The Five Minute Landscape (video workshop)

In this workshop we explore landscape drawing for the artist on the run- how to draw and paint a landscape in five minutes or less, while standing up, in wet weather. Learn how to see basic shapes, simplify values, and discard unnecessary detail. I show several techniques including water soluble pen, aquash pencil, limited palette watercolor, Tombo pen, and graphite pencil.

Here are a few key points from the lecture:

  • frame your shot (a little composition up front makes a big difference)
  • creatively play with frame shape & composition
  • Keep it small (make little thumbnail landscapes or “landscapeitos” instead of massive drawings)
  • use fast-sketching media (broad tips and the ability to lay down areas of tone)
  • Keep detail to a minimum
  • simplify the value scale (3 or 4 steps), and Keep the whites!
  • have fun, don’t get fussy,  just do a lot of em!

Suggested Equipment List

Tombo Dual Brush Pen N75-Cool Gray 3 – SKU# 56639
Tombo Dual Brush Pen N95-Cool Gray 1 – SKU# 56644
Pilot Razor Point Pen, Black
Dark Gray or Dark Brown Watercolor Pencil
Portable watercolor set and waterbrush
Dark graphite pencil (2B) and blending stomp

Sketchnotes by Mark Simmons