[Guest post by Andrea Joseph from Manchester, United Kingdom]
How to make an urban sketch (in the north of England in autumn – i.e. its cold – in 10 easy steps.)
Step 1. Find a coffee shop with a window seat and a view.
(Optional step: Turn up to the location and realise youve brought all your inks but no pen. No really. Ive always known I was a rubbish urban sketcher. Go buy pens.)
Step 2. Have a coffee and sandwich. This is one of the more complicated steps; Im in the Northern Quarter, of Manchester, so will have to decide between ten different coffee beans, made in fifteen different ways, then theres the bread...sour dough, brioche, rye....
Step 3. Make a mess of the table.
Step 4. Ah shit. Why did I put colour on it?
Step 5. Have another coffee. And a Danish pastry. Try to hide the mess youve made of the table when they bring it over.
Step 6. Add lettering to try to take away the focus from the awful colour work.
Step 7. Pigeons.
Step 8. Scrub the table then go outside and take the obligatory out of focus urban sketcher photo, whilst holding your book in front of the building with one hand and trying to take photo with the other hand whilst worrying that somebody is going to snatch your phone.
Step 9. When all else fails go shopping.
Step 10. Reassess at home over a cup of tea. Followed by either throwing it in the bin or feeling a little bit smug.
Andrea Joseph is an illustrator who lives in Manchester. See more of her work on her online sketchbook. Or on Instagram and Twitter @aheavysoul
