Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about urban life through drawing and design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to create observational sketches of urban environments and can use annotations to support your artistic ideas.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some key words.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The key words we'll be using today are urban, observation, texture, annotation, inspiration.

I'm going to say those words again, and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Urban, observation, texture, annotation, inspiration.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

Urban, is relating to a city or town, often busy, built up areas with lots of human activity.

Observation, is the process of looking closely at something to notice details for recording in drawing.

Texture, is how something feels when it is touched.

Annotation, are the notes added to sketches to explain ideas, describe textures, or record thoughts and inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated by something to create new ideas.

Pause the video here to make a note of these key words, And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson, understanding urban inspiration, and exploring and sketching urban forms. In this first learning cycle, we're going to understand urban inspiration.

How do you think artists might use a city, town, or urban area for inspiration? Pause the video here and give yourself moment to think.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, Artists often create landscape artworks.

Urban environments can provide rich inspiration for landscape artworks.

Can see an example of an urban scene landscape painting here.

Urban environments refer to cities or towns.

They are often busy built up areas with lots of human activity.

They include city streets, graffiti, markets, and architecture.

Urban environments are filled with visual, audio and sensory information.

Artists can use their senses in urban environments to find inspiration so they can be looking around and seeing what they can use.

They can also be smelling and finding inspiration in that, they can be tasting the food, they can be feeling really immersing themselves in those environments, what kind of feelings they get, and they can also be listening to the different sounds are made in these urban environments.

Discuss with a partner how you might use your senses in an urban environment.

Pause the video here and have that discussion, and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? How might you use your senses? Well, Aisha says, "I feel the pavement stones beneath my feet and notice the shapes of the buildings." Laura says, "I enjoy smelling and tasting the foods of restaurants and market stalls." And Lucas says, "I hear the sounds of cars, traffic, people talking and walking, birds and the wind." So perhaps you use your senses in ways similar to Aisha, Laura and Lucas.

Now, some of the things you might see in an urban environment are buildings, signs, different architecture, nature, and people.

You might smell cooked food in markets, or maybe even car engines.

You might taste flavours of foods and drinks.

You might feel the textured surfaces, the ground, or the weather.

And you might listen to cars, traffic, talking, the trees making their sounds when they rustle and the wind.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of these is an urban environment, a forest or woodland, a town or city, a desert.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a town or city is an urban environment you are absolutely right, well done.

Artists are drawn to towns and cities because of their energy, history, patterns, and activity.

These urban environments are full of textures, contrasts and characters.

Anything which catches your attention in an urban environment can be used to inspire an artwork.

Look at this traffic at night that's been photographed as a time lapse.

Now, visual research means looking closely at the world around you and recording it.

You might record your observations through sketchbooks, studies, written notes and annotations, photography, or audio and video recordings.

You see this person here with headphones sketching.

Sometimes you might want to have a particular sound through your headphones to focus on what you are seeing rather than being distracted by what you might hear as well.

Whilst observing urban environments, you might notice a wide variety of textures.

Texture in art refers to how something feels when it is touched, whether it's rough, smooth, or gritty.

Different mark making techniques can be used to visually describe a range of textures.

So visual textures are all around us in materials like brick, glass, rust, metal, and concrete.

We can also see patterns in railings, structures, tiles, windows, and graffiti.

Can you think of any patterns that you have seen in the urban environment? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Have you seen any of these patterns before, or some new patterns? Visual textures and patterns can be depicted through sketching, drawing, or mark making.

For instance, crisp, sharp lines can be used for reflections in glass or metal.

Or rough chalky textures can describe brickwork, concrete or rust.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What does texture describe in art? The weight of the paper, the colour of paint on a surface, or the surface feel or appearance of something.

Pause a video here and give yourself a moment to think.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the surface feel or appearance of something, you are absolutely right, that's what texture is in art.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to create two to three quick observational sketches of an urban environment or structure.

