Urban Sketch of People lining up to board
Day Ninety-Seven of Sketching People
Day 97 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. An early morning start at Faro airport flying to sketch people before flying to France.
Delayed Flight = More Sketching Time
Our flight to Paris was delayed nearly two hours, but that just means there was more time to sketch people at the airport.
Urban Sketch with a short Poem
Off to a flying start this morning with a sketch and poem, not too bad considering the time. After blogging about adding blocks of colour earlier this month, I thought I’d experiment with adding different backgrounds to some of my sketches to see which approach I preferred. I added a grey block to this first sketch, but it doesn’t work. He looks like a teacher in front of a blackboard – turquoise would have probably worked better.
Urban Sketches of Couples
These next two sketches were a double-page spread separated by the text “waiting” down the middle spine. One sketch without a block of colour and one with.
Lot’s of crossed legs to contend with this morning, but it really helps to look a the negative space to gauge the proportions and perspective.
Urban Sketches of People Boarding
I liked the mass of hand-baggage in the boarding line, and in hindsight I wish I’d sketched the people in black and white and created a focal point of the bags using colour. But it wasn’t until I started sketching that I realised I wanted to feature the bags. But by that time I’d already added colour to the clothing etc, which meant the bags didn’t really stand out as much. This sketch is a little overwhelming to look at, but I think it still works, because that the feeling that permeates travel in this day and age.
Playing with Pencil and Ink
After I’d sketched the people, I wanted to add some elements to anchor the figures in a location so drew the boarding sign/bag-size check and the belt barriers in pencil first, and then added ink lines for the sign. I was going to erase the pencil lines, but I like the unfinished/messy feel that this ink and pencil combination creates. I also sketched the belt barriers behind the people in pencil, but didn’t add ink to these as they would have been too distracting in ink.
I started sketching a person sitting opposite me, but then she got up and walked away. I decided to use the same page to add two more people from a boarding queue. I left the people sketches as ink lines, but make a feature of the bags and phone. I like the minimalist feel of this sketch, and I don’t mind the half-finished sketch of the seated person on the left of this page. I don’t think it looks out of place because all three figures are drawn with simple ink lines.
Lots of learnings with this morning’s sketching. I think my favourite sketch is this last sketch of simple ink lines with spot colour for the focal point. But it’s challenging to limit the colour when you’re surrounded by a morass of colourful clothing.
