Urban Sketch of a Cafe Customer

Day One Hundred and Six, Seven and Eight of Sketching People

Day 106, 107, and 108 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Back sketching locally after being away, but my output has been sporadic.

Sketching at the Market in Tavira

My first weekend after our little getaway, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the sketching at the market held outside the Municipal Mercado in Tavira. It’s usually a bustling affair, and their cafes are full of people to sketch.

But there was some kind of technical issue and the Main indoor Municipal Market was closed, as were all of the shops and cafes around the perimeter. So the only thing happening was the flea market, but no people sitting at cafes. So I did one sketch of a couple of stall holders, bought a little bit of Sardine art, and came home.

Sketching in Cabanas

With a beard like this, there was no way I could resist sketching this customer at the bar. He was sitting patiently waiting for a taxi to arrive, and not fidgeting, so it was a dream to sketch and I managed to capture his iconic shaped nose. I liked how his hands were dangling off the edges of the arm of the chair, and I managed to capture those pretty good. I thought the beard would be the focal point, but I think it’s those hands.

I don’t always sketch the tables and chairs, but I wanted to fill up the page and give a sense of place. So I sketched them in a lighter ink so they receded into the background, and coloured them all in with a similar shade.

There was a big group of golfers sharing a bucket of beers, and talking about the decline of Liv golf. I only sketched three of them. And then experimented with a double-coloured background.

First a block of a coral/orange colour to frame the three figures, and then a block of coordinating blue/green colour to fill the page – and to connect with the chairs. The three figures looked a little lost on the page, and these two blocks of colour help to ground them. I didn’t want to just apply flat washes, I wanted something with a little bit of interest, because the sketch of the people was pretty static and boring.

Sketching at Tavira Plaza

When I visited the cafe at the Tavira Plaza, I flicked through my sketchbook to find on of the prepared pages in my book that had coffee stains ready to be sketched on.

Both of these women had the same intense expression, and were sitting alone. Rather than sketch them both in the same proportions/perspective, I sketched one of them with her table and its contents, and the other one with just her phone, and slightly closer in perspective.

I could have increased the distance between these two people and made the background figure smaller, and that would have created a stronger focal point of the lady closer to us. I think that would have made for a much more interesting sketch. I’m learning so much when I evaluate my daily sketches. I keep seeing things I should have done to make a sketch stronger. I just have to remember all of these improvements, to make sure I can incorporate them into future sketches – again and again, until they become intuitive.

It’s been good to get a little local sketching in. But I’ve been so obsessed with making hardbound books that my sketching has taken a back seat. But I need to get back into the habit of sketching every day.