Urban Sketching Step by Step: Lessons and Impressions

If you've ever found yourself on a park bench with a sketchbook in hand, unsure where to start or how to loosen up, Urban Sketching Step by Step by Klaus Meier-Pauken might be the guide you've been looking for.

I picked up this book after years of sketching mostly indoors, and I wanted something that could help me bring more life and confidence to my outdoor scenes. Whether you're just getting into urban sketching or trying to shake the rust off your creative habits, this book offers a practical and encouraging approach to making expressive city sketches on location.

I’ve read quite a few urban sketching books, and this one stands out for its balance between theory, exercises, and mindset. It's not just about how to draw buildings—it’s about how to see like a sketcher and make the most of your environment, even if that’s just a busy street corner near your apartment. There’s a big difference between learning how to sketch a perfect window and learning how to bring the feel of a street to life, and this book leans more toward the latter. That’s exactly what I needed.

Key Points

• Perfect for confidence-building: The book breaks down intimidating scenes into approachable steps that feel doable even if you're out of practice.
• Loose sketching style: Emphasizes movement, color, and spontaneity over precision—ideal for capturing energy and atmosphere.
• Ideal companion for location sketching: Lightweight, digestible format with exercises you can take on the go and use in real-life situations.

Urban Sketching Step by Step: Who This Book Is Really For

This book is clearly written with beginners in mind, but as someone who’s been sketching for years, I still found it valuable. Sometimes we get stuck in habits or overthink things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat in front of a great scene and hesitated for too long, trying to plan a “perfect” sketch. This book helped me shake that. It got me back into a flow state by reminding me that it’s okay—preferable, even—to start sketching messily and sort it out as I go.

Klaus does a great job addressing that mental block. He doesn’t just talk about lines and shapes; he talks about perception, spontaneity, and developing trust in your hand-eye coordination. If you’ve taken a break from drawing or struggle with perfectionism, this book speaks your language. Urban sketching for beginners often means more than learning perspective—it means learning to show up and start.

What’s Inside the Book

The book is divided into manageable sections that move logically from gear and mindset to real-life application. It starts with the basics—what tools you’ll need (spoiler: not many), what to look for in a scene, and how to structure your drawings so they’re both simple and expressive.

Selecting a Scene

Cities are overwhelming. They’re cluttered, loud, and full of visual distractions. Klaus addresses that directly. He gives thoughtful advice on how to zoom in on a scene—whether that’s a storefront, a row of parked bikes, or a mix of people waiting at a crosswalk—and see its potential as a drawing. I’ve used these tips while exploring new cities and also in my own neighborhood, where simple urban sketching helps me see familiar places with new eyes.

He also shares techniques for laying out a scene using basic shapes and perspective. If you’ve never done location drawing before, this is really grounding. If you have, it’s a helpful reminder not to overcomplicate your first few lines. I like to start with just the horizon and one or two strong verticals, and this book reinforces that minimalist approach.

Creating a Balanced Composition

Here’s where I personally struggle the most—composition. Klaus encourages you to fill the page, but not overcrowd it. I’ve had plenty of sketches where the subject was too small, floating awkwardly in the middle of the page. He breaks down how to place your subject in a way that feels intentional. One tip I started using right away was to treat the corners of my sketch as anchoring points, not dead space. That changed how I frame scenes.

This section also touches on visual rhythm and how your eye moves through the sketch. I’m more aware now of how objects in the background and foreground relate, and how negative space can help the subject breathe.

Adding Life with People, Movement, and Color

This is the soul of the book, in my opinion. Klaus pushes you to go beyond the static buildings and include people, cars, shadows, and trees. Things that move. Things that make a city feel alive.

Before reading this, I often left people out because I wasn’t confident drawing them. But the book gave me permission to draw stick-figures or abstract silhouettes at first. The idea is to suggest life, not meticulously render it. Start loose. Suggest posture. Let the gesture speak louder than the details.

He also talks about using color to highlight and not overwhelm. This resonates with how I’ve learned to use just a few dabs of warm or cool tones to guide the viewer’s eye.

Why I Keep This Book in My Bag

This isn’t a book you read once and shelve. It’s small enough to throw in your urban sketching bag, and the exercises are modular. You can flip to any page and try something on the spot. I’ve pulled it out while waiting for coffee or riding the ferry, using exercises to loosen up before tackling a more serious sketch.

I keep a small mobile kit with me: one pen, one mechanical pencil, a few colored pencils, and a tiny sketchbook. This setup, combined with the book’s guidance, has made it so much easier to sketch on a whim. If you’re curious what to pack, this urban sketching supplies guide covers everything I’ve found helpful.

A Few Critiques

While I really enjoy the book overall, there are a few things to note. First, it’s not heavy on watercolor techniques. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into that, you might prefer something like Urban Watercolor Sketching or try experimenting with gouache urban sketching.

Second, some of the sketches in the book feel a little polished. They’re meant to look spontaneous, but I can tell they were done in a studio setting. That doesn’t diminish their instructional value, but it’s worth knowing. The looseness feels rehearsed at times, whereas truly loose sketching—like in loose urban sketching—often comes from doing it in the wild, with limited time and plenty of unpredictability.

How It Compares to Other Urban Sketching Books

This book feels more focused and accessible than a lot of the larger, more encyclopedic ones. If you’ve browsed through The Complete Urban Sketching Companion or any of the entries in The Urban Sketching Handbook series, you know those are dense, reference-heavy guides with loads of technical advice. I think they’re fantastic, but they can be a little intimidating, especially if you’re not sure where to begin.

Klaus’s book feels more like a friendly guide who nudges you to take action and enjoy the process. It’s smaller, more portable, and filled with exercises that work in short bursts. It doesn’t try to cover everything—it tries to get you out the door and drawing, which is often what we need the most.

If you’re looking for your next steps after this book, you might enjoy diving into books with more specific focuses. For example, Cityscapes and Architecture is great if you’re drawn to urban architecture, while Sketching People or Drawing Expressive People can help you bring characters into your work. The Urban Sketcher offers more narrative and personal storytelling through sketching, which can be inspiring if you want to move beyond quick studies.

Overall, I see Urban Sketching Step by Step as a launchpad. It gives you the core skills and confidence to explore the deeper waters of urban sketching with more curiosity and less hesitation.