Longtime readers of this blog (and a big hello to you!) will know that for many years I’ve had a morning routine of going out for a coffee and a sketch (and often a walk too!) I did this even when I was working as an architect (see here for an example).

This means that before I start my workday I have done a sketch and I’ve gotten my creative juices flowing. I’m also keeping an internal dialogue happening so that I can make the most out of any dedicated sketching outing ( it’s like doing scales before a performance). Some mornings I can focus on my sketch and some days I’m rushed and just go through the motions but my regular sketching habit is always good for me! (Read more about this here).

The biggest challenge with this type of sketching habit is keeping myself inspired because the subject matter is repetitive – I’m returning to the same locations over and over. And this is why in recent years I started changing my media so that I had something new to focus on. But there is a limit to how often you can change media and it’s easy to become overwhelmed  and end up spending a lot of money!

However having different conceptual themes to focus doesn’t have these problems. This is because they help me to change the way I see my subject – developing my observational and interpretive skills!

And this is why our monthly themes inside my Sketching Adventure Community has been so incredibly impactful to my everyday sketching!

So far this year we have focused on Unused Supplies in January, Value in February, Three in March and now this month we are looking at Framing. In this article I’ll share some highlights from my everyday sketching that cover these themes. 

But before that… there is another challenge related to a regular sketching habit. And that is… I end up filling a lot of sketchbooks and then have to work out a sustainable way to share them. 🙂

There is no doubt that my weekly update videos and monthly livestreams inside my Community is the best way to share my everyday sketches as a whole but I do want to continue sharing the highlights here. Last week I decided that it was time to rebuild my relationship with my scanner (it has been feeling very neglected lately!)  and re-visit the process of publishing scanned versions of my work. The result is that over the next week or so, I’ll get up to date with this year’s sketching. I hope you enjoy it!

Just for fun, I’m not going to put the images in order so this collection of morning sketches is totally random. I’ll include a brief description of which theme I was using.

The above sketch is one that I’m very happy with as it combines Inktense pencils and Tombow Markers in an interesting way. Note: I started using Inktense and Tombows as part of our Unused Supplies month and I’m still using them!

Okay… now time for the rest of the collection!

Framing: A dark shape for the foreground trees.

Framing: Is one white tree doing enough?

Value: Three-colour value study (rather than grey monochrome)

Unused Supplies: Tombows

Value: Adjusting the values of a scene which was mostly mid-tone

Values: Alternation – a concept I started thinking about at the very end of the value month.

Unused Supplies: Two quick little Inktense and Tombow sketches

Three: Using a new triad

Three: Three layers (a concept from my Travel Sketching course)

Three: Three Passes plus 3×3 media

Three: Three passes

Framing:  Extending my sketch to include a foreground element as a framing device

Value: Monochrome value study and colour study

Value: Starting with the darks

Three: Three houses

Three: Only using three tools for a sketch

Three: Three objects in foreground and three layers

Three: Three layers (different base colour for each)

Three: Using a triad (I had a few big lightbulb moments using a triad during the month which I shared in our monthly livestream).

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these (scanned) sketches! Hmm… Can you tell that it’s a big deal for me that I scanned so many sketches last week? I’m very proud of the achievement 🙂

Next article I’ll share some of my City sketches that I’ve done this year. So stay tuned for that!

If you are interested in joining us in the Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon – find out more here. 

The post Thoughts on building a regular sketching habit appeared first on Liz Steel.

Back home I did some sketches from photos. (Hmm, emus are lots of fun to draw and so are boobook owls).

I then did some research on three of the animals we saw in the nocturnal house. I know about bandicoots and potoroos but I had never come across a bettong before.  My nieces and nephews said they look like a mini-kangaroo with a possum head. There is no doubt that they are very cute. Check out two YouTube videos here and here.

And while thinking about Australian marsupials – this is the time of the year when I always think about bilbies as I have a tradition of buying a chocolate bilby every Easter.

Last year I sketched a foreshortened bilby (see here). but this year I was more interested in comparing them with bettongs. (The comparison sketch is a bit of a guess!)

I’m really happy that I now know about bettongs!

Let me know in the comments below if you live in Australia and have been ignorant about them as well.

The post Discovering bettongs (a cute Australian animal) appeared first on Liz Steel.

