Woodland Sketching with Alice Melvin

Click 'Read More' for full details and materials list

Join me for a very special Wild Ink workshop with artist, maker and children's book illustrator, Alice Melvin! 

During this class, Alice will share her intuitive and mindful approach to sketching in the woodlands that surround her home in Scotland. The techniques that Alice uses could, of course, be applied to any natural landscape and are particularly useful for wild seascapes and tangled gardens! 

Alice will share her favourite materials, take us through her process from a blank sketchbook page to finished drawing and show us how her sketchbook work has inspired the illustrations in her picturebooks.

In the second part of the class, we will get sketching, applying and playing with the layering techniques that Alice uses to sketch outside. We will be working from a range of woodland images provided but please feel free to use references from your own woodland wanders!

This is a really useful workshop for all creative diciplines and experience levels with a range of helpful and approachable techniques and advice for getting started with sketching outdoors.

'Spending time outdoors in nature has become central to my creative practice, shifting my whole approach to work as well as my illustrative style.

There is so much I love about drawing outdoors but one of my favorite things is the mental quiet that it ushers in. Rooted in the landscape with my mind, focused on the surrounding colours and shapes, I feel my swirling thoughts soften and still.'

Check out Alice's Website here!

What do I get when I buy?

• You will receive a Zoom link, materials list and printable downloads the morning before the class.
• A recording of the class will be sent out the following day. You don't need to be there live and can watch the workshop in your own time
• Unlimited access. After the live event, the recording will be added to your Wild Ink library. You can create an account with this free Winter Tree Workshop

What do I need to take part?

This isn’t a prescriptive list, as Alice a big fan of drawing with what you already have, for example, you could easily use watercolour paint to block in the background rather than go out and buy ink. Alice uses water-soluble pencils for their softness and opacity, not often blending them with water. She loves a Posca pen, though ... 'I always feel rather lost if I find I’ve left that behind when I’m out sketching!'

• Watercolour paint OR watercolour Ink (Alice uses Royal Talens Ecoline Ink)
• A range of coloured pencils 

(These could be watersoluble or not...whatever you have available to you. Alice likes Caran D’Ache Supracolor Soft Aquarelle pencils and Faber Castell Polychromos pencils)

• White/beige/ivory Posca pens (8mm chisel tip and the 1.8-2.5 mm bullet tip)
• A sketchbook or cartridge paper pad 

(Alice uses Royal Talens Art Creation sketchbooks and usually has three on the go, roughly A4, A5 and A6, but uses the A5 the most)

• A few round pointed paintbrushes approx size 8 or 10 OR a waterbrush pen
• A water pot