CORE SKILLS COURSE

Learn to Sketch with Ink and Watercolours for Beginners: Your First Fearless Line & Wash

Learn all the ink and watercolour skills you need to fill up your sketchbooks. Tackling a diverse range of scenes and subjects.

£69

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⭐ 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Over 6 hours of pre-recorded video lessons · Downloadable handout · Feedback direct from Toby

Art from the course

This is just a small selection of large variety of scenes tackled through the course. Which includes at least 10 ‘full’ scenes, as well as many more studies and exercises to complete.

The course takes you through a range of scenes to expose you to a variety of subjects – from urban scenes, to coastal vistas. Still life scenes and as you can see… even a characterful seagull! Everything is step-by-step and fully supported, you’ll be amazed what you can do.

Watercolor illustration of a seagull standing on a wooden post, overlooking a body of water with a blurred background of distant hills.
A hand-drawn sketch featuring a charming building on a corner, outlined in ink with watercolor accents. The building has a red base and is adorned with potted plants. A street sign and a no-entry sign are visible, set against a light blue sky.
Watercolor illustration of a castle with pointed towers and a bridge, surrounded by greenery and a blue sky.
A watercolor sketch depicting a coastal scene with a sailboat in the foreground and colorful houses on a hillside in the background, under a cloudy sky.

Course preview

Workshop 3 – ‘Warm Up Still Life’

Watch the full free preview lesson here

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Workshop One – Getting Started

Lesson 1 — Character of line · 7:01

Lesson 2 — Seeing shapes · 18:00

Lesson 3 — Basic wash techniques and swatching · 14:26

Lesson 4 — Mixing colours · 8:38

🎯 Challenge — Overcoming a castle · 32:03

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Workshop Two – Progressing with Ink

Lesson 1 — Measuring techniques · 35:48

Lesson 2 — How to go from shapes to an interesting composition · 26:44

Lesson 3 — See the shapes · 3:04

🎯 Challenge — Penrith Bothy · 25:22

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Workshop Three – Layers of colours

Lesson 1 — Properties of Watercolours · 14:14

Lesson 2 — Avoiding overworked colours · 9:55

Lesson 3 — Warm up: A still life · 17:03

Lesson 4 — Wet page vs dry page · 6:22

🎯 Challenge — Layers of a feather · 17:43

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Workshop Four – Perspective in action

Lesson 1 — Perspective: a series of lessons · 26:51

Lesson 2 — Quick and simple perspective studies · 6:35

🎯 Challenge — A Pub Corner · 25:08

🎯 Challenge — An awkward street · 18:27

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Workshop Five – Becoming independent

Lesson 1 — Choosing a reference · 5:45

Lesson 2 — Thumbnail art · 14:10

🎯 Challenge — Ink edits · 10:59

🎯 Challenge — Watercolour experiments 12:56

🎯 Challenge — To boat or not to boat 21:04

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What You’ll Need

Here’s a simple kit that’ll see you through the whole course, nothing expensive, nothing you won’t use. If you have any questions after reading this list just email me: toby@sketchloose.co.uk

A watercolour sketchbook, A5 or bigger. 300gsm paper is best as it handles wet media without buckling.

A range of fine liners from 0.1–0.8mm, or a fountain pen with permanent ink (check the supplies link for details on safe inks to use).

A set of watercolours, the Cotman or Meden ranges are great starting points and won’t break the bank. Any starter set of 8-12 colours will be perfectly fine.

A couple of brushes: aim for at least a size 12 or bigger for washes, and something around a size 6 for detail work. A couple of flat and round brushes is a great mix to have to try different techniques as well. But just the two brushes would get you started.

View my favourite supplies

Review spotlight

What people are saying…

Paul M

“I’ve just completed your Beginner’s ink and watercolour course and can’t believe what I’ve achieved. The skills, confidence and hobby really are gifts I can take forward in life!
I can’t wait to try your next course as well as create a lot of my own works too.”

Liz N

“Brilliant course Toby… What more can I say?

The depth and range of the content is outstanding, the process of learning easy to understand, it was fun and challenging at the same time and your feedback as ever was always invaluable.”

Helen G

“I have really enjoyed this course, in fact rather sad that I have now completed it. I have learnt so much and have gained more confidence with my drawing.”

How the course works

Watch this video for a Toby-guided tour!

Who is this course for?

“You’ve wanted to sketch for years. Maybe you’ve tried before, and given up. This course is built for exactly that feeling.”

Beginner’s Ink & Watercolours is the starting point I wish I’d had. You’ll learn to hold a pen with confidence, mix colour without fear, and build a real creative habit from complete scratch. No experience needed. Just ink, a few watercolours, and a willingness to make your first mark.

⭐ 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee

If you buy the course and it’s not right for you, email me within 14 days and I’ll refund you in full. No questions asked.

BEGINNERS COURSE

Learn to Sketch for Beginners: Your First Fearless Line & Wash

£69.00
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Or contact me directly at toby@sketchloose.co.uk

Also available in the Core Skills Bundle

The Core Skills Bundle brings together three courses at a significantly better price than buying individually.

Find out more about the Bundle