Sketch and Overheard conversation at the nail salon

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Three to Fifty-Five of Sketching People

Continuing on with day 153-155 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Three day’s of sketches in different locations, and different approaches for capturing the story in the sketch.

Sketching Close to Home

I’ve been back from the Urban Sketcher’s symposium for a couple of weeks, and have struggled to get back out there to sketch people in the local vicinity. I don’t know whether it was because I had creative overload, or just got really demoralised because of all the amazing sketchers in Toulouse – and I did a bit of comparison, which is the death to inspiration and creativity. But I’m determined to keep going with this people sketching challenge.

Sketching People and Conversation At the Nail Salon

It’s summer, so time for a pedicure. I get bored sitting there having my toes done, but luckily there was another customer having her nails done and I started capturing her conversation in the sketch. I ran out of space for more conversation, but there were some much more interesting snippets later in her appointment.

I have only ever captured a sentence or two with overheard conversation, but when you capture more of it, it really does help to get your imagination going to create your own story about the person and their situation. I like this approach to reportage, and will definitely be doing more of this in the future.

Sketching People the IMT Office in Faro

Time to pick our driving licenses up, and this time I had a long wait, so I’m pleased I took my sketchbook with me. I filled my first A6 page with a profile portrait and a short poem. This is another approach to reportage I’ve been exploring recently, and I think poems or stanzas really help to add another level to the sketch.

For my second A6 page I sketched the lady sitting next to me, and then added smaller portraits of other people at the IMT office. This is an exercise to practice mixing colourful sketches amid tonal sketches to strengthen the focal point.

Sketching People at the Cafe at the Mall

I haven’t been to the mall in a while, but whenever I go, I always pop into the same cafe to sketch the customers. I strategically place myself near people that look interesting to sketch.

I’ve been trying to focus on sketching people that have interesting postures, so that the sketches do look so static – and this guy was languishing at his table, and I wondered if he was sleeping.

I was drawn to the other two tables. At one was an old lady engrossed in her phone, and at the other tables was a trio of teens who’d just been shopping at a new beauty place in the mall. I did want to include a poem with these two sketches, but I ran out of inspiration – so decided to just move on without. For the old lady sketch I dipped my brush in my coffee to create the toned background.

But these sketches are really screaming out for some type of reportage input, to help to tell the story of the situation and surroundings.