Day One Hundred and Forty-One of Sketching People

Continuing on with day 141 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. A family sketch of a father and son at a cafe in the evening.

Urban Sketches at a Café in the Evening

Too hot to cook, and I had to deliver some artwork, so ended up staying out for dinner. It’s actually cooler outside than it is in the house. So it was a good call. There was a family on a neighbouring table. The dad and son were on their phones the entire meal, even when they were eating. Like father like son. Worse that that was, when it was time to leave, the son threw a tantrum because he was mid-game, and didn’t want to leave until he’d mastered the level.

Urban Sketch Poem

In the Algarve sun the family dines. 
A mum and her daughters share giggles and time.
Dad's glued to his phone, headphones snug in his ears, 
While his son's lost in pixels, and his game gobbles years.

On a positive note, the mum and daughter, chatted happily throughout the meal. Not a phone is sight.

Colour Palette

I used a limited palette of Burnt Sienna Light, Quin Rose, and a blue – can’t remember which one! I think when you use a limited palette the colour doesn’t become the main focus, but it provides a sketch with a harmonious look and feel.

Creating my Font

Up until a couple of months ago, I wasn’t really adding much text to my sketches, but now that nearly all of them have some poetic reportage to add some social commentary, I don’t want my handwritten text to be a scribbled afterthought.

I’ve been dabbling with a font tutorial recently – the goal of the lessons are to develop an alphabet style. I like where my letters are heading, as I want them to be a natural progression of my hand printed letters, but I want them to be a little more organic and dynamic. Today’s writing turned out ok, but I need to play around with the layout and spacing.

I’ve always loved hand writing, and back before desktop publishing capabilities of computers, I used to be a freelance calligrapher doing certificates, invites, and name cards. Many decades have passed since then, and I don’t want to use calligraphy on my sketches, but my goal is to create a more stylised font to add and not detract from my sketch pages.