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.

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse this year I started a severe fascination about drawing wonky lines, and I wondered why a confident loose, quick, and wonky line looks so much better than a thoughtfully slowly rendered straight line. The Laws of Gestalt Psychology help to explain this phenomenon and also help to quiet your inner critic.

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.

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.

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.

I sketched my art supplies for the urban sketcher’s symposium in Toulouse. I like ink lines and watercolour, but I’ve had to pack a few extra supplies because of the workshops I’m attending.

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.

Getting layout inspiration from Eddie Cool Monk’s comic strip style sketches and layout. I look at some of his different shading and colouring techniques and assess the impact they have on the page layout and feel.

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 136 of sketching people. Urban sketch of a woman on the phone, using a bright colour triad and an analogous colour combination. Also added some poetic reportage, and sketched oversized hands to help to create a strong focal point in this composition.

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.

We look at creating a colour wheel using a bright colour triad with cool primary colours, and see the impact analogous colours have on the mood of your sketches. Discover the power of a complimentary colour to create a focal point.

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.

Another outing with the Algarve Plein Air Collective, this time to sketch foliage and a statue in a park scene. Where I moved foliage and a park bench around in my sketch to create a strong L-shaped composition.

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.