I thought I'd try an open question and answer session today to get started with some online discussion. I've got it in the calendar so if you want to join me I'll be online and you can ask me questions or we can share our knowledge and ideas about urban sketching and what to do with it. https://www.skool.com/urban-sketching-5071/calendar

What's your favourite sketching tool? Is it a pen, or a pencil. Tell me in the comments below. I was taught with a pencil so it's often been my favourite tool to use until recently. In the last couple of years I've transitioned to using a ballpoint pen. This is not a fancy art pen, this is a regular Parker black medium ball point pin. The ink is beautiful, smooth, flowing black ink. Let me also makes a nice black pen. I've tried a fine balpoint, and I've tried a broad ball point, but I come back to the medium. Also, a Parker ballpoint refill is easy to get in lots of places, the cartridges last ages before they run out, and they are a standard replacement cartridge meaning that you can use these cartridges in lots of different pens. I used to only sketch with a pencil, and my favourite pencil is a soft mechanical clutch pencil. I've got one which is a 4B and a 3 mm lead which is quite thick. I used to draw with a 2 mm lead but I found it too thin. I've also tried 6 mm or 5 mm leads, they're great and they are really big.

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. Wants your favourite sketchbook, leave a comment and a photo!