Top 7 'Look-Up' Urban Sketching Hobbies to Try for Rediscovering the Beauty in Your Daily Commute - Goh Ling Yong
Head down, thumbs scrolling, the world outside your train window blurs into a familiar, monotonous streak. The daily commute can often feel like lost time—a necessary void between the comfort of home and the demands of work. We plug in our headphones, sink into a podcast, and do our best to ignore the repetitive journey we take day in and day out.
But what if this "lost time" could be reclaimed? What if it could become a source of creativity, mindfulness, and genuine discovery? The secret is surprisingly simple: just look up. Above the eye-level chaos of pedestrians and traffic lies a world of forgotten beauty, intricate details, and quiet stories waiting to be noticed. This is where urban sketching comes in, not as a quest for a masterpiece, but as a tool for seeing.
By turning your gaze upwards with a sketchbook in hand, you transform a passive commute into an active treasure hunt. You start noticing the elegant curve of a vintage lamppost, the dramatic silhouette of a skyline against a dawn sky, or the weathered face of a stone gargoyle that has watched over the city for a century. This isn't about becoming a professional artist overnight; it's about reconnecting with your environment and finding wonder in the wonderfully mundane. Here are seven "look-up" urban sketching hobbies to help you rediscover the beauty in your daily commute.
1. The Architectural Detail Hunter
Our cities are open-air museums, and the facades of buildings are the canvases. As a detail hunter, your mission is to ignore the building as a whole and instead zoom in on the small, ornate elements that give it character. Look for the decorative cornices, the intricate ironwork on a balcony, the unique design of a window lintel, or the patterned brickwork just below the roofline.
These details are often overlooked historical footnotes. A neoclassical building might have floral swags and carved faces, while an Art Deco structure boasts bold geometric patterns and sleek, metallic finishes. Sketching them forces you to slow down and appreciate the craftsmanship and artistic intention that went into their creation. You're not just drawing a window; you're documenting a piece of the city's soul.
Pro-Tip: You don't need a lot of time for this. Keep a small, pocket-sized sketchbook and a fine-liner pen (like a 0.1 or 0.3mm Micron). While waiting for a bus or a train, you can capture a single, fascinating detail in just five or ten minutes. It’s about collecting visual treasures, one sketch at a time.
2. The Rooftop Silhouette Mapper
There's something universally captivating about a skyline. It’s the city’s unique fingerprint, a jagged line of ambition and history drawn against the canvas of the sky. As a Rooftop Silhouette Mapper, your focus is on capturing this grand shape. This isn't about detail; it's about form, negative space, and the overall feeling of the urban landscape.
From a train window, a high floor in an office building, or even just looking down a long street, you can see how different roof shapes interact. Notice the sharp peak of a church steeple next to the flat top of a modern high-rise, or the chaotic jumble of chimneys and satellite dishes on an old apartment block. These sketches can be quick, gestural, and incredibly expressive.
Pro-Tip: This is the perfect activity for when you're on the move. Use a thick, bold tool like a brush pen, a carpenter's pencil, or a chunky graphite stick. This encourages you to work quickly and focus on the major shapes rather than getting bogged down in tiny details. Try filling a whole page with different skyline snippets you see on your journey.
3. The Streetlight & Signage Spotter
Streetlights, traffic signals, and shop signs are the unsung furniture of our urban environment. We rely on them daily, but we rarely see them. As a Signage Spotter, you'll start to notice the incredible variety and character in these utilitarian objects. A city's history can be told through its signage, from ghost signs fading on old brick walls to gleaming neon invitations.
Look up and study the form of a vintage, swan-necked lamppost versus a hyper-modern LED fixture. Notice the unique typography on an old cinema sign or the way a simple "STOP" sign can become an interesting subject when you consider its shadows and weathered texture. These objects are fantastic subjects for practicing perspective and capturing the play of light and shadow.
Pro-Tip: Pay attention to the time of day. A streetlight is a simple metal pole in the afternoon, but at dusk or in the rain, it becomes a source of dramatic light, casting long shadows and creating a moody, cinematic glow. Capturing this light can be a fun challenge, using cross-hatching or a touch of watercolour to represent the illumination.
4. The Urban Canopy Explorer
In the concrete jungle, trees are our lifeline to the natural world. As an Urban Canopy Explorer, your subject is the greenery that thrives amidst the steel and glass. Look up into the canopy of a majestic old plane tree in a park or the delicate branches of a cherry tree planted on a sidewalk. The way branches create intricate, skeletal patterns against the sky is a beautiful study in line and form.
