Day 126 of sketching people. Drawing is Free speed sketching event on zoom. Sketched a series of portraits, where every pose is the length of a music track. Simple ink lines and tonal sketching on 5x8cm pieces of watercolour paper. I also did Dylan Sara’s 10 minute sketch-along on YouTube.

Day 125 of sketching people at cafés in Tavira and Cabanas. Experimenting with page layout and composition, to see how well overlapping figures, and using V and L shapes layouts works.

Day 124 of sketching people at Faro hospital, where I added a bit of poetry to my sketch to memorialise the moment with a bit of reportage. Also continued my fasciation with biro portraits, using Earthsworld photo references.

Day 123 of sketching people at a local cafe. Added a bit of poetry to a couple of my sketches for a bit of reportage. Also continued my fasciation with biro portraits.

I’m testing these four different fineliner pens to see which one has the optimal ink bleed for grey tonal shading. I’m considering adding one of these to my must-have urban sketching kit to sketch people.

Day 121 of sketching people. Biro sketches with tonal shading from online resource images, and a couple of urban sketches at the cafe in ink and watercolour.

Day 116 of sketching people. Experimenting with the Pilot V7 pen to create ink bleed for tonal shading on monochromatic people sketches. Exploring how to use the Envelope Method to map out simple shapes for a strong page composition and layout.

Day 115 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. An array of sketches on coffee-stained pages using water soluble ink and pencils for tonal shading. Followed by a few speed sketches from the Pencils4Tea zoom session.

Day 114 of sketching people, and today I attended the speed sketching portrait zoom event called Musink. Each pose is the length of a music track. I sketched in water soluble fine liner and added water to bleed the lines, then added a limited palette of watercolours.

Day 113 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. A return trip to the hospital, and filling the waiting time with sketches of other people waiting.

Day 112 of sketching people. Drawing is Free speed sketching event on zoom. And completing a sketch study sequence, which was another exercise in speed sketching.

Tips fro Teoh Yi Chie about the different ways he approaches urban sketching groups of people, and what he focuses on when sketching quickly vs. sketching slowly.

Day 110 of sketching people. Drawing is Free speed sketching event on zoom. Sketched a series of portraits, where every pose is the length of a music track. Simple ink lines and tonal sketching with a little spot watercolour.

Day 109 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. An unfortunate trip to the hospital, but filling the waiting time with sketches.

Using the first pen I bought when I started sketching – the Yellow Lamy Safari fountain pen – to experiment turning the F nib into a Fude nib.

Painting loose isn’t just about wobbly lines. Inspired by a video by Whee Teck on how to paint more loosely, I absorbed his advice about disrespecting the lines to create a looser feel to sketches.

To create a looser looking sketch you use your watercolour to lose your edges or replace your ink lines. Here’s a look at how using paint splatters or faded edges helps to create a looser looking urban sketches.

Took part in some of the Sketchbook Revival art challenges this year, and my favourite was the “sketch an object repeatedly” challenge, where I chose to sketch a page of portraits.

A look at why I’m inspired to sketch the people I sketch, and how I approach choosing the starting point, and focal point of each sketch. What happens when I’m not inspired, and what happens when I leave objects out.

Day 105 of sketching during a day our flight out of Lille. I sketched people before our flight and during our flight. A good end to our trip, with some pleasing people sketches completed.

Day 103 and 104 of sketching people. During our trip to Lille I only managed to sketch people at the train station and on our metro ride to a museum housed in an Art Deco swimming pool.

Day 102 of sketching during a day trip to Brugge. Looking at the impact of negative space and how to create a strong sketch of a person using a triangular shape as the key compositional element.

In Ghent for day 101 of sketching people at the flea market and captured a bit of reportage sketching at the cafe, illustrated with a short poem about their dormant cell phones.

In Paris for day 98, 99, and 100 of urban sketching people. Experimenting how to manipulate the line and colour on a page to create a sketch that has a clear visual path and a strong focal point.