Meet the instructors: Mike Daikubara — USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025

The second instructor we introduce is Mike Daikubara, who will be leading the workshop titled Color First Ink Later Workshop!

Mike is an artist, author, designer and educator based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sketching daily since 2000, he’s passionate about sharing his love for sketching. He has authored 10 Urban Sketching books, including Sketch NOW Think Later, and COLOR first INK later. He has taught hundreds of students locally and internationally.　He currently serves as Vice President for Urban Sketchers.

In his workshop, he will be teaching the "COLOR First, INK Later" approach, which helps make it easier to sketch a complex scene. Instead of starting with line work, broad watercolor washes are applied first using a mop brush, freeing you from controlling every detail. Once dry, ink adds structure and focus, followed by additional colors and highlights to complete the sketch. Using minimal tools in a short time, this method creates vibrant, dynamic, and fun sketches—turning an intimidating process into an enjoyable experience.

In USk Van Sketch Weekend, you can learn from Mike how to make a lively sketch while drawing fast and keeping minimal!

Supplies you should bring

Sketchbook with paper that can take a good amount of water. Mike's Favorite: Stillman & Birn Beta series
Waterproof ballpoint pen or felt tip pen. Recommended: Sakura Pigma 01 (or any other waterproof thin-lined pen). Mike will be using the Uniball Signo 0.38 pen.
Mop brush that can hold lots of water. Recommended: Davinci #2 Mop brush or Rosemary & Co Mop brush
Small water container or jar. Recommended: Nalgene container
Water brush. Recommended: A Pentel medium tip brush
Watercolor kit. Any watercolor kit that you currently use is great. If you do not have one and are looking for an introductory watercolor kit, Sakura makes great kits. Recommended: Sakura Koi intro kit
3 Grey markers. Recommended: Sakura Tombo N75, N65, N55 markers
2 White gel pens. Recommended: Posco White (PC-1M) and Sakura Gelly Roll (08)
Portable stool Optional
Water (For drinking and for color usage) Optional
Light snack (power bar, nuts, fruits etc) Optional
A Hat / Sun screen Optional

Mike Daikubara
Instagram
Website

---------------------
#USkVan Sketch Weekend 2025
Granville Island
April 5 (Sat) - April 6 (Sun)

Facebook group
Instagram

Comments

Meet the USk Executive Board! — USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025

USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025 is a collaborative event with the USk global Executive Board. This event wouldn't have been possible without them. Thank you for coming over to Vancouver and offering this amazing opportunity! Here we'd like to introduce the EB members. Meet them at the event! Ronaldo Kurita / President After serving as Vice President for the USK Organization, he was selected as President in 2025. Mike Daikubara / Vice President Appointed as Vice President recently. He will be teaching a workshop in USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025. More info . Genine Carvalheira / Past President She will be joining as Past President and teaching a workshop in USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025. More info . Kris Mordacai / Treasurer Eric Ngan / Events Director Annette Morris / Education Director She will be teaching a workshop in USk Van Sketch Weekend 2025. More info . Maria Regina Tuazon / Communications Dir...

We have moved to Substack!

To directly reach out to the members of our community, we have set up Substack, which is a newsletter platform that allows us to send upcoming meetup details, event summaries and any other useful information directly to your email inbox. If you want to receive newsletters from us and stay updated, enter your email address in the below box to subscribe. If you’re unsure about subscribing, you can take a look at our Substack website first through the link below. https://uskvancouver.substack.com/ Click “Read first” on the first page to view our posts without subscribing. We have also decided to transfer the blog function to Substack, so we're closing this Blogger. Thank you for checking it out. We're excited to provide more stuff on Substack! ---------------- As an official chapter, we respect and follow Urban Sketchers' manifesto in every meetup. Urban Sketchers Vancouver Facebook group Instagram

[Meetup Info] Let's Sketch At Italian Day Festival

Let's meet and sketch at Italian Day Festival on The Drive! 📍Grandview Park and on the northwest corner of Commercial Drive & Charles Street https://maps.app.goo.gl/C2Ez2mg2LLDUv9Kk9 June 8, 2025 (Sun) Meetup 🕐 1 pm Sketch Throwdown 🕐 3:30 pm *We will update closer to the date if anything changes. After TWO YEARS, let's sketch together again at this beautiful street festival! Italian Day will stretch out over 14 blocks and provide us with lots of “schizzo” (in Italian) or sketch opportunities. The Drive will come alive with piazza style animated zones, live music, food vendors, patio areas, fun activities and more. If the crowds are too much, just slip into one of the many cafes or eateries along the street. You can also find old houses and pretty gardens, off on the side streets. How to Get There: There will be NO transit service along “the Drive,” so, you will need to - - walk uphill from Clark Drive (#22 Knight bus), - South from either Hastings Street #14 Hastin...

Search This Blog