Does the name Albert Kiefer mean anything to you? And how about Housesketcher on Instagram? If you walk around the artsy and sketching side of the internet, you have probably crossed paths with some of his works. The first time I heard about Kiefer was browsing the Domestika website. When I saw Housesketching, something felt familiar. And so I jumped at the opportunity to see what this man had to teach me.

His sketching style is very characteristic and recognisable. For me, it’s often too chaotic and busy, although that’s one of the reasons his drawings are so alive. The colour in some sketches is so pleasant and lovely that I want to jump into the page and land in that world. That’s what attracts me the most to his sketches and why I didn’t pass on the opportunity to check out his new book.

Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for free. All the thoughts and opinions here are my own.

What’s inside the book

The book has the same structure as most art teaching books have. It presents his favourite materials, from pens to colour markers and paper. But more than that, he gives tips to help you choose your materials. And Kiefer even encourages you to try other materials from the ones he uses so you can find what fits best. If there’s one thing to take out of this book, make it your own. After all, that’s what art is all about. There isn’t a right or wrong way. Only different ways. This is his way.

There’s also a chapter about gathering the source material for the sketches. From drawing on-site to his photography and even using images off the internet. There is no wrong way to gather the source. There are different methods, and they are all valid. What matters is capturing the moment in the sketch. For drawing on-site, Kiefer also gives some tips on how he usually organises his supplies for a quick sketch on the go.

Kiefer shows his process of creating and giving movement to the drawings. Through simplification, re-imagining the buildings instead of doing a very faithful and realistic portrait of it. One thing Kiefer moves away is the realistic perspective. It’s visible in the sketches the objective isn’t a picture-perfect representation but instead bringing them to life. To give personality to the drawing. For extra help, there are QR codes, which link to short videos to better illustrate the text. Sometimes, a still image might not be enough to convey the message, and a video can help you visualise what the author is trying to say.

There’s also a more theoretical part to the book about colour. The different values, the light and shadows, and how to colour in your sketch. And for me, that’s probably some of the most important pages of the book. Then, it moves on to show how to construct the sketch from the basic shape to the details that give more life to the drawing. The attention to the composition, the perception of depth, and the perspective. So it’s a book fitting for anyone who wants to try this art form, even if you don’t have any drawing experience.

My personal experience with Houseskecking

Before I could start experimenting, I had to buy some coloured markers. Although I couldn’t buy every single colour of the rainbow, contrary to my liking. And so, I took in consideration Kiefer’s tips. The importance of having lighter and darker tones was a major one. Then, I did an overall of his the most used colours. I needed a blue for the sky, two greens (light and darker tones), a nude colour and a darker shade for the buildings, and finally, a light and a darker grey, which he also used on top of other colours to have shading. So you don’t need all the colours, you only need to know how to work with them. And that’s what I’m here to learn.

When it presented the various stages of the sketch, I felt it reached a point where it was a bit repetitive. And it’s understandable why. The process is always the same. There was variation in the sketches presented, so there was something different to point out. But overall, it was much the same. The directions are straightforward and pragmatic. That allowed me to do whatever I wanted to the sketch as long as I was careful to work from light to dark. You can never lighten a colour marker. That’s the rule. And there isn’t much to say about the colouring process. It’s intuitive for the most part. And it showed me that I still need to learn not to colour so much. Balancing the colour with the white of the page is important. By trying to do the same sketches Kiefer shows in the book, I could see that very clearly. Remember: less is more.

I didn’t come out of this book sketching like Kiefer or doing magic with colour markers the way he does. Although it’s an outlet and an excuse to sketch. And while colouring is something new to me that I need practice to choose more wisely, I also learned something about myself. I felt more comfortable using colour before sketching. Having already drawn lines made me want to colour inside those lines. And that’s not the point. Coloured markers are bulky and create bold, strong and expressive strokes. So, colouring before made me embrace that more because I had no limit. No restrains. Also, it made me think more about the strokes’ direction since it was still only a blank page without any other indication of where the sketch was going.

Final thoughts

One thing I was expecting to see more of was tips and tricks for on-site drawing. Since this book is fit for beginners, I was expecting a little more help if someone wants to draw outside. We don’t realise until we try it, but our brains see in 3D, and it’s hard to convert what we see to 2D. Cameras make it look so easy. And that’s even a good trick if your drawing is not coming out right. Just take a picture. Although there are other ways to help you convert what you see into 2D and even help with perspective. And sadly, I didn’t see that talked about in the book. While Kiefer has no problems with using photos instead of on-site drawing, it would also be nice to have some tips and tricks if a beginner wants to try it.

Overall, it’s an inclusive book. It teaches the basics and leaves room to explore and do differently. After all, the objective is to find your own style. Not to copy Kiefer. It’s to understand what his squiggly lines do to the sketch. How to think about colouring in your sketch. How to start a sketch. What to look out for. How to bring life and originality to something as simple as a sketch.

There’s a point in which Abert Kiefer refers to a saying about an artist having a thousand bad sketches in their hands before getting out a good one. And that sounds like a pretty good challenge to me. I’ve started it over on Instagram, and who knows how long it will take me to reach that 1000th sketch. I want to embrace my good and bad work, and a challenge might be a good motivator. And now, with a new set of wonderful coloured markers, I want to play around more.