I experiment with three different ways of using line, tonal value, and silhouette to capture poses with the minimal amount of detail, but still convey depth and movement.

Inspiration from Mehmet Saygin, about how he combines ink lines and areas of spot colour. See how he defines the foreground, mid-ground and background in a sketch using a limited colour palette, and how he utilises cooler and warmer colours to define depth.

Taking a look back on my travel sketches to see what sketching style preferences are evident within the pages of my Greek Island travel sketchbook. Three individual styles bubbled to the top of my awareness.

Day 169 to 173 of sketching people in Athens and Rome. Some sketches done live, and the rest sketched from photos I took.

Day 168 of sketching people on the long and uncomfortable overnight ferry ride from Rhodes to Piraeus. Plenty of time to sketch groups, and cobble together scenes of people desperately trying to get a comfortable night’s sleep.

Day 167 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Symi. A couple of group sketches of people on sun beds. One with a clear focal point with a monochromatic background, and one where I used watercolour on the entire sketch.

Day 166 of sketching people during our day trip to the Greek Island of Tilos. On the ferry, at the beach, and sitting in the cafe.

Day 164-165 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Halki. A mixture of travel sketches of individual people, and groups of people lining to buy or board.

Day 161-163 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Karpathos. A variety of travel sketches of groups of people where I’ve experimented with different sketching styles to add depth and interest.

Day 159 and 160 of sketching people on the Greek Island of Crete in Heraklion. Using my travel sketches to decide how to effectively combine sketching styles of monochromatic and colour to create a stronger focal point and add depth to a sketch.

Day 158 of sketching people during a trip to Malia Beach on the Greek Island of Crete. A mix of solitary figures on a page, and one compilation that takes a little bit of deciphering because one of my sketch subjects got up and walked away.

Two Trains, Two Planes, and a Taxi ride to reach our Greek destination of Crete. I managed a couple of sketches of people I encountered along the journey. I don’t think night flights are ideal for getting a lot of sketching done.

Flying home from the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was one last opportunity to add to my event sketchbook with more sketches of people at the airport and on the plane. It was also a great exploration into mixing monochromatic elements with colour.

Continuing on with day 153-155 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Three day’s of sketches in different locations, and different approaches for capturing the story in the sketch by capturing overheard conversations and using some poetic reportage.

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse I attended the Peter Rush demonstration to experience his method of capturing s street scene that includes adding in, rather than ignoring, street signs, traffic lights, posts, recycle bins, and other street furniture and urban elements that give the street it’s personality. I took inspiration for this style of sketching along onto Saturday’s Sketch Crawl in Toulouse, and have started to use it now that I’m back home.

The Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was a four day event and I sketched people every day during the workshops, lectures, and demonstrations, as well as while I was exploring the streets of Toulouse.

Day 147 of sketching people during a speed sketching Zoom event hosted by Chloe at Drawing is Free. Using a limited set of art materials, so that I focused on the line and shade rather than colour.

My second workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Veronica Lawlor which was all about reportage and capturing stories with your sketches. We did warm up exercises to familiarise ourselves with the area using vignettes and thumbnails, and let our stories evolve organically from the elements that interested and intrigued us.

My first workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Dan Archer which was all about sketching people. We did warm up exercises of sketching people, and then went to the Victor Hugo market to sketch people with overheard conversations.

Day 146 of sketching people during my travel day to the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse. Including some sketches with some poetic reportage, and some using a limited colour palette.

Day 145 of sketching people during a speed sketching Zoom event hosted by Chloe at Drawing is Free. Using a limited palette to explore the impact of colour on feeling and mood of a portrait.

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’ve created a set of small watercolour canvases for portraits I do on location. They’re only 8cm x 6cm, and ideal for doing loose quick sketches to give to the subjects I sketch. On the back is a linocut self portrait I created last year.

Day 142 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Experimenting with using a bright and a desaturated green from Manganese Blue Hue, to create some colour harmony in my cafe sketches.