I filmed a video sharing the highlights! To watch on YouTube please click on image above or here.

And here is an index to all my articles and videos about this trip…

Blog articles:

• Wellington 2026 Part 1: First days
• Wellington 2026 Part 2: Workshops and lane way sketching
• Wellington 2026 Part 3: The second week

If you are part of my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon here are links to the videos there.
(Note: you have to be a paid member to watch these)

• New Zealand Trip 2026 Part 1: Using Tombows
• New Zealand Trip 2026 Part 2: More Tombows with other media
• REPLAY: January Livestream – Unused Supplies and Wellington Sketches
• Using values to solve problems: Finishing a Wellington sketch that I knew at the time wasn’t working
• You might also be interested in the way I chose my Inktense selection here.

I hope you enjoyed being part of my Wellington trip!

The post Wellington 2026: Highlights video appeared first on Liz Steel.

This month inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon we’ve been exploring the theme of ‘three’ and it’s been a lot of fun.

I am seeing ‘threes’ in lots of different aspects of my sketching including:

• using a watercolour triad (discovering three colours which work together well and have enough pigment variation!)
• sketching three objects
• sketching scenes with 3 layers (this is a theme from my Travel Sketching course and I’m gearing up for a Live Version of this course in May)
• using three passes when sketching with my current mixed media combo of Inktense, Tombows and ink.

I’m looking forward to sharing all my sketches from March in our usual monthly livestream for paid members of the community but here are a few little still life studies I did last week! Three objects in three passes.

Here’s a link to find out more about our community – we would love to have you join us and get inspired to build a sketching habit!

The post The theme of three appeared first on Liz Steel.

I did two rounds of 100 and was interviewed for a newspaper article.

Some years I don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to the challenge (so I know what it’s like to approach the 100 goal in a minimal way) but this time I was able to ignore most of my work and sketch a lot! 

I was contacted by The Guardian Newspaper on Monday morning about writing an article on the challenge and this meant that I did more sketching than usual early in the week so I could send them the finished image on Thursday.

Read article here

I hit 100 at 3:30pm on Wednesday but had to keep sketching faces until the next morning when I hit 120 and finished the 5 double page spreads in my book.

I did a combination of sketching from photos and sketching on location. I think this approach works really well for this challenge.

Most of the on-location faces were done at Goodfields Eatery in Lindfield and a Westfield Foodcourt. It was wonderful to go back to Goodfields -over the years the interactions with the owners, staff and other patrons in this cafe were always a highlight of this challenge. I realised this year that I was missing this aspect.

I was really happy with the combo of water-soluble pencil (Inktense) and marker (Tombow) and my colour scheme which was randomly chosen while I was doing the first few faces on Monday. I used similar tools  in 2025 but it was good to expand my limited colour palette.

Last year I used a grid as well (fitting all 100 people into the one double-page spread) but this time I increased the size and changed the shape to square.  This square format gave me more options for placing the head and I loved varying the position of the shoulder lines. I would prefer to work a little larger (it would make doing the features easier) but that would then result in more time needed for each sketch!

Each square was 5x5cm and I took 3-4 minutes per sketch with a little touch-up time on completion of each spread.

I had completed my 120 faces by 9am on Thursday morning and then during a scheduled call with Uma Kelkar I started Round 2!

I wanted the second 100 to be looser and include more than just the head. So sketching crowds in India from paused videos was perfect. I didn’t have a plan when we started but after the first few sketches I soon got into a rhythm of randomly alternating between Inktense, Tombow and Fude lines.

I’m really happy with this second round of sketches – I got to 63 in an hour with Uma and then reached 100 on Friday after a second session. Note: I was a bit too generous with how I counted people in round 2 🙂

I love this challenge so much! It’s intensive but lots of fun and there is certainly something special in the crazy goal of 100!

The result of this year’s  challenge is that I have a list of aspects of people sketching that I want to work on in the coming months. It’s one thing to do this type of shape based sketches based on paused video, but it’s another thing entirely to sketch moving people. 

If you did OneWeek100People I hope that you enjoyed it! Hitting 100 is not important – the goal of the challenge is simply to sketch more than you normally would.

Thanks to everyone who has been part of this special week – there has been a lot of activity on Instagram! I’ve loved seeing everyone’s work both there and inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon.