Sketching trees teaches you to embrace imperfection and gesture. You’re not trying to draw every leaf. Instead, focus on the overall shape of the canopy, the texture of the bark, and the way the tree interacts with its urban surroundings—perhaps its branches frame a view of a building, or its roots are cracking the pavement. It's a reminder of the persistent, quiet power of nature.
Pro-Tip: Use a softer pencil (like a 2B or 4B) to capture the organic textures. Try "scribble" or "continuous line" drawing to convey the chaotic energy of the leaves and branches. This is less about anatomical accuracy and more about capturing the life and movement of the tree.
5. The Cloud-Scaper & Sky-Watcher
The sky is the ultimate daily masterpiece, and it's different every single moment. Cloud-scaping is the practice of sketching the sky itself—its moods, colours, and textures. This is perhaps the most meditative of the "look-up" hobbies. It’s a practice in letting go of control and simply responding to what you see.
From your commute, you have a front-row seat to the daily celestial show. Capture the soft, pink-and-orange hues of a sunrise, the dramatic and imposing forms of storm clouds gathering, or the thin, wispy cirrus clouds stretched across a brilliant blue afternoon. Your sketches can be abstract, focusing purely on colour and tone, or they can serve as the backdrop for the city's silhouette.
Pro-Tip: A small travel watercolour set is perfect for this. Even with just two or three colours, you can capture a vast range of atmospheric effects. If you prefer dry media, use the side of a pencil or charcoal stick to create broad, soft tones representing the cloud masses. Label your sketches with the date and time to create a visual weather diary.
6. The "Above the Shop" Storyteller
In many city centres, the ground floor of a building is a modern, generic shopfront. But if you look up to the second, third, and fourth floors, you'll often find the building's original, historic face. As an "Above the Shop" Storyteller, you become a visual archaeologist, sketching the forgotten upper levels that tell a richer tale.
You might find beautiful bay windows, faded lettering from a long-gone business, or residential apartments with flower boxes and drying laundry, hinting at the lives being lived above the commercial fray. These sketches are about narrative. What was this building originally? Who might have looked out of that arched window a hundred years ago? Your drawing becomes more than a record; it's an act of imagination. As my friend and mentor Goh Ling Yong often says, creativity is about finding the hidden story in the everyday.
Pro-Tip: Focus on the contrast between the floors. Use clean, modern lines for the ground-floor shop and more textured, detailed strokes for the historic upper levels. This contrast in your drawing style will emphasize the story you're trying to tell.
7. The Power Line & Urban Web Artist
At first glance, a tangle of power lines, tram cables, and telephone wires might seem like urban clutter. But to an Urban Web Artist, these lines are a form of found abstract art. They slice across the sky, creating dynamic compositions, rhythmic patterns, and a sense of interconnectedness. They are the city's nervous system, made visible.
This is a fantastic exercise in line work. Instead of seeing a messy tangle, try to see the composition. Notice how a thick cable provides a strong diagonal, while a web of thinner wires creates a delicate, cross-hatched texture. Sketching these "urban webs" is a powerful lesson in finding beauty and structure in what is typically ignored or considered unsightly. It’s a core principle of urban sketching, and a philosophy that creatives like Goh Ling Yong champion—to look for the art in everything.
Pro-Tip: Use a single, confident pen. Don't worry about making the lines perfectly straight or getting every wire exactly right. Instead, focus on the overall gesture and rhythm. Try positioning a building or a tree behind the web of wires to create a sense of depth and layering in your sketch.
Your Commute, Your Canvas
The time you spend travelling each day doesn't have to be a write-off. It can be your personal art class, your mindfulness practice, and your daily dose of inspiration. By simply choosing to look up, you arm yourself against the monotony of routine and open your eyes to the vibrant, detailed world that has been there all along.
So, pack a small sketchbook and a pen in your bag tomorrow. Choose one of these hobbies and give it a try. Don't worry about the outcome. The goal isn't to create a perfect drawing; it’s to perfect the art of seeing. You might just find that your least favourite part of the day becomes the most creative.
What hidden beauty have you discovered on your commute? Pick one of these "look-up" hobbies to try this week and share your experience in the comments below. We’d love to see what you discover
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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