Day 64 of sketching people. A sunny day so I headed to the Algarve town of Olhão for a full day of urban sketching. I sketched on public transport there and back, and at the market, and a local cafe. There was also a surprise Carnaval parade that had taken place, and that greeted me when I arrived. Another interesting sketching opportunity.

Day 63 of sketching people. Urban Sketching at a local cafe at the end of the street. Today the focus was just about sketching people, and I didn’t get too hung up on communicating a story. Although for the dapper gent in his sports coat, a story evolved as I sketched him.

Day 62 of sketching people. An Urban Sketching trip to Tavira. Captured the Uber driver in a photo booth sketch series. Sketched in two cafes to finish one sketch. And drew a man in the park because I liked the way he posed his legs, but I ended up cutting his feet off.

Day 61 of sketching people. Urban Sketching at a cafe, I used a comparison between objects to build a composition and plan the story I want my sketches to tell. Then Urban Sketching at a Pétanque game, where I had to rely on capturing a scene that developed organically into a pleasing composition. On this sketch I also used a collage element to fill some negative space.

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 58 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. A visit to the Tavira Municipal Museum with the Urban Sketchers Algarve chapter of the Urban Sketchers Org. A warm-up sketch of Tavira rooftops and washing line, and while other sketchers were sketching the Tile Exhibition, I focused on sketching my fellow sketchers.

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.

Day 53 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. A quick jaunt down to a neighbourhood bar to urban sketch a couple sitting outside, huddled up against the weather on a chilly Sunday afternoon. This sketch taught me a couple of valuable lessons about ink lines and the use of colour.

An in-depth post about how to evaluate whether your people sketch is successful. Discussing the merits of technical accuracy vs. the value of finding and conveying the story in your sketch. Peppered with examples, this article talks about how to get your sketch to show a story, rather than telling a story. And using text to turn your sketch into reportage.

Day 52 of 365 Days of Sketching People. A couple of urban sketches of people in Tavira, and the sketches I did while attending two tutorials about sketching people with distorted proportions and perspectives.

Day 51 of sketching people and portraits at a local clinic. Using gesture sketches, and added ink lines and watercolour. Created colour harmony with a vivid colour triad opera pink, hansa yellow light, and phthalo blue. Used the colour to create a visual hierarchy within the page layout.

Day 47 of sketching people, a busy day at the Tavira second hand market, municipal market, and at a nearby café. Also sketched my uber driver going there and coming back. Different people sketching styles, and some interesting perspectives and colour choices.

Day 46 of sketching people. A visit to the Tavira Plaza to sketch groups of people in the cafe, to practice gestural sketching in pencil, before adding ink and watercolour. I also sketched portraits at the weekly Pencils4tea speed sketching event on zoom. Experimenting with ink lines with bleed.

Revisiting a Marc Tarot Holmes Craftsy tutorial about Sketching People in Motion. Breaking down his approach to gesture sketching in pencil to capture the expressive nature of the line of action. Making me evaluate my decision to always sketch directly in Ink, and hoping gesture sketching will help me fit more feet on my page when I’m urban sketching people from life.

Day 42 of Sketching people in ink and watercolour. Three urban sketches capturing daily observation commentary at Faro Airport in Portugal. Experimenting with reportage by adding text to two of the sketches, and a short poem about my urban sketching experience at the airport.

Day 39 of Sketching people in ink and watercolour. Social Commentary urban sketch with a short poem about doom scrolling, and today’s Earthsworld portrait challenge from Facebook.

Day 34 of sketching people. Urban Sketching at the Tavira Plaza, in the food hall and at the medical centre. Leveraged Oliver Hoeller’s approach to assess the plan of attack for the why, what, and how of approaching your sketch. Dabbled in a bit of reportage, and resorted to some blind contour people sketches when I didn’t feel like achieving accuracy.

Day 32 of sketching people. Out and about at Tavira Market, in search of sketching shoppers with dynamic poses. I urban sketched in Pencil and then added ink and watercolour later.

Day 28 of sketching people in ink and watercolour. Today was an urban sketching session at the Tavira Plaza Mall, where I spent a couple of hours in the Food Hall sketching and painting diners.

Day 25 of sketching people and I experimented with painting tonal shapes then adding ink afterwards, and Inking figures first and adding tonal shading. Two different approaches with different results.

Day 24 of sketching people. A quick and loose urban sketch of a boy waiting for his mum. And at night I attended the speed sketching portrait event with Dylan, and churned out some pretty consistent portraits within the 30 second to 6 minute time limit.

Day Twenty-Three of a 365-day people sketch challenge. Ventured to a cafe for some live sketching of people, and then joined the Drawing is Free speed sketching zoom session for some live portrait practice.

Day Twenty of a 365-day people sketch challenge. Experimenting with a bright colour triad for the Earthsworld’s portrait challenge. A portrait of Oliver Hoeller to kick off my Colour Confidence Tutorials. And a Reportage sketch of a fond farewell at Faro Airport.

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.