And as always huge thanks to Marc Taro Holmes – the creator of this challenge. It makes me so happy to co-host this challenge with you!

The post OneWeek100People2026: Two rounds and a newspaper article appeared first on Liz Steel.

I haven’t been sketching people much lately and  as I didn’t get a chance beforehand to warm-up and work out my tools I decided to start this year’s challenge at home working from photos. I intend to sketch on location this week, but I just wanted to start easily. Plus it was a wet day here in Sydney so a good day to stay home. 😉

Over the years I’ve amassed a large collection of photos (I take screenshots when I’m watching YouTube videos) and so I have plenty of reference photos handy. Sketching from photos is certainly not nearly as much fun as sketching in person but it is a good way to work out my approach and technique.

I enjoyed filling a grid so much last year that I’m using that again. But instead of fitting all 100 on a single double-pages spread, I’m working larger and will need 4-5 spreads to hit 100. I’m also using a square grid so that I have a little more space to position the head.

As for materials, I’m sticking with a limited selection of water-soluble pencils and markers(Tombow). Last year I used Albrecht Durer watercolour pencil but today I used Inktense. I found them harder to use but I know that as I become more confident sketching people this week I will adjust to the more intense colour.

As always there is something very special about this challenge and after doing 24 faces in 2 x 45 minute sessions I’m already feeling the benefit! My marks became more confident after the first 10 faces (I was working from right to left) and I got into a rhythm mixing the pencil and markers.  This mixed media approach of mine does take more time than simply doing line drawing as I’m using multiple pencils and markers in every sketch but I like the flexibility of this approach.

I hope you have a good Day 1 of the #oneweek100people2026 challenge!

The post OneWeek100People2026 has begun! appeared first on Liz Steel.

It was also the first time I’ve taught a two-day workshop for a number of years and I really enjoyed having more time to build skills and get to know the participants!

We had a lovely inspiring group. Everyone did such great work and I absolutely loved sketching with you all over the two days!
(Special thanks to those of you who travelled big distances to Sydney for this workshop!)

We spent the first morning in a great location with lots of options for subject matter (from simple to more challenging) and we focused on building and refining essential edges skills.

We did exercises for measuring angles and lengths, and also used intersections and relationships (plumblines) to improve the accuracy of our drawings.

It was nice also to have a table for our throwdowns!

In the afternoon we went to the top of the island – to the convict precinct – and got out our watercolour. We started doing some swatches (watercolour plus some watercolour pencil) relating to our subject matter…

…and then I did a full demo, showing how I used the concepts from the morning session to draw the barracks building and then apply some simple watercolour washes.

Great work everyone!

While we were sketching we were entertained by the happenings on a nearby crane. We noticed a lot of workers in orange on the scaffolding and then realised they were passing elements from one level to the next. It was like something in a Richard Scarry book!

On the second morning we headed to my favourite part of the island – behind the big industrial sheds…

…and looking at the cranes on the other side of Fitzroy Dock. 

We then did a number of shape thumbnails of one of the cranes that I christened Fred. 🙂

As it was an overcast day we weren’t able to do the shadow shape exercise but instead we did a value based sketch – focusing on LMD (light, mid and dark). It was great that I was about to use a brand new approach that I had developed during our Value month inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon in this way.

For the final session we headed back up to the top of the island to the Drawing Office area.

After showing the group how to use shape thumbnails to work out what will make a successful sketch…

…I did a full demo starting with shape. This is a progress shot.

And then it was time for the group to sketch, choosing their own subject if they wanted. Great work everyone!

It was such a fun two days and I look forward to teaching this workshop again in the future!

I currently don’t have a date scheduled for the next occasion, so if you are interested in attending please sign up to my monthly newsletter for the first notification of any future workshops.

The post Workshop Report: Sketching with edges and shapes on Cockatoo Island appeared first on Liz Steel.

 
I love it when there are connections between the various concurrent projects I’m working on. Sometimes it is by design (I’ve chosen the projects so that they have themes in common) but there are often synergies that I don’t expect.

This month I’ve been

• going through the second half of my Watercolour course,
• exploring Value inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon
• gearing up for a Group Self-Paced Version of my Edges course.

I’ve also been continuing to explore my ‘unused supplies’ of Inktense pencils and Tombow markers. (Unused supplies was our Patreon theme from January).

