challenge at a time, such as drawing people as simple shapes or testing a small area of color.