Urban Sketching: Express Your World in a New Perspective
A course by Lapin
, Urban Sketcher
Rediscover your surroundings by creating watercolor sketches of people, places, and fisheye perspectives
- Best Seller
- 97% Positive reviews (257)
- 7002 students
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French

Rediscover your surroundings by creating watercolor sketches of people, places, and fisheye perspectives
- 97% Positive reviews (257)
- 7002 students
- Online and at your own pace
- Audio: English
- Level: Beginner
- 15 Lessons (2h 36m)
- Available from the app
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French
- Unlimited access forever
Your everyday life is an endless source of inspiration when it comes to sketching. In fact, urban sketcher Lapin believes that everything is sketchable: from your first cup of coffee to dinner with your friends. And a great urban sketcher not only depicts what is in front of them, they also convey the feeling of a place. Lapin has mastered the ability to tell a story with his sketches, through constant practice and curious observation, filling 200 sketchbooks in the last 18 years. His clients include Air France, the City of Barcelona, Le Parisien Magazine, Deutsche Telekom, PlayStation, Heineken, Marks & Spencer, Monoprix, Aigle, Peugeot, Porsche, and more.
In this course, Lapin teaches you how to tell the stories of your everyday life, using fineliners, watercolors, but most of all, your unique perspective. See how to sketch from observation, discover the curvilinear perspective, and express your original stories with depth and feeling.

About this course
Course table of contents
-
U1U1. Introduction
-
U2U2. Material, Line and Watercolor
-
U3U3. Sketching From Observation
-
U4U4. Building a Community
-
FPFP Final Project
Lapin begins by telling you about his passion for the art of sketching, how he braved the transition between graphic design to becoming a full-time urban sketcher, and shares his main sources of inspiration along the way.
Discover the urban sketcher’s manifesto. Go through the minimal sketching gear you need for the course, focusing on Lapin’s personal favorites. He tells you how he makes the most out of each item and how you can apply them to your sketches throughout the course.
Learn Lapin’s intuitive technique to sketch from observation using a black fineliner for contour and a reduced watercolor palette for volume to start the first practical exercise. Next up is perspective, going from classical to curvilinear perspective. Practice the cylindrical perspective to create curvaceous horizontal lines and the spherical perspective—also known as fisheye perspective—to curve both horizontal and vertical lines using simple observation techniques.
According to Lapin, a good sketchbook must contain a dinosaur and a spaceship, but what are you passionate about? Once you’ve outlined your themes, start practicing and learning how to improve with Lapin’s advice. Learn how to sketch objects by creating a composition of some of your favorite objects, to warm up your hand and practice Lapin’s sketching from observation technique.
Then, learn Lapin’s unique caricature-style portraits, composed of big heads and little bodies, followed by sketching an outdoor view to practice the cylindrical perspective you saw previously. Throughout your practical exercises, Lapin shows you how to add storytelling elements to your work such as speech bubbles, people, descriptions and soundtracks, prompting you to always be observant of your surroundings when sketching. See how Lapin incorporates colored pencils and a white gel ink pen to add more depth to your work.
In the final unit, Lapin focuses on the storytelling aspect in your sketches, prompting you to move away from the typical postcard-style sketches and focus on telling a more personal story. Finally, he’ll show you how to share your work on social media and take part in the urban sketching community.
What is this course's project?
Fill a sketchbook with anecdotes from your everyday life, inspired by your surroundings, friends, and family, to sketch some personal stories, as well as documenting your travels. Use Lapin’s techniques to capture the moment and learn how to take part in the Urban Sketching scene on social media.

Projects by course students
Who is it for?
This course is for art lovers with a beginner's level in sketching who want to learn how to express their surroundings using a sketchbook and their imagination.
What you need
No previous sketching experience is required to take this course, all you need is curiosity and enthusiasm!
As for materials, you will need a sketchbook (either A4 or A5), a black waterproof fineliner (0.2 mm), a small watercolor set (12 half pans is enough), 2-3 refillable water brushes, a rag to clean your brushes, colored pencils, a folding stool, other fineliners if possible (gray, ochre, green, blue, red, white gel ink pen).

