Saturday Afternoon

Take your observational drawing skills to the next level attending a Sketcher Fest workshop. Here are five options for the afernoon of Saturday, July 15. Workshops are limited to 15 participants each, and they will take place at a location within walking distance from Graphite Arts Center. Some will be along the downtown business district, others will be along the waterfront. Workshop attendees will meet their instructors at Graphite and walk as a group to their sketching location.

Daniel Winterbottom

Daniel Winterbottom is a professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington. His love of urban wandering led to a passion for urban sketching and reportage. Traveling frequently, he has found subjects that reappear from continent to continent while documenting the local nuances. He is fascinated by natural phenomena, reflectivity, light and shadow, and disappearance. In his body of work thematic narratives emerge, often accompanied by personal commentary. He embraces stylistic exploration and refinement. Winterbottom was awarded an Urban Sketchers Reportage Grant in 2021 for his project “The Shifting Landscapes of Despair, Hope, Survival and Persistence.”

Channeling Van Gogh

In this workshop, we will analyze Vincent Van Gogh’s drawings and learn his technique of filling up the page with multiple sizes of line strokes to create a drawing like a painting. We will start with a short presentation of…

Line after Time: Dynamic Urban Sketching

Use mixed media to build up a sketch capturing life in a scene across multiple moments. In this workshop, students will learn to harness the innate qualities of mixed media tools to render transient elements in contrast with permanent elements.…

Building a Spiral of Attention

Do you struggle starting a sketch or get lost in the details? This workshop will help you defeat the blank page, and start and finish every drawing — no matter how complicated the scene. We achieve this by constructing a…

Printmaking on the Go: Wild Textures Tamed with Stencils

In this workshop we will be combining simple paper stencils made on location with urgent, expressive, and diverse mark making. Students will learn basic ideas and techniques traditionally used in printmaking but adapted for working quickly and on the go.…

Bend the Rules with Animation Techniques

The traditional rules of composition, perspective and figure drawing can lead to drawings that feel too technical. If you are looking to add a cinematic feel to your urban sketches and capture the emotion of a moment, this workshop is…

All You Can See!

Our way to represent the space since the Renaissance is conditioned to a maximum 30-degree viewing angle, which is very limited compared to what we actually experience when we look sideways and up and down. In this workshop, I will…

Sketching Stories One Panel at a Time

This workshop will explore storytelling using compositions of sequential panels. You will learn how to break down everyday moments into compelling visual narratives. Through timed, monochromatic sketches, you’ll practice capturing the world around you quickly. We’ll explore techniques for adding…

50 Shades of Blue

This workshop will introduce you to the infinite possibilities of ink wash and let you compare how different this painting technique is from using watercolor. Using only one ink color, blue, we will focus on light, shades and composition without…

Drawing as an Extreme Sport

Drawing as a trophy, drawing as a sport, drawing as an ultimate way to understand and remember. This talk focuses on the constant need to record and the fascination with drawing in difficult situations, including caves, busy places and COVID…

Illustrated Journalism

When you draw, what story do you want to tell? How do you weave the who, what, when, where and why in your sketches? Can you make your narrative content memorable? I will share my own visual stories from the…

Aimlessly Wandering

I found sketching, or sketching found me, during COVID. Wandering my community after years of traveling, I discovered a changed urban environment, at times unrecognizable but compelling and transitory. Exploring this through sketching called me, and I haven’t stopped since…

Sketch ‘n Chill – No Stress Outdoor Sketching

Sketching is storytelling. It is about capturing the moment and its essence. It increases visual and spatial awareness and is extremely accessible as a tool for any creative process. It is emotionally rewarding as an artistic endeavor, and if done…

People in the City

This workshop will address one of sketchers’ major challenges–drawing people in urban spaces. Some people will be moving, some will be sitting still. Some will be close to us, and some will be lurking in the distance. We will explore…