Day 143 and 144 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. I seem to have a penchant for sketching people on their phones. In one sketch I added some poetic reportage, and in the other sketch I used a limited colour palette and sketched my version on the background scene. I also took a detour from my usual subject matter to sketch a street scene.

Day 141 of sketching people in ink and watercolour, and a short poem to add some social commentary to the scene of a father and son, sharing a meal together, but not sharing a moment of interaction with each other.

Day 140 of urban sketching people, this time a man with flushed cheeks trying to hydrate with beer. I added a little bit of poetic reportage to add some additional “colour” to the sketch.

Day 137 of sketching people. Urban sketch of men at the IMT office in Faro, with some poetic reportage as social commentary to illustrate the scene, and make the story about the make-shift “Silence” sign.

Day 134 of sketching people. Speed sketching with Pencils4tea onto collaged paper with Portuguese text, and an urban sketch at a cafe using analogous colour palette from a bright colour triad, and a complimentary colour for balance.

Day 133 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Urban sketch at a local cafe of a man with a pastel de nata, and a portrait sketch of Koosje Koene using a limited colour palette inspired by Ludivine Alligier’s tutorial about creating contrast with colour and text. Both sketches with some poetic reportage.

Day 131 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. A couple of examples of poetic reportage – one at the cafe on a coffee-stained page, and one at the beach with multiple sketches of the same subject.

My first outing with the Algarve Plein Air Collective. Although we were on the Cabanas boardwalk to sketch the boats in the water, I was drawn to the Sunflower, in front of our local newsagents, which had its face turned towards the morning sun.

Day 129 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Today I sketched a couple of people in Tavira and added some poetic reportage to these otherwise uneventful scenes. I also did a bit of portrait practice back at home.

Day 128 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Today I sketched a couple of sunburned people at the café and added some poetic reportage to capture the scene. I also added coffee stained backgrounds.

Day 127 of sketching people in the waiting room of a government office in Faro. Experimenting with page layout by adding signs to help convey the location of the sketch, and filling negative space with some poetic reportage.

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.

Here’s an image gallery of my urban sketches of people where I’ve add a bit of social or cultural commentary in poetic form to elevate my illustrations into reportage.

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.

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 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.

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.

Day 94 of sketching people at a live sketching event at a local art gallery. I faced the dilemma of wanting to add colour to my sketches but having to wait for the page to dry before I could begin another sketch.

Day 72 of sketching people. Urban Sketching people at the cafe at the end of the street. Playing around with compositions to leave enough negative space so my sketches can breathe. Also added text, social commentary, and overheard conversations to turn these urban sketches into reportage.

Day 71 of sketching people. A morning urban sketching people at cafes and a mobile screening unit in Tavira. Experimenting with different backgrounds and page layout compositions.

Day 68 of sketching people. Urban Sketching at a local cafe at the end of the street. Combining people sitting in different parts of the cafe together at a table, and experimenting with compositions for a reportage post.

Day 65 of sketching people. Not much time today, but enough time for a quick coffee at a local cafe and a quick sketch, about being in a foreign country but still able to order scones and clotted cream. This was an experiment in reportage and page composition.

Day 59 of sketching people. A reportage sketch with a restaurant bill as some collage fodder, and a Valentine’s Day Poem to develop a story around a scene I only saw for a couple of minutes. Sometimes you need to invent your own story, when you have no idea what’s going on.

Day 57 of sketching people. A visit to a local bar in Cabanas to sketch in the sunshine to sketch groups of people, to practice compositions with a group of people. And also try out a new sketchbook format in the shape of a photo booth strip of images.