Suhita Shirodkar from her USk promo video
Day Forty-Five of Sketching People
Continuing with day 45 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Last week the Urban Sketcher’s Organisation released the event, workshop, lecture, and demonstration programme schedule for the 19th International Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse, so I’ve been watching the videos and working my way through sketching the urban sketchers presenting sessions.
Sketching from Videos
There’s a small group of urban sketchers hosting a lectures, or a lecture and demo at the symposium. For Day 41 of my sketch challenge I sketched three other lecturers, and today I’m adding one more to the fold.
Suhita Shirodkar
Suhita is hosting a demo “Dramatic Angles/Dynamic People” which combines gestural people sketching with low angle views for drama. This demo will be hosted on location in Toulouse, and will include an insight into how Suhita creates the dramatic compositions that you will recognise as iconically hers.
She is also presenting a lecture “Bit-by-Bit Reportage: How to build reportage projects into your everyday life”. reportage projects are grand adventures involving traveling to far-away places. This lecture touches on three projects Suhita has worked on over the last 12 years, and provides tips on how to find subjects and how to approach a project.
Inspiration, Education, and Connection
When I first encountered Suhita’s artwork back in 2012, I emailed her and asked if I could feature it on my Bodrum Travel Guide website. She graciously agreed, and this was the start of my interest in expressive sketching, and I hoped that one day I’d be able to sketch beach sketches I’d be proud of. Here’s one of my sketches from a couple of years ago.
In 2021 I did Suhita’s Figure Sketching Made Simple which is hosted on Craftsy, and focused on using line of action to sketch people in motion. I remember really liking this tutorial, and I found it really inspirational, but the style of sketching seemed a little beyond my abilities.
It’s often the case that art workshops and tutorials divulge so much information, that you can only take in so much before you get information overload. Or maybe you’re just not at the right skill level (or at the right stage of your creative development) to appreciate some of the tips and insights being shared. They either don’t seem relevant, or just fly over your head. But when you repeat a tutorial, more information falls into place, and you have a greater appreciation and understanding of it.
My sketching skills and style have changed over the past four years since I last did Suhita’s tutorial, so maybe it’s time to have another go at her figure sketching tutorial and see my progression.
