Urban Sketch of two people at the park

Day Eighty-Eight of Sketching People

Day 88 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. During my urban sketching day out in Tavira I was focused sketching buildings and scenes in my A4 sketchbook, but I also took my A6 sketchbook along to sketch some people.

Urban Sketching People in Tavira

After planning the L-shaped scene in my A4 sketchbook of the public park, palm tree, and buildings, I wandered around the park looking for people sitting on one of the benches and tried replicating a similar shaped composition for my first people sketch of the day.

Urban Sketching at the Park

The L-shape composition in this people sketch wasn’t as evident, because I sketched the people first, and they were too large in comparison to the flowers. I was using an A6 sketchbook and because of the space constraints of this smaller format, it’s difficult to compensate and correct these kind of proportion challenges once you’ve started sketching.

I really like the portability of my A6 sketchbook. It’s convenient to carry around no matter what bag I’m carrying. My bare-bones urban sketching kit is my A6 sketchbook and a fountain pen, and it’s easy to get them out of my bag and start sketching in any situation without really being noticed.

Urban Sketching at the Bank

Case in point … after the park I had to visit the bank. While I was standing in line waiting for help, I drew the two people in front of me who were sitting with the bank teller.

I like doing these impromptu sketches, where I quickly grab my book and pen out of my bag and start sketching before the people get up and move off. It’s that immediacy and urgency of rapid sketching that really helps to loosen up your ink lines.

Urban Sketching at the Cafe

After a couple more building sketches, it was time for a drink. There were plenty of people languishing at one of my favourite sketching cafes in Tavira, and rather than plan a layout, I just sketched a double-page spread of portraits. Overlapping them to create a connection that didn’t exist in reality.

What’s the Ideal Sketchbook Size for Sketching People?

I usually use my A6 and A5 sketchbooks for sketching people. The A6 is great for single portraits or sketching small groups, and the A5 is better for sketching compositions and larger groups.

I haven’t sketched people in my A4 sketchbook yet. Up until now this sketchbook has been reserved for buildings and street scenes predominantly to be used in my studio. This trip to Tavira was the first time I’ve taken my A4 sketchbook out, and I’ve had it for about 5 months already.

I still find that huge blank A4 page intimidating because you have to put more thought into how you layout your page to create pleasing compositions in a larger space. But in preparation for the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Toulouse in July I wanted to get comfortable sketching in a larger format.