Workshops and Schedule

Symposium attendees can choose up to five urban sketching workshops out of a rich menu that covers a wide range of subject matter, including perspective and architecture, picture design, storytelling and reportage, color techniques and more.

The workshops take place in emblematic Barcelona squares, streets and other public spaces such as Plaça Reial, Mercat de la Boqueria and Rambla del Raval, to name a few. Each workshop takes 3 hours and is limited to a maximum of 17 participants in order to ensure a quality experience for everyone. We recommend that you register early to secure your spot in your favorite workshops.

If your preferred workshops are booked by the time you register, please consider that the Symposium offers many other opportunities to learn and interact with our team of educators, not to mention with fellow sketchers! To start, instructors are also registering to attend workshops during their two free periods, so you may end up rubbing shoulders with that artist whose workshop you really wanted to take but was full.

To accommodate all participants in the time allowed, twelve workshops are offered simultaneously at any given time. Here's a look at the schedule:

Workshop A
X Lighting the City: Lights and Shadows amid Excitement and Serenity
Instructor: Sagar Fornies
Location: Plaça Vila Madrid i Carrer Canuda o Concepció

Workshop B
X Rhythm in the City
Instructor: Inma Serrano
Location: Plaça del Pi

Workshop C
X Designing Barcelona
Instructor: Veronica Lawlor
Location: Mansana de la Discòrdia, Passeig de Gràcia

Workshop D
X Channeling Picasso
Instructor: Melanie Reim
Location: Pla de la Boqueria, Rambla

Workshop E
X Life between Buildings. Capturing the Energy
Instructor: James Richards
Location: Plaça Catalunya

Workshop F
X Dynamic Ink: Using Non-waterproof Ink Creatively
Instructor: Norberto Dorantes
Location: Laietana / Urquinaona / Carrer Comtal

Workshop G
X Sketching Urban Place: People, Space and Streets
Instructor: Richard Alomar
Location: Plaça Reial

Workshop H
X Straight to Masses: A painterly Manner
Instructor: Eduardo Bajzek
Location: Pintor Fortuny amb Xuclà

Workshop I
X Actors and Stage
Instructor: Luis Ruiz
Location: Pla dels Àngels, MACBA

Workshop J
X Barcelona Perspectives: Percepting and Drawing Architecture
Instructors: Florian Afflerbach and Arno Hartmann, Germany.
Location: Caixafòrum

Workshop K
X Urban Life, Describing City Spaces through the Life Lived There
Instructors: Marina Grechanik and Ea Ejersbo
Location: Mercat de la Boqueria

Workshop L
X Sketches that Sing: Creating Drawings with a Life of their Own
Instructor: Lynne Chapman
Location: Plaça Vicenç Martorell

Workshop M
X Triad Symphony: Evocative Watercolor Sketches Using Three Primary Colours
Instructor: Shari Blaukopf
Location: Carrer i església Sta. Anna

Workshop N
X Drawing People in Action
Instructor: Marc Holmes
Location: Rambla del Raval

Workshop O
X Hither, Thither and Yon
Instructor: Barry Jackson
Location: Plaça Universitat

Workshop P
X Drawing from the Heart and over Color Splashes
Instructor: Paul Wang and Tia Boon Sim
Location: Palau de la Música Catalana

Workshop Q
X Panorama in Light and Shade
Instructor: Virginia Hein
Location: Colom / Maremàgnum

Workshop R
X Sketching Barcelona: Setup, Value and Beyond
Instructor: Matthew Brehm
Location: Various locations in Barri Gòtic

Workshop S
X Negative Forms as First Structures and Minimal Storytelling
Instructors: João Catarino and Omar Jaramillo
Location: Sant Felip Neri

Workshop T
X Capturing Space through Form and Color
Instructor: Marion Rivolier
Location: Palau de Mar

WORKSHOP THEMES

This year we have also categorized the workshops under four general themes. If you are uncertain of what workshops to choose for your five sessions, you may consider choosing at least one from each theme:

X FEEL THE SPACE
Mastering the fundamentals of perspective, proportion and composition is key to understanding the spaces we want to draw. These workshops equip sketchers of all levels with useful tips to break down complex urban scenes into sketch-worthy views.

• Workshop E: Life between buildings. Capturing the Energy. 
• Workshop G: Sketching Urban Place: People, Space and Streets.
• Workshop I: Actors and Stage.
• Workshop J: Barcelona Perspectives. Percepting and Drawing Architecture. 
• Workshop O: Hither, thither and yon.
• Workshop S: Negative Forms as First Structures and Minimal Storytelling.

X EXPRESS YOURSELF
Get ready to leave aside preconceived notions of what a proper sketch should be. In these workshops, instructors show that besides our eyes and brain, we also need something else to draw: Our heart!

• Workshop B: Rhythm in the City.
• Workshop L: Sketches that Sing: Creating Drawings with a Life of their Own. 
• Workshop P: Drawing from the Heart and over Color Splashes.
• Workshop T: Capturing Space through Form and Color.

X SEE THE LIGHT
These workshops cover the basics of value and color and provide sketchers with tips to make their artwork more atmospheric and painterly.

• Workshop A: Lighting the City: Lights and Shadows amid Excitement and Serenity
• Workshop R: Sketching Barcelona: Setup, Value and Beyond.
• Workshop Q: Panorama in Light and Shade.
• Workshop H: Straight to Masses - A painterly Manner.
• Worskhop F: Dynamic Ink: Using Non-waterproof Ink Creatively.
• Workshop M: Triad Symphony: Evocative Watercolor Sketches using three primary colours.

X TELL THE STORY
The saying that every picture tells a story also applies to sketches. In these workshops, instructors will challenge participants to create a series of storytelling drawings that go beyond the pictorial representation of a given scene.

• Workshop C: Designing Barcelona.
• Workshop D: Channeling Picasso.
• Workshop N: Drawing people in action. A character sketching crash course.
• Workshop K: Urban life, describing city spaces through the life lived there.

DEMOS

Three artists demos are planned for the afternoon break. Demos are limited to 25 participants each:

• Demo A: How to Make A Sketchbook, by Choni Naudín (Zaragoza, Spain)
• Demo B: Sketching with Dry Twig and Chinese Ink, by Kiah Kiean (Penang, Malaysia)
• Demo C: Digital Urban Sketching, by Josu Maroto (Donostia, Spain) and Mónica Cid (Lisbon, Portugal)