Top 5 'Coffee-Shop-Sketch' Urban Art Styles to try in Your City Notebook on Weekends - Goh Ling Yong
There’s a unique magic that happens when you combine the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee with the crisp, untouched page of a sketchbook. The weekend stretches out before you, a canvas of possibility. For many of us, the local coffee shop isn't just a place for a caffeine fix; it’s a front-row seat to the theatre of city life. The rhythmic hum of the espresso machine, the murmur of conversations, and the ever-changing view through the window all create the perfect atmosphere for creativity.
Urban sketching is more than just drawing what you see. It's an act of mindfulness, a way to connect deeply with your surroundings. It’s about capturing not just the architecture, but the energy, the mood, and the fleeting moments that define a place. By translating the three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional page, you begin to notice details you’d otherwise walk straight past: the intricate pattern of a wrought-iron balcony, the way sunlight carves a sharp shadow across a brick wall, or the hurried posture of a cyclist waiting for the light to change.
But where do you start? The blank page can be intimidating, and the bustling city can feel overwhelming to capture. The secret is to think not just about what you’re drawing, but how you’re drawing it. Your artistic style is the lens through which you interpret the world. To help you on your creative journey, we’ve curated five distinct and accessible urban art styles perfect for your weekend coffee-shop-sketching sessions. Think of this as a menu of creative approaches—try one, mix and match, and find the flavour that suits you best.
1. Minimalist Line Art (The "Blind Contour" Approach)
The Essence: This style is the epitome of "less is more." It’s about stripping a scene down to its barest essentials: its lines. Using a single, confident pen stroke, you capture the silhouette and primary forms of your subject. The goal isn't photorealism but rather an elegant, expressive interpretation. This approach is incredibly freeing because it removes the pressure of shading, perspective, and color, allowing you to focus purely on the act of seeing and drawing. It’s perfect for a quick sketch while waiting for your order, capturing the essence of a scene in minutes.
The beauty of minimalist line art lies in its imperfections. The wobbly lines, the disconnected shapes, and the simplified forms all contribute to a drawing that feels alive and authentic. It’s a direct translation of your eye’s journey across the scene. Think of it as a visual haiku—every line is deliberate and carries weight. This style forces you to make bold choices about what to include and what to leave out, which is a fundamental skill for any artist. It trains your hand-eye coordination and builds confidence in your mark-making.
Tips to Get Started:
- Tool Kit: All you need is a sketchbook and a good quality fine-liner pen. Pens like the Sakura Pigma Micron (05 or 08 size) or a Lamy Safari fountain pen with waterproof ink are excellent choices because they produce consistent, crisp lines.
- Try a "Continuous Line" Drawing: Challenge yourself to draw the entire scene without lifting your pen from the paper. This forces you to simplify and connect shapes in interesting ways, resulting in a fluid, interconnected artwork.
- Focus on the Negative Space: Instead of drawing the buildings, try drawing the shape of the sky between them. This classic artist's trick helps you see the scene as a collection of abstract shapes rather than complex objects, making it easier to capture proportions accurately.
- Embrace Imperfection: Don't erase or scribble over "mistakes." A stray line or a distorted angle is part of the charm and authenticity of the sketch. It’s a record of your unique observation at that specific moment in time.
2. Expressive Ink & Watercolor Wash
The Essence: This is arguably the most iconic urban sketching style, and for good reason. It combines the strong, definitive structure of ink lines with the loose, atmospheric magic of watercolor. The process is a delightful two-step dance: first, you lay down the "bones" of the scene with waterproof ink, and then you bring it to life with vibrant, fluid washes of color. The ink provides the details and definition, while the watercolor adds mood, light, and a sense of place.
This style is incredibly versatile. A splash of yellow can convey a sun-drenched afternoon, while a wash of muted blue and grey can evoke the feeling of an overcast, moody morning. The interaction between the controlled ink line and the unpredictable flow of water is where the magic happens. You don't need to color perfectly within the lines; in fact, letting the colors bleed and blend creates a more dynamic and energetic sketch. It’s a fantastic way to learn about color theory and composition in a fun, low-pressure way.
Tips to Get Started:
- Waterproof Ink is Non-Negotiable: This is the golden rule. If your ink isn't waterproof, it will smudge and turn into a muddy mess the second your watercolor brush touches it. Test your pens beforehand!
- Simplify Your Palette: You don't need 50 colors. Start with a limited palette of 3-6 essential colors. A classic urban sketching triad is Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and a transparent yellow like Hansa Yellow Medium. With these three, you can mix a surprising range of greens, purples, greys, and browns.
- Use a Water Brush: These brilliant tools have a water reservoir in the handle, eliminating the need for a separate water pot. They are compact, portable, and perfect for a cramped coffee shop table.
- Think "Light to Dark": With watercolor, you generally work from your lightest colors to your darkest. Identify the lightest parts of your scene (like the sky or a sunlit wall) and apply those washes first, preserving the white of the paper. Then, layer on your mid-tones and, finally, your darkest shadows.
3. Monochromatic Value Study (Greyscale)
The Essence: Color can sometimes be a distraction. By removing it from the equation, the monochromatic style forces you to see the world in a new way—in terms of light and shadow. A value study is an exercise in observing and capturing the range of tones in a scene, from the brightest whites to the darkest blacks and all the greys in between. This is a powerful way to create sketches with incredible depth, drama, and realism, using only one or two tools.
