Preparing for Poznań's Urban Sketchers Symposium 2025
It's official – this August, I'll be packing my sketchbooks and heading to Poland for the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznań! For those unfamiliar, Urban Sketchers is a global community of artists who practise on-location drawing, we capture the world around us one sketch at a time. The annual symposium brings together sketchers from around the world for workshops, sketch walks, and the pure joy of creating seeing the world together.
The golden ticket
Getting registered for the Symposium wasn't exactly a walk in the park. The word I used for it was “harrowing”. When registration opened at midnight NZ time, many thousands of determined urban sketchers from all over the world simultaneously competed for the 450 available tickets. By some stroke of luck (and perhaps some determined refreshing), I managed to secure one of those coveted spots – and later discovered I'm one of only a very small handful of New Zealanders who managed to register. The exclusivity of this opportunity isn't lost on me and why I’m even more determined to make the most of every minute in Poznań.
Symposium workshops
The type of registration I secured allows me to attend up to three workshops. I have locked in with instructors whose work I've admired for years:
Róisín Curé – I've followed Róisín's vibrant work for ages, and can't wait to learn her technique for drawing silhouettes of people using "jewel-toned inks." I'm still not entirely sure how these inks will be transferred to paper (dip pen? fountain pen? thin brush?) so looking forward to this new approach of adding people to my scenes.
Peter Rush – Peter's known for drawing on the backs of packaging materials, which feels both environmentally conscious and creatively liberating. I'm looking forward to experimenting with colored pencils and water colour on unconventional surfaces. I don’t know if I’m meant to be, but I’m collecting emptied packaging already.
Andrew James – Andrew's unique approach to urban scenes inspires me, and I'm eager to absorb his way of looking at lines, angles and perspective.
The Symposium in Auckland taught me how full-on the three days will be with workshops as well. These workshops align perfectly with my goals for the symposium:
increasing confidence when drawing people
capturing a sketch more quickly
loosening up my overall style.
Poznań preparation
Is the preparation is almost as exciting as the trip itself?
I've invested in an ArtTools folio palette — incredibly light and slender — perfect for travelling light while still having access to a full range of colours. To complement this, I've also purchased the ArtTools A5 pouch, which is already revolutionising my setup.
This compact zippered wallet accommodates pens, brushes, an A5 sketchbook, and even a collapsible cup for water, along with the palette itself. I’ve gone from a backpack to a tote when attending sessions with the Auckland Urban Sketchers.
I've been practicing with this streamlined kit to make it second nature before arriving in Poland. There's nothing more frustrating than fumbling with unfamiliar tools when you've only minutes to capture a scene in a workshop environment.
Travel plans
My non-sketchy sister (I have a traveling companion, how cool is that??) will be joining me on this adventure. We'll fly Qatar Airlines with a stopover in Doha before landing in Warsaw, where we'll spend a couple of half days adjusting to the time zone. Then it's onto the train to Poznań.
I asked my sister if she’d like to join me on the trip she said “Why wouldn’t I want to go to a country whose national bread is a croissant!”
Personal goals
Urban sketching is about capturing life as it happens, which requires both technical skill and confidence. I currently feel a bit hesitant in several areas that I'm determined to improve:
Drawing people has always intimidated me — they move, they notice you sketching them, and their proportions can be unforgiving if you get them wrong. But people bring urban scenes to life, and I'm ready to face this challenge head-on.
I also tend to get caught in details, which I love but slows me down considerably. By the time I've carefully rendered one building, the light has changed or the moment has passed. Learning to work more quickly and capture the essence of a scene is a priority.
Finally, I hope to loosen up my style overall. There's a freshness and energy to more gestural, less precious approaches to urban sketching that I admire in others but haven't fully embraced myself.
Being surrounded by hundreds of other sketchers — from beginners to professionals — creates an energy that's impossible to find elsewhere.
While I'm in Poznań I'll be sharing sketches and experiences primarily through my @sketchparklife Instagram channel. I'm also planning to capture video with the hope of uploading to YouTube but we’ll see how we go on that one.
Next steps
August feels simultaneously too far away and so close. There's still preparation to be done, skills to hone, and supplies to organise. Flights and accommodation are booked and paid for so that’s a major travel preparation milestone passed.
Mostly though, there's anticipation. Anticipation for that unique feeling of sitting on a street corner in a foreign city, sketchbook open, surrounded by others who understand exactly why you're there and what drives you to put pen to paper.
I'll be posting follow-up articles during and after the symposium to share what I've learned, sketches I’ve done and any stories I am bound to have.
Stay tuned!