In Watercolour Lesson 4 we look at working from light to dark vs starting with the darks, and this ties in with Edges Lesson 4 where we take ‘starting with the darks’ to the next level by exploring lost and found edges. I also intentionally chose the theme of Value for my Community to tie in with Watercolour Lesson 3 – using colour.

So these were known overlaps in my projects.

But what I didn’t expect is the new way in which these concepts have connected…

In the past few weeks I’ve started my value studies and pencil/marker sketches with the darks.  And this is different!

How is it different?

1. I normally start value studies with mid-tones and then add the darks before making decisions about the lighter tones. 

2. I normally work light to dark for mixed media sketches and typically focus on texture and ‘complex colour’ rather than value. I’m still thinking about value but it’s not my focus. Note: Starting with the darks is a go-to technique when I’m working with direct watercolour but not typically with other techniques.

This way of ‘starting with the darks’ is a subtle change but it has given me ideas for ways to create mixed media sketches that have lost and found edges and are more abstract.

The above image shows a recent quick morning when I realised this change. The importance of this sketch is not so much the finished result but the ideas it contains!

Starting with the darks has also helped me see how to more easily play with different coloured and varied lines. These are all concepts we explore inside my Edges course so it’s perfect timing to be going through these lessons again.

Here is an image from the Edges course that explains what I mean by Lost and Found Edges. I like to explain it as over-exposing and under-exposing your sketch at the same time and letting the viewer’s eye fill in the gaps.

And to finish this article… here are three typical examples of this technique.

The most common situation in which I use Lost and Found edges is when my subject has clear sunny and shaded sides. 

But I also use this technique on a cloudy day! These is a lot of ‘merging of details’ in this.

And finally my favourite subject to explore lost and found edges is teacups!

I’m very happy to be using lost and found edges again and excited to be going through my Edges course again starting 4 March 2026!

Will you be joining us? Find out more here.

The post Lost and Found Edges appeared first on Liz Steel.

The goal is to sketch as many people as you can from life or from photos and see if you can reach 100. You can do this any way you like – simple pencil/pen drawings are totally fine  – and you can take more time if you need! Marc and I originally did the challenge in 5 days which meant a goal of 20 per day – but you can take extra days if you like.

The idea is simply to push yourself to do more people sketching than you would normally do.  There is something special about striving for a big goal of 100 people sketches!

Find out more about the challenge on Marc’s blog here and I love his emphasis on quantity rather than quality. In fact the first time I met Marc (in Lisbon in 2011) he said something that has always stuck with me: ‘quantity has a quality of its own’.This challenge encapsulates that concept!

If you post your work to Instagram please use the hashtags #OneWeek100People and #OneWeek100People2026

• Hitting 100 is not that important – the goal is simply to push yourself to sketch more than you would normally. But if you want to try for the 100 consider including some simple line drawings in the mix.
• As mentioned above, the challenge has always officially been for 5 days (making a nice goal of 20 per day), but if you need to extend the period or start early, that is completely fine.
• Sketches can be done from photos and do not need to be done on location. (If you are part of an Urban Sketchers group make sure your sketches comply with their guidelines before posting your work to the group.)
• Your sketches don’t need to be done in colour or include the full figure. You could even consider doing some blind contour drawings as warm-up on the first day.
• Working small helps, as does drawing with a pencil.
• Drawing people on location is hard! Don’t be discouraged by the results on the first day. Just keep going, and you’ll be surprised by the work you’re doing at the end of the week. Your overall collection of sketches will be impressive!
• The goal is to have fun! Sketching people on location can be a little scary at times, but I always find that doing this challenge (and having my pages filled with lots of people sketches) boosts my confidence. If anyone stops to talk to you, tell them about the challenge, and chances are that they will cheer you on!

Last year I did all 100 sketches on one double-page spread in my sketchbook (see more here) and I loved doing the challenge this way!

This year I’m planning to modify this approach – working larger and over multiple pages but still working within a grid.

A few years ago I did 100 people in one sitting  (in just over 1 hour) by doing small drawings with my fude pen. It only took just over 1 hour so that was under 1 minute per person including time waiting for people to appear.

Do what you can, think about the simplest (and fastest) way that you can draw people, and then see how much you can fit into your week (on your commute, while waiting in line etc).

