if you're interested in where the urban sketching icon came from, have a look at this image. this image is from a trip I took to christchurch New Zealand. I was really taken with the library. It turns out the library is a really fantastic building that has not just books but also shares knowledge and skills. I learned how to create buttons and so I used this image to create a button which I wear on my jacket and I thought it was a great image that we could use as the icon for the Sketching group.

I love doodling, , working out a detail, This detail is not to scale, just a thought process to work out the joining of a new buildings brickwork to an older building with different sized bricks, and my way of divorcing the coursing between the old and new with a RWP, I like using a little colour. I have used this detail many times with great success, there are several different details to go with it, the ground interface, the eaves and a window and door alternative.

I'm not sure there's an ideal sketching book for everybody. My favourite sketching book is quite a small one because it's easy to carry with me and I like doing the small sketches. When I go out for the monthly urban sketching group I carry with me my small sketchbook but also a large larger one, about A5 size. The larger sketchbook allows me to create good size sketches while the small one is so small you can keep in your back pocket and just get it out when you want to do a quick sketch. I have tried an A4 size sketchbook, but this really does take a lot of effort to sketch with. You need to carry some clips with you to hold the pages down, and you can't just put it in your back pocket you have to carry it in a bag or in your hand. My advice is to try different sketchbooks. The next one you buy get a different size from the previous one until you resolve your favourite sketchbook size. Now you might find that the paper varies between different sketchbook, that's a different topic.

One of my favourite things for sharing my images online is to use the photograph of the time I'm there with the scene in the background. You can see this in my sketch of the market (the cover image). I like to use this technique to share my images publicly because it shows where I was standing when I created the sketch and it also shows the object or the scene that I was sketching. But the other reason for doing it is it distort the sketch image making it difficult for people to extract that and reuse without your permission. Now I know this doesn't stop it completely but it does make it more difficult. Now I guess you could use AI to help do this for you but at least you have to know some skill to do that. In the same way if you put a copyright on your image, there's nothing to stop AI extracting that and removing it. So the lesson here is I try to make it difficult without making it apparent that I'm making it difficult.

In the classroom, I've started a new course called getting started. I'm gradually adding exercises to this course and I've started with the most basic, what the course is all about, how to use your pencil for sighting, and how to hold your pencil. I will gradually be adding more complex lessons to this area, so keep your eye on it.