Sketching Seagulls

We’ve been in the village for three years and I’ve looked at this fishing jetty so many times, but it is just too overwhelming to sketch. So last week I went out to sketch local Cabanas seagulls, and discovered that they’re jittery little critters and fidget much more than the human subjects I usually capture with my pen and brush.

The seagulls turned out all loose and wobbly, which coincidentally is the style I’ve been hoping to cultivate through the recent Doug Jackson tutorials I’ve been doing. His teaching style is all about letting go of perfection and embracing a fast and loose style.

This is sometimes the only option you have when sketching people …… and seagulls.

Sketching the Cabanas Fishing Jetty

I went out again today to sketch the more seagulls, but they were so far away from the promenade, my only other option was to have my first go at sketching part of the Cabanas fishing boat jetty.

I managed to sneak a couple of seagulls into the scene, and like the different line weights that are possible when sketching with a Sailor Fude pen.

Then it was back to the studio to apply a light watercolour wash to bring the sketch to life.

Earlier in the day I’d done one of Doug’s tutorials that covered selective colouring of a scene, and I’d wanted to leave the big boats in the background as pen sketches, but I relented and added a greyscale tone to them instead.

I have a feeling that Pandora’s box has been opened. Now that I have one jetty scene under my belt, there will be many more to capture.

Sketching Resources and Info:

• Doug Jackson on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DougJacksonArtLessons/
• Sailor Fude Pen (can’t remember what ink was loaded into the pen because it was so long ago, and what’s surprising is that the ink flowed so freely after such a long time).