Day Nineteen of a 365-day people sketch challenge, supplementing my daily Earthsworld Challenge experiment with skin tones, with my first attendance of the Pencils4tea speed sketching event.

Four more days of a 365-day people sketch challenge. Using different styles for the Earthsworld Challenges, including a tonal study. Plus a travel journal sketch of people at the checkout during the pre-Christmas rush.

So you’ve started your figures too long on the page, and you don’t have room to sketch the feet? It’s a common problem. Here’s a review of how to use ink lines and watercolour to approach the problem of running out of room at the bottom of the page when people sketches. My thoughts on which approach works best, and what doesn’t look good.

In my ongoing 365 Day Challenge, I sketched during a trip to Córdoba, Spain. I sketched from photos. I explored different sketching styles, balancing detailed and loose, based on the urgency of the situation.

How I started my 10 minute daily people sketching practice, and some tips and inspiration for starting your own sketching habit.

Feature Sketch: my Urban Sketch of a man with big ears at a cafe in Tavira Looser Urban Sketching Lines…

Day eight of my people sketching challenge I attended the Drawing Is Free speed sketching event, and did the Earthsworld Portrait Challenge.

On Day Six of my people sketching challenge, I sketched people in a café, and considered how to find the story I want to tell. I also sketched people at the till in a supermarket.

The start of my new 365 day sketching challenge, where I’m focusing on Sketching People in Ink and Watercolour. Here’s the first two days, with tips on where to find inspiration for people sketches. Some Drawing Earthsworld Challenge Portraits and a local urban sketch of people.

New beginnings. A fresh start to building skills for urban sketching people by putting a methodical plan in place for sketching focal point people, supporting character people, and background shapes for context and scale.

How to use watercolour backgrounds in your sketches to supplement the story you’re trying to convey.

Here’s some tips for sketching groups of people, without getting overwhelmed by the crowds and complexity in your scene.

Some ideas and inspiration for creating interesting sketchbook page layouts when urban sketching people.

Urban Sketching during our trip to Turkey. In Istanbul, and at the beaches and cafes of Bodrum. Also sketched during a windy ferry ride to Datca. All Ink Sketches, no Watercolour.

Travel Urban Sketching at Lisbon Airport and a scene from my hotel window in Istanbul. Pen and Ink sketches.

Want to loosen up your sketching lines? Here’s some simple tips to help beginning sketchers build this skillset.

August 19th Drawing with Dylan live speed sketching event. Portrait poses ranging from 30 seconds to 6 minutes which I sketched in ink and watercolour.

Speed Sketching Portraits for the Drawing with Dylan live event on August 12th 2025. Portrait poses ranging from 30 seconds to 6 minutes which I sketched in ink and watercolour. Vibrant portraits because I decided to use up the paint puddles from a swatching session earlier in the day. Sometimes it’s good to mess around with expressive colour.

Tonight’s Drawing with Dylan live speed sketching event. Portrait poses ranging from 30 seconds to 6 minutes which I sketched in ink and watercolour.

Putting Perdo Lureiro’s sketching tips into practice on a couple of sketches I did during my trip to London. Loose ink and watercolour sketches of Borough Market and Tower Bridge. Leaving out more than I put in.

This year’s One Week 100 People challenge was great for honing my style and getting me using my Tombow pens for shading instead of watercolour.

So good to break my people-sketching drought. I much prefer capturing people to buildings, and these people were sketched in local restaurants and cafes.

Taking time to sketch visual reminders of our 4 weeks in Turkey. I sketched using a paired down urban sketching kit. And sketched people on ferries, in cafes, on beaches, and some business offices. A real variety of locations and people sketches.

Find out what I learned from Andrey Shmatnik’s Urban Sketching Tutorial on Etchr, and how he sketches different versions of people in the foreground, mid-ground, and background. Including how he stylises his carrot people for more character.