Mini-tutorial: Stenciling & Urban Sketching Techniques

Last Friday night (April 29, 2016), I decided that I would try a different approach to using my City Scape stencil for the urban sketching session held on the next day (April 30 2016) at Brooklyn Bridge City.

The above image was done back in 2013 when I was testing out a stencil proof for Stencil Girl Products.

I tried to make the above stencil as generic as possible so that it could be used to represent some cities instead of just one. Before I went to the Brooklyn Bridge Park, I did several pages of stenciled images - shown below are two of the pages that I did in my sketchbook (SuperDeluxe from Bee Paper).

The images were created with pastel pans and cosmetic sponge wedges. I used one color on the 9x6 page, but used multiple neutral colors & layers on the larger 12x9 page. I had no idea as to where or whether I might be able to use these stenciled images until when I went to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and search for a spot where I might be able to use of them. I found a spot near Jane's Carousel which is located near the Brooklyn Bridge.

The stenciled image is not an exact replica of what I saw out there. So, I started the sketch with mechanical pencil instead of with a permanent ink pen as I didn't want to waste it if it was not successful. I added the buildings, bridge structure, FDR drive, and railings - by drawing them first with a mechanical pencil, and later inked with Uniball's Eye pen. Some watercolor was later added to the sketch with the tube paint and water brush. The photo above was taken sitting up, but the sketch below was done sitting on a bench.

The sketch was completed in about an hour & half or so - it would have taken longer if I didn't prepare the page beforehand with the stenciled image. It is an interesting experiment and I look forward to doing more of the stenciling and urban sketching together in the future.

My City Scape stencil is available for on-line purchase from Stencil Girl Product's website here. 

Full disclosure: Andrew Borloz receives royalties on the purchases of City Scape stencil (and any other stencils designed by Andrew Borloz) from Stencil Girl Products. No compensation was given to Andrew Borloz for any of the products mentioned here except his own stencils.