BA(hons) architecture

B.arch architecture

ARB UK registered architect 067972K

At the end of all the workshops the participants will be able to:

Learn about how a sketch can lead to telling a story about place, landscape, culture and community
Understand the role of observation before sketching and how looking can lead to clear and defined sketches identifying key urban and natural elements
Look at complex and busy scenes and be able to reduce the content of sketch to keep it clear and punchy
Look for edges, lines, shapes of architecture, objects and people to form interesting sketch compositions
How to break down complex views into simple shapes and elements make decisions about what to include and what not to include in a sketch
Learn techniques such as the continuous line technique and how patterns can form interesting levels of density in a sketch

Small notepad A5 size for thumbnail sketches and observation notes (this can be your everyday sketchbook and for experiments and discoveries)
Sketch book at least A4 in size (best size is the 11”x14” size) paper to be at least 110 gsm
Lots of pens such as artline pigment based including colours such as black, blue, red, brown and green (black sizes should range from 0.2, 0.5, 0.8) colours can be 0.4.
Posca paint pens 3M in size for drawing on objects (colours black, white, blue, red, green)
A3 hard board to use a supporting surface when sketching
Bulldog clips
Other drawing materials that you love to use!
Masking tape (other tapes will be supplied!)
Lightweight foldable stool that can fit in your bag
The usuals such as hat, good walking shoes, sunglasses, water bottle, suitable waterproof bag for carrying sketchbooks and supplies
Some of the sketching will be done quickly in busy places whilst standing up, so resilience for this type of immersion and sketching would be great!
Learn some basic Vietnamese language so that you can start to connect with community when sketching

From university students:

“Richard was very good at providing feedback on drawing and encouraging us to quickly and efficiently draw in the street”

“Great structured workshops that encouraged student participation and to develop their own style of drawing”

“Richard is very helpful improving students’ initial ideas, I really love his teaching style and learned so much from him about drawing techniques which I will use throughout my life! He has a very kind, patient and generous approach to teaching!”

“Richard inspires students to draw more”

University:

Teaching experience of groups of 18-20 students with a range of skills, teaching drawing and learning about place and community as key parts of an architecture course.

Sydney university: second year architecture 2018 - 2024. Course leader for a student field trip to Darwin for 1 week. Students working with an indigenous teaching college on learning about Country with cultural sensitivity.

UNSW: interior architecture summer elective street life studies in collaboration with Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Course leader for a student field trip to Cambodia for 2 weeks 2016, 2017, 2019. Students drawing streetlife activities (cooking, making, helping, etc) in the centre of Phnom Penh with cross cultural aspects.

Urban sketching workshops:

2016: Manchester, selected instructor: workshops and a lecture that expanded upon the themes developed in the workshops

2019 Amsterdam, selected instructor: workshops and tape drawing demo

2023 Auckland, selected instructor: workshops and tape drawing demo with everyone attending creating the work

2024 Buenos Aires, selected instructor: workshops and tape drawing demo with everyone attending creating the work

Also see below some text on my teaching style and description of how I run workshops.

Experience as an art instructor:

As an art instructor I have always tried to provide insightful workshop experiences, and ones that well after the symposium has finished allows people to digest ideas, tips and approaches and apply these to their own sketching practice.

With a background in architecture and design, I have taught at universities with students and with the wider public. I have worked with people across all backgrounds and skill sets and have good interpersonal skills, which have been developed whilst working as a team member in both design practice and in an education context.

My interest in discovering unique aspects to cities has defined my approach to urban sketching. I have refined teaching methods over the past 9 years, providing a workshop framework for students and sketchers to work within, guiding them with thought provoking approaches and techniques. These efforts plant “a seed of thought” on how to approach urban sketching with the aim of producing clear sketches with a message and a story. I am an advocate for making sketches as simple as possible but ones that possess great depth and thought from the author of the sketch.

The simple approach of firstly writing down words to describe a place, and then ensuring that any sketch uses those words as a basis content wise, is an approach that I have been developing in the past few years. This helps with the process of breaking down the visually overwhelming and simplifies the process.

For 7 years I have been a co-tutor for an intensive short course at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. The course is called street life studies, which focuses on documenting a sense of place in two cities; Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Sydney in Australia. This course involves guiding over 20 design and architecture students with different skill sets (some have never sketched on location before) through the process of using urban sketching to understand the local streetscape. This approach aims to help form ideas on how public space in a city can be improved.

In 2017 I was invited to co-run a short workshop at the James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. It was in collaboration with Chuck Wolfe, the US based author of “seeing the better city” and focused on elements that make a place interesting. We used urban sketching as a medium to describe “place” in this workshop.

In 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 I have been teaching 2nd year architecture studio, where I have encouraged students to use and improve their hand drawing skills in the street context. This has opened many eyes to this type of drawing experience and is starting to develop into a common theme throughout the course.

All of these experiences have allowed me to teach with empathy, and to understand the framework required to create engaging experiences for students, one that is simple enough to follow but is thought provoking, encouraging students to get outside their comfort zone.

In essence, I love teaching.

Area of specialty in sketching:

I use the combination of observation and line based sketches to try and describe the spirit or charm of a place; what makes a place interesting, what makes it unique, and how people create life on the streets. My sketches are playful with their composition, allowing the viewer to engage and fill in any blank spaces in the sketch.

I use the following step by step process;

observation and looking at what you see
understanding and being curious about those findings
putting these findings into small and quick sketches to express what elements are interesting
using the above to produce expansive sketches with a clear focus in terms of content, and one that tells a story about a place’s character

In using the above step by step process and framework, I encourage anyone I work with to develop their own voice through what they sketch.

Sketching techniques that I use include continuous line drawing, simplification of busy scenes, and the use of basic one point perspective to create depth in a sketch.

I also use tape to do urban sketches, placed on the streets and that use the above principles but in a more abstract and simplified way due to the nature of the medium. This is incredibly fun for anyone who participates and is a way to think about drawing as being interactive and inclusive.

Below is a link to an interview on the urban sketchers channel:

USK talks link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG2IMIr7Kls