Working in greyscale is a fundamental artistic practice that will dramatically improve all areas of your art, including your color work. When you understand how to create form and distance using only value, your colored pieces will become stronger and more believable. At the coffee shop, this can be a wonderfully meditative process. You can use graphite pencils, grey-toned markers, or even just black ink and a water brush to create a range of beautiful, subtle grey washes. Your sketch of a simple fire hydrant can become a dramatic study of form and light.
Tips to Get Started:
- The Squint Test: This is the best trick for seeing values. Squint your eyes at your scene until it becomes blurry. The complex details will merge into simple shapes of light, mid-tone, and dark. Sketch these big shapes first to establish your composition.
- Pencil Power: If using graphite, carry a small range of pencils. A 2H pencil is great for light initial sketches, an HB is a good mid-tone workhorse, and a 4B or 6B will give you rich, dark shadows.
- Ink Wash Technique: To create an ink wash, simply dip your wet brush into a small amount of water-soluble black ink (or scribble a water-soluble pen onto a plastic surface and lift the pigment with a wet brush). The more water you use, the lighter the grey. This technique gives your sketches a beautiful, classic, and painterly feel.
- Marker Gradients: A set of 3-5 cool or warm grey markers (e.g., C1, C3, C5, C7) is a clean and efficient way to block in values. They provide flat, consistent tones that are perfect for capturing modern architecture and strong shadows.
4. Bold, Graphic Shape-Based Sketching
The Essence: Flip the traditional "line-first" approach on its head. With this style, you begin not with an outline, but with large, flat blocks of color or shape. Inspired by graphic design, printmaking, and mid-century illustration, this method is about simplifying the world into its most basic geometric and organic forms. It’s less about capturing a realistic scene and more about creating a powerful, dynamic, and eye-catching composition.
This style is perfect for capturing the essence of modern cityscapes with their clean lines and bold forms. Instead of meticulously drawing every window on a skyscraper, you see the building as one large, dark rectangle against a lighter rectangle of sky. As my friend and fellow artist, Goh Ling Yong, often demonstrates in his work, focusing on the interplay of positive and negative shapes can lead to incredibly strong and memorable images. It's a fun and playful approach that encourages you to be decisive and confident with your marks.
Tips to Get Started:
- Go Big with Your Tools: This style calls for tools that can make a bold mark. Thick brush pens (like a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen), wide-tipped markers (like chisel-tip Copics or Poscas), or opaque paints like gouache are ideal.
- No Outlines Allowed (At First): Challenge yourself to build the entire image just by blocking in shapes of color or tone. You can always add a few key details with a fine-liner pen at the very end, but let the shapes do the heavy lifting.
- Look for Silhouettes: The silhouette of a building against the sky, a tree against a wall, or a person against a bright doorway are all powerful starting points. Capture these major shapes first to anchor your composition.
- Play with Color and Contrast: Because the forms are simplified, you can be more expressive with your color choices. A sky doesn't have to be blue, and a shadow doesn't have to be grey. Use high-contrast colors to make your sketch pop off the page.
5. Textured & Detailed Architectural Study
The Essence: Sometimes, the joy is in the details. This style is for those unhurried weekend afternoons when you have a large coffee and time to spare. It’s a meditative deep-dive into a small part of the urban landscape. Instead of capturing a whole building or a wide street, you focus your attention on a "vignette"—an ornate doorway, a single streetlamp, a section of crumbling brickwork, or the intricate pattern on a manhole cover.
This is an exercise in patience and intense observation. It’s about celebrating the craftsmanship, history, and texture that give a city its unique character. By slowing down and rendering these details with care, you develop a profound appreciation for your surroundings. The final piece isn't a snapshot of a scene, but a loving portrait of a small, often-overlooked element that tells a larger story. Many artists, including the great Goh Ling Yong, find immense satisfaction in capturing the soul of a city through its intricate details.
Tips to Get Started:
- Zoom In: Choose your subject carefully. Look for an area with interesting textures, repeating patterns, or a strong play of light and shadow. A single window can be a whole world of details: the reflection in the glass, the texture of the frame, the shadow it casts on the wall.
- Master Your Textures: Use a variety of pen techniques to represent different surfaces. Use parallel lines (hatching) and crisscrossing lines (cross-hatching) for shadows and form. Use tiny dots (stippling) for rough surfaces like concrete, and loose, scribbly lines for organic textures like foliage. A very fine-tipped pen (0.1mm or even 0.05mm) is your best friend here.
- Build Up Layers: Don't try to get everything perfect in one go. Start with a light, loose pencil sketch to get the proportions right. Then, build up your ink lines and textures slowly and deliberately. Work from larger shapes to smaller details.
- Tell a Story: Think about the history of what you're drawing. Are the bricks old and weathered? Is the metal rusted? Try to capture that sense of age and character in your line work. A few carefully placed cracks or a bit of missing mortar can make your sketch feel much more authentic.
Your City, Your Sketchbook
The coffee shop is your studio, and the city is your ever-changing muse. These five styles are not rigid rules, but starting points for your creative exploration. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the process of seeing your world in a new light. Don't worry about creating a masterpiece every time you open your sketchbook. The real value is in the act of observation, the quiet moments of focus, and the joy of making a mark.
So, this weekend, pack your city notebook and your favorite pens. Find a cozy corner in a cafe, order your favorite drink, and look out the window. Which style will you try first? The elegant simplicity of line art, the vibrant splash of watercolor, or the meditative detail of an architectural study?
We’d love to see what you create! Share your coffee-shop sketches on Instagram and tag us so we can celebrate your artistic journey. Happy sketching
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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