Dapper Gent in a Sports Coat

Day 63 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. A little urban sketching adventure in my village of Cabanas.

Urban Sketching at Bar 66

I was sitting inside my studio today, and I had the overwhelming urge to sketch people. I just had to get out. And luckily there are plenty of nearby cafes and bars where people congregate this time of year, hoping to absorb a little bit of the sun’s rays.

Dapper Gent in a Sports Coat

I headed to Bar 66 and there was a dear old gent in a sports coat. I’m guessing he was in his eighties. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a tourist in the Algarve in a sports coat. He just had to be sketched.

A French couple arrived and made a joke about his Prince being arrested, and he said – in what sounded like an English accent – “Andrew’s not my Prince, I’m Irish”.

I wonder how many English people are going around denouncing their allegiance to England because of this arrest? Probably the same amount of people who are heralding themselves as Canadian, when their core is pure stars and stripes! LOL! Anyway, politics aside, I just loved this old chap sitting there in his jacket, nursing his pint of Guinness.

I did think that maybe sketch needed a background, but I love the simplicity of the sketch and the amount of white space. I think that any other details would have spoiled it.

Couple deep in conversation

This couple were sitting right in front of me, and for the entire time they were deep in conversation. It’s so good to see a natter-centric table instead of people just scrolling on their phones.

This is another sketch I felt like I should add something to give a sense of place. Like a table with a couple of drinks on it. But I sketched the people too large and there wasn’t enough space to fit that context in.

Recently I’ve been trying to be more mindful about composition, and communicating the stories within the sketch. But sometimes, a sketch is just a sketch, nothing deeper. But it taught me the importance of thinking about the context that adds a sense of place, and to plan that before I start sketching, even it there’s nothing visible in the actual scene.

Using Beige Tombow for Skin Tone

For these first two sketches I used my beige Tombow brush pen for the skin tone. It was quite dense, so when I got home I took a clean brush to pick some of the colour up, and added a little Opera Pink to add some life to the faces.

Frenchman with a Man Bag and Dog

A couple of French men came and sat at the adjacent table. This corner of the cafe is quite cramped, and I felt very hemmed in, as if human sand bags had just sat down. They had their beady eye on me while I sketched, and I had my virtual fingers crossed that they didn’t ask to see the sketch. I may have exaggerated his actual size a little. But him and his partner filled the space, and I captured that essence of feeling cornered by playing fast and loose with my pen sketch.

All of these sketches were sketched on location, and I added watercolour when I got back home. It felt like there was something missing from my last sketch, so I added a little letter collage with “Oui”. That lime green letter O was perfect for this sketch.