Reviews
Lapin is a French urban sketcher based in Barcelona, Spain. He has been illustrating since he was a child. As a young boy, he remembers accompanying his father—an airplane technician—to his workplace to draw all the planes around him. His three passions remain the same to this day: Aviation, Paleontology and drawing. In 18 years, he has recorded the world around him in over 200 sketchbooks, published 30 books and was named official air and space painter for the French Army in 2019.
He has been taking part in the Urban Sketching Community since 2008, where he shares his passion with others. He also teaches Illustration Masters students at Elisava in Barcelona, as well as his own personal urban sketching workshops in his neighborhood.
He is often commissioned to describe a territory and show the beauty in everyday things. His clients include the French Army, Air France, the City of Barcelona, Les Échos week-end, Le Parisien Magazine, Deutsche Telekom, Miquelrius, PlayStation, Heineken, Marks & Spencer, Monoprix, Aigle, Peugeot, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, and Formula One.
Contents
-
U1
Introduction
-
About Me
-
Influences
-
What We Will Do in the Course?
-
-
U2
Material, Line and Watercolor
-
Materials
-
Line and Color Techniques
-
Perspective
-
Inspiration and Themes
-
-
U3
Sketching From Observation
-
Warm Up Exercises
-
Portrait
-
Outdoor Views: Guidelines of the Curvilinear Perspective
-
Linework
-
Color and Texture
-
-
U4
Building a Community
-
Storytelling
-
Following and Sharing Content on Instagram
-
Building a Community
-
-
FP
Final Project
-
Urban Sketching: Express Your World in a New Perspective
-
This Is What Domestika Courses Are Like
-
Learn at Your Own Pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule. You set your own timetable.
-
Learn From the Best
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
-
Expert Instructors
Each instructor teaches only what she/he does best, conveying true passion and excellence in every lesson.
-
Certificate Pro
Demonstrate your course attendance with a certificate signed by the teacher. Get it with your Domestika PRO subscription
-
Front Row Seats
Videos of the highest quality ensure that you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them over and over.
-
Share Knowledge
Ask questions, request feedback, offer solutions. Share learning with other students in the community.
-
Creative Community
More than 1M creatives and growing. Domestika is the place to share and learn what you love.
-
Professionally Developed Courses
We selected top creatives and a team of experts to develop the courses. The result? You'll feel like you're working side by side with leading professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
What are Domestika's online courses?
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need for completing a specific final project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the instructor and other users, thus creating a dynamic course community.
-
When do the courses start and when do they finish?
The course is 100% online, so once they are published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
-
What do Domestika's courses include?
The courses are divided into different units, each one includes lessons, informational texts, tasks and practice exercises to carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You will also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the instructor and other students, and share your work and your course project, thus creating a community around the course itself.
-
Have you been given a course?
You can now redeem the course you received, just access redeeming page to enter your gift code and redeem it.
kevin98fz
Excelente curso, definitivamente estoy satisfecho; es o que esperaba y más
El hecho de que se integre a la comunidad Urban Sketchers, te inspira a continuar comprometido con el manifiesto.
View translation
Hide translation
gambarable
I like this course very much, it opens my eyes to so many possibilities and new excitements to explore everyday things and places and recording it into my sketchbook. It is simple, playful and inspiring. Thank you for the course.
jcarlonav
ProExcelente curso y profesor, esperando el segundo curso de Lapin! :)
View translation
Hide translation
jgearly5712
Very informative and creative
erikaw01
I loved watching Lapin draw. I am amazed by the way he can just put down a perfect line with pen, and his beautiful subtle use of color. I liked his flexibility about proportions and his emphasis on story telling by drawing. Very much also appreciate his positive and affirming feedback. I would take another course by him.