Urban Sketch of Guy at the Flea Market in Ghent
Day One Hundred & One of Sketching People
Day 101 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. We spent three nights in Ghent, but didn’t get around to a lot of sketching, but on the last day (Sunday 19th April) I managed a couple of sketches.
Ink and Spot-Colour Urban Sketches
Our first full day in Ghent was on a Sunday and I was excited to learn about a flea market on the other side of town. I spent most of the time exploring the stalls for bargains, and managed to find a iPhone charger adapter to replace the one I left in our Paris hotel – duh!
I didn’t have much of a chance to sketch at the market, but I did take a photo of this guy with his patterned tank top, and sketched him when I got home. Usually when I sketch from photos the sketches are a lot stiffer, but I managed to sketch quite loosely. I much prefer sketching people from life. It has a sense of urgency that is all part of the sketching experience.
The figure is the focal point of the sketch, and I added the boxes on the stall to convey the context of where he was. I left those as ink lines to help achieve a sense of depth in the scene, but didn’t sketch the content of the boxes in any great detail. The contents are really just here to add context, and what’s in them, isn’t important. I really like the unfinished feel of these type of sketches, where part of the sketch is left as an ink-only sketch, or just filled in with tonal values.
I was really in the mood to sketch more market scenes, and retraced my steps back home to where we’d seen a second hand book market that was set up along the river. By the time I got there, most of the stalls were packing up, so I sat at a nearby cafe to sketch some of my fellow customers. At the next table was a group of four people chatting in Portuguese, and was intrigued me was that they were chatting intently, and their phones were discarded on the table, being ignored. It was a good opportunity to document a bit of reportage.
Rather than sketching the people, I only captured a couple of limbs. They were sitting on deck chairs, and the leg of one person and the arm of another formed a V-shape – which created a clear set of leading lines towards the table and its contents, which was the main focal point for my sketch.
I really like the moment I captured with this sketch, primarily because the composition is simple, but intentional, and really works as a illustrated piece of reportage.
I really wish I’d spent more time people in Ghent, it was an amazing city. Small and compact, very walkable, and lots of cafes and bars. But the time just flew by, and before I knew it, it was time to leave and I only had these two sketches to show for it.
