Sketching with Shapes with Liz Steel: 1-day workshop on Cockatoo Island

When starting urban sketching many people just pick up their pen and begin to draw everything in front of them. They keep drawing and drawing (possibly getting lost in the details) and then decide it’s time to add paint. Can you relate to this?

Thinking about shapes is an important way to simplify complex scenes and it will help prevent creating overworked and over-detailed sketches.

Plus, sketching with shapes is a lot of fun!

In this full-day workshop, we’ll explore how shapes can be used to capture the varied scenes of Cockatoo Island.

"Sketching with Shapes in Ladenburg - my first urban sketching workshop.
It was such an amazing day. Liz is so generous and sharing her knowledge with us very effectively. Finally, I understand what “Shapes” people keep talking about. Liz can convey and explain the “why” and “how” shapes work.

My mind and eyes are upgraded to a new version now!😂😂😂
I learned a lot from other participants too! 🤓🤓🤓
Thank you so much, Liz"

- Tiney, Sketching with Shapes workshop, Germany August 2025

We’ll spend the morning doing a number of shape exercises - simplifying a scene into similar coloured shapes, starting with negative shapes and looking for shadow shapes. We also explore how thinking about shapes helps us determine the important edges in our subject and do some swatches to explore ways of combining media.

In the afternoon session, I’ll do a full demo, and then we’ll spend the rest of the time doing a single sketch that incorporates some of the concepts from the morning session.

Price: $221.50 AUD ($190 + Eventbrite fee + GST)
Time: 10:00 am – 4:30pm
Minimum Participants: 6
Maximum Participants: 12

Some sketching experience is recommended for this workshop.

• Paper/sketchbook suitable for ink and wash – A5-A4 size.
• Permanent ink pen
• Dry (or quick drying) media for shape exercises: A small selection of coloured or watercolour pencils, markers (such as Tombows) in a range of light. mid and dark values. Specific colours are not important - more details will be provided closer to the workshop date.
• Watercolour - bring your usual watercolour palette - no specific colours are requirements
• Waterbrush or sable brush and water container.
• Any other materials you have in your bag!
• Small portable stool or something to sit on.
• Hat, sunscreen, extra layer, rain protection etc.

Liz Steel worked for 18 years as an architect in Sydney and is now a full-time artist, teacher and author focusing on quick sketching with ink, watercolour and mixed media.

She captures moments from her daily life and travelling adventures in her sketchbooks and publishes regular updates on her blog – lizsteel.com – and inside her Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon.

Liz teaches on-location urban sketching workshops throughout the world and has also taught drawing and perspective classes to architects and interior designers in Australia.

She has her own online school – SketchingNow – where she offers in-depth courses to participants from over 40 countries.

She is a regular instructor at the international Urban Sketchers Symposiums.

Liz is the author of “Five Minute Sketching: Architecture” and loves to incorporate her architectural training with core drawing concepts, creating a fun yet accurate approach to location sketching.

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Host or Publisher Liz Steel