You should look carefully at using mark making to visually describe the textures, to visually describe the patterns, and to use line and mark making to describe the surfaces that you notice.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at creating two to three quick observational sketches of an urban environment or structure and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? So you should have drawn maybe a couple of observational sketches, and here are some examples here.

Taking a look at the different buildings, the structures, and some of the other parts of the environment that you can see in that area.

Now, Alex says, "I made two observational sketches in pencil of a nearby urban environment.

There were many tall buildings, so I used straight lines and shading to position them as accurately as I could.

I drew some figures in the first sketch and focused on depicting trees through looser line work in the second sketch." So well done for having a go at sketching an urban environment or structure.

This now brings us to the second parts of our lesson.

We're going to explore and sketch urban forms. Urban spaces offer lots of information including sensory sight and sounds, conversations, street art and architectural design.

With so much happening, it can be difficult to capture every detail through only drawing or sketching.

To help record details more quickly, artists might use notes and annotations.

Annotation means writing notes next to your drawings.

You might use annotations to record your thoughts, emotions, or details about place such as texture, colour, and form.

When you visit an urban environment, think about how you can use observational sketches, photos, and annotated notes to record it.

This process allows you to document the places you visit, capture your thoughts, feelings, and identify what inspires you about them.

Take a look at this sketchbook here that has drawing and writing, capturing all that observational information in that urban environment.

And once you've researched an urban space through observational sketches and annotations, you might refer back to them later on to develop them into a more refined artwork.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is the purpose of annotation? Is it to describe what you see and think.

To write a story about what you think.

To decorate the page with patterns.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think.

And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said, to describe what you see and think, you are absolutely right.

That is the purpose of annotation.

Urban art refers to anything that has been inspired by or created in a city or a town.

This includes street art, graffiti, murals, installations, performances, graphic design, and architecture.

Many artists enjoy drawing, depicting, and researching urban environments.

Diana Horowitz paints urban landscapes from observation, capturing how light and dark affects industrial and commercial sites.

Anton Van Dalen takes city scenes into fantastical realms using observations of architecture and combining them with his imagination.

When researching urban spaces, it's important to use your observational skills, use photos, and record what you notice through annotations.

When recording from observation, it is important to look closely at the source.

We should avoid guessing what a place might look like, when researching urban spaces.

The more you observe, sketch, and record urban spaces through annotations, the easier it will become to capture the different structures, textures, and sites you see.

Combining observational sketches with descriptive annotations will help you to develop sketches into artworks later on.

So can you see the grey and blue, the metallic buildings reflecting light, the bright sunlight source, the warm day.

The forest green coloured trees and the shadows under the trees.

So can you see these descriptive annotations will help later on.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of these is not a good urban research method? Sketching from photos, annotating sketches, guessing what a place might look like.

Pause a video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said, guessing what a place might look like.

You are absolutely right.

That's not a good urban research method.

This now brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to choose one of your urban form sketches from task A and develop it into a more refined artwork.

So you should use your annotations to help add extra details.

You should add colour or tone, refine your line work and mark making and choose a medium of your choice.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at developing one of your sketches into a more refined artwork and press play, when you are ready to continue.

How did you get on? Were you able to add that colour and tone using your medium of choice? Well, let's have a look at this example here.

You should have refined your artwork like this example here, Alex and I refined my drawing by erasing some of the original sketch lines and adding watercolour paint, I used the annotations I made whilst researching the urban environment to help guide these refinements and continue trying to capture the scene.

So you can see there how the light has been captured and that forest green has been included in the trees.

So well done if you are able to refine your artwork using your medium of choice.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about researching the urban environment.

Urban environments offer a rich source of sensory information and inspiration for artists.

Visual research involves observing, sketching, making notes, and annotating our response to the world around us.

Textures, patterns and shapes help to communicate the look and feel of urban spaces, and drawing from observation helps to develop attention to detail.

Thank you for joining me this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you then.