Pen before wash

26 February 2026

Step-by-Step - Level ◆◆◆

Hi everyone,

I've had some feedback that a number of people are interested in watercolours with different media added - pens, markers, collage, pastels, watercolour pencils etc. Things you already have and would like to experiment with.

Starting with this week's post - I'm going to show you some of my urban sketches from 2016 through 2018.

Like many people, when I first started sketching on location, I did the pen drawing first, then added washes on top. But in 2016/17/18 I really pushed this idea - very detailed pen drawings with loose washes. And I did a number of large plein air sketches in Europe in 2018. These larger ones were A3 in size and usually took 2 sessions to complete, so I'd have to go back to the same place twice - once for the pen drawing, once for the the watercolour. It was very absorbing and labour intensive, but the sketches were super special.

In this post I'm planning on sharing some of those sketches with you and explaining how I approached them and some of my thought process. Then you can take the ideas and try them too, either in the studio or out. I'm looking forward to seeing you what you paint.

Happy painting!