HELLO, I am YANN
I am an architect with a long international career. Born in Brazzaville, Congo, I was educated in Paris at the Paris School of Architecture La Villette and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo). I also studied Art History at Paris-X Nanterre and The Ecole du Louvre in Paris.
I settled in New York and served as the design partner for my company, BBG Architects. I have designed numerous landmark buildings in the US and Asia.
Throughout my career, I have relied on my classical art training to design and present my projects to clients and owners. While embracing emerging digital technology, I have never abandoned sketching as a means of exploring and communicating ideas.
To this day, sketching remains my primary form of expression, grabbing any graphic tool within reach to explore my ideas and concepts.
Sketching is something you can learn too!
Are you passionate about capturing the essence of the world around you? Do you love sketching but feel like you lack the skills to truly bring your vision to life? Are you a self-taught artist looking to elevate your craft?
Sketching the world around us is a talent that everyone can learn!
I designed this course for enthusiasts of all levels, from absolute beginners to those who have already started their artistic journey. You will learn how to observe and depict the beauty of urban landscapes.
Let’s embark on this journey together and discover the artist within you!
Improve observation
Unlock the power of truly seeing. You’ll develop the skills to notice subtle details, proportions, and textures that others overlook. By sharpening your observational abilities, your sketches will transform into vivid, lifelike representations that capture the essence of your subject.
Understand perspective
Master the art of creating depth and dimension. You’ll learn how to accurately represent space, giving your sketches a professional, three-dimensional quality. No more flat or lifeless drawings—your work will leap off the page with realism and precision.
Sketch what you see
Turn what you see into what you draw. By combining observation and perspective, you’ll confidently translate real-life scenes onto paper with accuracy and style. From urban landscapes to everyday moments, you’ll sketch with ease and bring your artistic vision to life.
Example Curriculum
The course consists of more than 11 hours of exclusive content in a series of 15 to 30-minute video classes. The classes present tools and projects and describe and demonstrate the main points for each class.
Organized naturally, from presenting the tools and supports and their uses to project-specific classes. The projects chosen have varying difficulty levels and are adapted to familiarize the student with the main objective of the class.
Practice makes sketching perfect!
- One point perspective (22:36)
- One point perspective, cubes and volumes (17:29)
- One point perspective, dividing and multiplying (17:00)
- Free hand perspective, The Colonnade (15:20)
- Introduction to 2 points perspective (17:18)
- Applying perspective to textures (17:14)
- Dividing like a Greek? (20:32)
- Circles and Arches 01 (16:31)
- Circles and arches 02 (15:51)
- Sloping surfaces (24:03)
- introduction to 3 points perspective (22:12)
- 3 points perspective scene 01 (26:28)
- Some Exercises (17:42)
- 3 points perspective scene 02 (20:05)
- 2 Points Perspective Slopes (23:01)
- How to start a drawing (34:17)
- Contours, layered outlines to suggest depth 01 (26:05)
- Contours, layered outlines to suggest depth 02 (25:32)
- Kitzbuhel Village, combining contours and perspective (17:59)
- Conques, Medieval Landscape (20:47)
- Conques, Village in the hills (20:58)
- Conques, 3 let's try a 3 point perspective (23:38)
- Conques, doing it with textures (18:05)
- Windows as Texture (16:57)
- Rothenburg. Analysis and thumbnails (28:57)
- Oberhofen 01, the napkin sketch (14:21)
- Oberhofen 02, first sketch (18:36)
- Oberhofen 04, outlines and perspective (22:45)
- Mixing Contour and focus methods (15:10)
- Rocamadour, divergent contours (21:24)
- Temple du Marais, a volumetric doodle (20:58)
- Sloping Perspective, San Francisco (23:01)
- Zitlogge, Bern, contours and focus (32:25)
Sketch it. Make it yours.
With observation and perspective as your tools, you’ll turn real-life scenes into drawings that are stylish, and alive. From bustling cityscapes to quiet everyday moments, you’ll sketch with confidence and bring your vision straight onto the page.
