To draw a Ford Fairlane can be…well, hard. Cars are not my jam – but that means it’s just the subject that I ought to be cycling into my subject matter from time to time! And since I’ve been thinking about my Uncle George a bunch lately, I thought I’d draw him a subject he LOVES – cars!

If you want to hear more stories about my uncle, read the post today in Artventure; I don’t want to post personal stories like that out here on the web, but behind the wall at Artventure, Google won’t search it out. 

I’ve been celebrating my birthday week with sketching! In this video I’ll be combining pen and ink with gouache but you can do the same idea with watercolor – perhaps even more easily since watercolor is typically very transparent. (Gouache is opaque watercolor and can affect black lines.) I’m putting my TWSBI Eco to work!

Tutorial: 1956 Ford Fairlane | Wash & Ink (Urban Sketching)

If you’d also like to sketch this picture, you can download it for free from Paint My Photo, (You just need a free account there to download and use the photo.)

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Properties of leftover gouache or watercolor

One of the nice things about both gouache and watercolor is that they’re re-wettable! That palette full of leftover colors is usable. Typically they do get more desaturated as all the colors mix; red blue and yellow make neutrals, and on average you’ll have all those on a palette at one time or another.

Note that I wash my watercolor palette before videos – not because you need to always start fresh, but because I want you to see colors mixing, and all that muck makes a mess. But be aware your colors can get muddy if you don’t at least occasionally clean off your  mixing surfaces.

Edit out unnecessary details

Determine what you want to include most – what made you choose that subject, that angle, that time of day? Emphasize THAT and let other things go. Create a “mass” of trees instead of leaving too much high-contrast detail in a background like this – once the final gouache wash was added, the trees became much less attention-getters.

Nervous about drawing in public?

Don’t be. The average person walking by will be truly impressed with you! I’ve made terrible drawings that shouldn’t see the light of day and had people ooh and ahh. Seriously – they WANT to compliment you! (I mean really, who walks around the world wanting to peek over an artist’s shoulder just so they can say, “Dang, that’s garbage!” NO ONE.)

Join a group!

Check to see if your town has an Urban Sketchers group. Any kind of drawing group! You’ll find there are people of all levels of experience – people you can learn from *and people who need you to help them.* Yes there will be people newer than you and they could use your encouragement and your presence! 

Supplies

1. Hahnemule Nostalgie sketchbook 
2. TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
3. Daniel Smith White Gouache 
4. Random gouache on my mixing tiles:
   1. Daniel Smith Gouache 
   2. Winsor and Newton Intro Gouache Set 10 colors 
   3. Holbein Gouache set 18 colors 

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