Urban Sketch of Two Ladies on the Bench

Day Eighty-Six of Sketching People

Day 86 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Monday afternoon sketching people at the cafe and on the boardwalk.

New Urban Sketching set-up for my Watercolour Pencil Stubbies

A marvellous sunny day today, so rather than wallowing away in my art studio, I took my art materials out to a cafe for a sketch. I found a perfect set up for my stubby watercolour pencils: a sturdy round plastic holder that fits into a small red bag I had lying around.

It’s portable, and then when it’s time to use my pencils, I can stand them up and it’s easy to see all my colours. I used to keep these in a pencil case, but when I’m urban sketching I hate having to root around in bags or cases looking for what I want to use.

This new little pencil holder and case is an ideal option, because I can see the colours I have, and I can also turn the pencils the other way up so I can pick the colour off them using my water brush. Almost the same as having a watercolour palette, but there’s less water involved. The only problem is that the addition of colour is more like colouring in, and has a very tidy look to it.

Urban Sketching at the Cafe

Quite often I only sketch the top half of people, because I don’t want to deal with chair legs and people’s legs, but today it was the legs that inspired me, so all of my sketches had legs!

Also, I planned each of these sketches properly, so that I didn’t run out of space, and end up cutting people’s feet off, which has been a challenge for a while. Adding legs really does help to add an interesting element to people’s posture – especially when they’re sitting up straight.

Quick Urban Sketch of two ladies on the bench

I packed all my materials away and began walking home, but on the way I saw these two ladies sitting on the bench on the boardwalk. I just had to sketch them. So I sat on a bench nearby and hurriedly unpacked my book and pen to sketch them quickly them before they moved.

I did the sketch on location, but added watercolour when I got home, and I prefer this sketch to the previous two.

I sketched these bench ladies fast so the lines are a lot looser. The perspective and postures are good despite being sketched so quickly, and the sketch seems to have more life and energy to it. This is a good reminder than loose is better than perfect. Maybe that’s why I’m being drawn towards Toni Burt’s style of drawing and sketching.

Drawing Earthsworld Challenge

Been taking a break from this challenge, but I liked the shape of this face, so felt inspired to sketch a quick portrait.