Building a Spiral of Attention with Nishant Jain

Learn to harness your natural curiosity to prioritize what interests you most, enabling you to quickly start and finish a completed sketch.

Urban sketchers often feel overwhelmed by busy locations, thinking they must capture every detail. This session focuses on building a confident, intuitive drawing practice by starting quickly, simplifying complex scenes, and developing a sustainable sketching habit. Students will work with a minimal set of tools—primarily a pen or pencil, a few supplementary instruments, and a portable sketchbook—to reduce decision fatigue and stay efficient.

We will start at our point of highest interest—our initial drawing inspiration—and work outward in a spiral, addressing elements of decreasing importance. The more curious we are about something, the more time and attention we give it; the less curious we are, the fewer details we include. Apart from constructing our spiral of attention, we also use layering to create depth and simplify complex scenes into areas of varying interest.

Viewers will instinctively follow our spiral inward toward our source of inspiration. Each sketch therefore becomes a window into the artist's unique interests, curiosities, and self-expression.

Learning goals

-starting quickly on the blank page

-drawing with confidence, curiosity, and instincts

-simplifying busy scenes so that every drawing reaches the finish

-making the drawing habit fit in our time windows

Techniques that will be taught

-drawing directly with ink

-layering to add depth and bring focus

-adding details as a way to direct attention

Materials or tools the students should bring

Primary tool - pen or pencil of choice. Nishant prefers using a fountain pen with black ink.

Secondary tool(s) - 2-3 pens, pencils, or markers to supplement the primary tool. Nishant carries a fineliner, POSCA markers, and a pen with a different ink colour.

Paper - a sketchbook that you are comfortable to use while standing. Consider bringing 9x12” sheets, and/or a 5.5x8.5” sketchbook.

Seating is available near the fountain, but bringing a stool may give you more options.

The basic idea is to carry a minimalistic kit that reduces decision fatigue and allows us to move quickly.

Please Note: There will be no refunds or exchanges on this workshop.

Meet at Bethesda Fountain (photo Central Park Conservancy)

About the Instructor

Nishant Jain is a writer and sneaky-artist, making secret drawings of his world everywhere he goes. After leaving a PhD program in Neuroscience to become a novelist, and getting stuck halfway through his debut novel, he started drawing as a way to get over his writer's block. Thus began an unexpected journey as an artist. Nishant’s art revolves around a curiosity for urban life, and how cities allow strangers to coexist in harmony. His book, Make (Sneaky) Art, offers ideas and techniques to build a sketchbook habit based upon mindfulness and observation of one’s environment. Nishant lives in beautiful British Columbia, with his wife and a baby boy whom he draws everyday.

See Nishant's work at SneakyArtist.com and on Instagram at @thesneakyartist

Tickets for this event are not refundable or exchangeable.