I also recommend you do a trial run beforehand. Work out your approach and get an idea of how many people you can draw within a certain timeframe. This will help you set realistic expectations for the actual challenge.

Don’t stress about achieving 100 and please take more time (or adjust the dates) if that suits you better!

This challenge is meant to be fun but at the same time push you a little outside your comfort zone.

Will you be joining us this year?

My articles

• How to include people in your urban sketches (2020)
• Tips for sketching people in public (2019)
• Researching facial features (2020)
• Watercolour skin colour mixes (2020)
• Sketching People: My Strategy (2107)
• Sketching People Part 1: This year’s progress (2017)
• Sketching People Part 2: My breakthrough (2017)
• Sketching People Part 3: Advice (2017)

My courses

• Watercolour On Location – Lesson 3
• Edges – Lesson 2 (Bonus Material)

The post OneWeek100People is on again in 2026! appeared first on Liz Steel.

This gave me a chance to do a little more exploring in a relaxed way. There was quite a bit of rain in the second week but that was okay as if it was raining I just stayed in my hotel room and did work.

Here are the highlights of the sketching adventures I had in this second week…

On the Monday afternoon a group of us (Michelle, Andrew, Dave, Peter and myself) went to the very cool suburb of Aro Valley (within walking distance from the downtown). Thanks Michelle for the photo.

Lots of cute little buildings and steep hills everywhere.

Peter found a great street view to sketch and I sat next to him but did a wider view – trying to capture the hills and houses.

BTW for this second week in Wellington I decided to focus on using Inktense and Tombow exclusively. No watercolour! If you missed it, this was due to the monthly theme inside my community of Unused Supplies.

Afternoon coffee – doing smaller than usual sketches in an Andrew-style.

Tuesday: I spent a wonderful day walking the streets (climbing hills) with Peter and we spent a lot of time looking at and analysing the architecture of Wellington.

It was great to learn about Ian Athfield and I love this apartment building. Look at all those volumes!

We climbed Mt Victoria (the pines and gorse gave me Scotland vibes).

And kept walking till we got this great view of Wellington. I didn’t finish this at the time as I was unsure how best to do the distant hills in marker. I decided to leave it as it was with lots of white space.

Back in the Cuba St area we found this amazing bookstore to sketch. 

Wednesday: On my own now for the rest of the trip.

Another Prefab visit before a Watercolour Livestream and some swatches to solve the problem of distant hills using Inktense and Tombows.

I decided I needed a few more markers. Post livestream cafe sketching (a car in the cafe!)

Back at Glover Park for a more complex view.

Thursday: Sketching the wind/rain shelters of Wellington from the comfort of a cafe. 

Quick lunch with Andrew and gift of a zine  containing one day’s work of sketching. So inspiring – thanks Andrew!) After hiding in a cafe because of the rain I realised it had changed to blue skies and sun. So I headed to the suburb of Thorndon. So much to sketch here.

The street I want to sketch next visit!

Walking back into the downtown via a cemetery. The Beehive building (parliament offices) is not my favourite type of building to sketch.

Friday: My last day and a big solo day of sketching… starting with another visit to Prefab.

Back to the Beehive – this time I went inside…

USK Wellington had an exhibition inside! Impressive.

So great to see the work of sketchers who I now know…

… and get inspiration for sketching locations on my next visit. 🙂

Congrats to USK Wellington on this wonderful exhibition!

Sketching the Beehive at a larger scale made it easier.

Not-quite-finished sketch of the gorgeous Parliamentary Library next door.

It was a sunny day but very windy with strong gusts. It was difficult and tiring to be out sketching.

But I was so happy to visit Old St Pauls.

I totally fell in love with this building – so many great volumes!

Another cafe visit – after a few hours sketching outside I needed to shelter from the wind.

And then it was time to walk back to the hotel. Funny how some things are the same in NZ as in Australia and others are not. I love noticing the differences!

Best flight ever: Super empty airport…

…and then super empty plane, a good tour of Sydney from the air and a 30-minute early arrival. No wait at all anywhere during this trip home. Incredible!

A wonderful time in NZ but as always, it’s great to be home!

Once again if you would like to see more from this trip I filmed two update videos and hosted a livestream (going through every sketch) for my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon. If you join us for one month you will have access to these videos (and much more!)

The post Wellington 2026 Part 3: The second week appeared first on Liz Steel.