Urban Sketches at Kings Cross
Day Seventy-Nine and Eighty of Sketching People
Day 79 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. On my travels again, this time via a train from Kings Cross to Hull.
Day 80 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Hull Railway Station and on the train.
Urban Sketching at Kings Cross Railway Station
It’s been a long time since I went to Kings Cross Station and I didn’t realise it would be so cold there. A chill wind was blowing, and there was nowhere warm to sit away from the doors to sketch people. So I had to move around and sketch standing up. But at least the station was teeming with sketchable people.
I sketched in my A5 sketchbook with a fine liner, and added watercolour when I was on the train. I really like the effect of using a limited palette and using the same colour for all of the portraits on the page.
My favourite ink line sketch portrait is #74 (above) – I really like the loose feel of the lines and I wish I’d kept it as a line sketch. But I can never resist adding some bright colour to my sketches. This sketch is a good reminder that less-is-more. There really aren’t many defining lines on the face, but it’s still expressive.
Urban Sketching on the Train
I was busy colouring in the sketches from the railway station, so I didn’t do much sketching on the train. But this lady was in the seat on the opposite aisle. She was day dreaming out the window and didn’t move around a lot. I really liked her posture of the legs sticking out, but didn’t plan the sketch properly and had to cut her feet off because I ran out of page!
I usually sketch a lot of people without the surrounding details, so it makes a change for me to sketch her bags, the automated seat reservation information, and the window. When you add these details it really helps to convey a sense of place and has more robust story-telling potential. We can see she bought her lunch from Pret, and she only has a small bag, so she’s commuting or going away or coming back from a short weekend.
Urban Sketching at Doncaster Railway Station
I had to change trains at Doncaster, and walk from one end of the station to the other to reach the right platform, so I only had enough time for a couple of quick sketches.
When people are standing still, it’s really easy to sketch them looking static and wooden, but these two standing figures have interesting postures. The trick is to shift their weight onto one of the legs and this makes the posture more dynamic.
Urban Sketching at Hull Railway Station Cafe
I had a busy weekend with my brother, so no time to sketch, but I did manage a few sketches at the cafe at the Hull Railways station on the day I left, and also on the train to Manchester.
There were some interesting looking characters at the cafe. I only had about 40 minutes to sketch, but I think I could have entertained myself there all day with the revolving door of customers back-from or off-to somewhere else.
The train wasn’t very busy and none of the people nearby was inspiring me to sketch, so I spent my time adding watercolour to my ink sketches. Then a couple on the opposite side of the aisle snuggled up and took a nap. It was an interesting angle, and suddenly I found my sketching inspiration.
I knew I’d have a busy couple of days in Manchester, and wouldn’t get much sketching in, so I’m glad there were plenty of characters that inspired me to sketch today.
