Line & Wash in the Urban Landscape

Capture the energy and architecture of the places you love, using expressive line and wash. Learn to sketch in a loose, rhythmic style and use vibrant watercolours to create unique urban masterpieces. Whether you are a complete beginner looking to take the plunge into drawing outdoors, or a more experienced urban sketcher ready to loosen up your style and use watercolour paints in a whole new way, renowned urban landscape artist, Neil Whitehead will help you bring your favourite places to life on paper.

Packed with inspirational paintings, plein-air demonstrations, and practical exercises to help you loosen up and let go, plus lots of handy tips, Line & Wash in the Urban Landscape is a comprehensive, visually inspiring guide to this popular artform.

This addition to the growing range of literature on drawing and painting in towns is welcome due to its concentration on a medium that gets rather less attention. Line & wash is ideally suited to the urban landscape as it allows the hard edges of the built environment to be leavened with both colour infills and a broader brush application that add to the sense of drama, movement and hustle that pervades the populated city.

Neil Whitehead provides a complete tutorial with examples and exercises that demonstrate techniques with pens, brushes and felt-tips. There are also good explanations of form, perspective and the way colour works in this context, with generous illustrations and concise captions.

Urban art is growing in popularity and this is an exciting addition to the range of books available and takes a genuinely novel approach in a medium that readily simplifies an often complex subject.

Books on pen and wash are relatively thin on the ground, which is a shame because it’s an attractive medium that adapts well to almost any subject and is as much at home in a finished work as a quick sketchbook note.

I think it’s fair to say that Neil Whitehead’s style won’t be to everyone’s taste – the line work is very loose and the washes more of a splash. It’s a matter of choice and I also suspect that, if you put this down hurriedly, urban sketching probably isn’t your thing either. If it is, then I think you’ll love the book. The added splashes of colour bring a busyness and vibrancy to the scenes as well as a sense of movement without actually adding recognisable figures. Quite simply, this is Impressionism writ large – and I mean that as a compliment.

If you’re an urban sketcher, Neil presents you with a powerful tool for your armoury that I hope you’ll exploit and love. If you’re more of a technique person, then this is an extension of a tried and tested way of working that’s being brought firmly into the Twenty-First century.

Personally, I think it’s about as refreshing as it gets.

What we love about Neil’s approach is the way he combines line drawing with colour, bringing a freedom of expression and creativity and illustrating how to infuse drawings with energy and imagination.

As Neil explains, ‘Urban scenes under examination will contain hundreds of colours, the sky, the street signs, the road, the cars, the people and so much more.’ There are many examples of how to achieve this, but now is the perfect time to look for your own examples, particularly as we move into spring and blossom begins to appear, brightening our urban streets.

The content includes:• What you need to get started: all the necessary tools and equipment• Choosing a scene and working outdoors: how to choose a location and then select an area of interest• Capturing character: sketching fast, simplifying and working with freedom• Continuous line drawing and prioritising rhythm over perfection• Using watercolour for drama, depth and energy• Understanding composition and perspective• Working from reference pictures: for when you can’t get outside.

Full of examples and ongoing encouragement, this delightful book is all the inspiration you need to go outside and start building your own portfolio of beautiful creations! Highly Recommended!

Alumni update! WOW

This is a fab book with lots of support about how to get out and about with your pens and paints.Neil shares tips on materials and techniques that will help build your confidence and skills.

Follow Neil’s Instagram for more about his work and this lovely book.@ennkaydraw

A collection of informative and beautiful photographs of Neil’s work accompanied by detailed guidelines demonstrating his practice.

ATTENTION PLEASE!Last week I was very lucky to get my hands on a copy of this new book by Neil Whitehead, ‘Line & Wash in the Urban Landscape’.

Many of you will likely be familiar with Neil’s work. He is a fellow Taunton local, and someone I’ve been following/engaging with from the very early days. It’s been a pleasure to watch his audience grow and see the hard work and dedication pay off!The book covers so much from tools and materials and tips on how to loosen up and sketch with rhythm; something I always strive to achieve but often get drawn into the detail of things (don’t think I am alone falling into that trap). To quote the book, ‘Simplify, Simplify, Simplify’!There are also fun exercises and the book is full of fantastic images of Neil’s work (well done Search Press on capturing his unique style and bringing out the those trademark skies!).

I chose to review this book for two reasons - firstly, Staffs & Shrops branch had a workshop with Anethia Sellars line and wash using silk, gutta & silk paints (a very successful meeting enjoyed by everyone) and the second reason - I have also tried this method using alcohol based artist fine felt tip pens, a hairdryer and silk paints, which was also very enjoyable and successful.

Urban Landscape is a concept I have not explored and this book explores it in detail. The book is brimming with lots of tips and advice. Neil advises us to loosen up forgetting perfect detail and promoting rhythm sketching, to catch the hustle and bustle of a street scene, the calm of a quiet park or the drama of a city skyline.

Sketching fast, creating rhythm with continuous sketching, varying line weight and balance, then adding colour to add depth. Detail is kept to a minimum whilst considering scale and composition.

I particularly like the exercise entitled Pure Contour, suggesting focus on a simple subject with interesting shapes or contours. This could be a plant, a chair, a mug, a person or any object with clear outlines. The goal being line quality and observation.

There are lots of exercises to complete and advice on painting in a chosen scene. You may have shown an interest in this particular style of painting, now is the time to start.

Neil Whitehead is an award-winning urban landscape artist, from Taunton, Somerset, UK. He is inspired by the architecture in the towns and cities around us, and his fast and fluid style using ink and watercolour is well-known for its speed, rhythm, expressive lines and bold colour. Neil’s line and wash artworks and larger acrylic pieces are on walls and exhibitions globally, and he regularly contributes to the Urban Sketchers initiative of ‘on location’ sketching. Neil was appointed as a Featured Artist by Derwent in 2022, and is now a Brand Ambassador.