Urban Sketch in Hyde Park
Day Seventy-Six, Seventy-Seven, and Seventy-Eight of Sketching People
Days 76 of my #Kick365 sketching challenge to draw people in ink and watercolour. Took a walk through Hyde Park and got inspired by the riders on horseback and iconic statues on Wednesday.
Days 77 I wandered around Horse Guards Parade during the day on Thursday, and attended a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in the evening.
Day 78 was a quick urban sketch at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square on Friday morning.
Urban Sketching in Hyde Park
We stayed near Park Lane, so it was just a quick dart across the road to wander through Hyde Park. There were a couple of soldiers training Blues and Royals recruits on horseback. Watching these guys was a great start to our London trip. Sketching the statues was a lot easier!
Sketching Statues
I like sketching statues. It’s good practice for doing continuous line drawings, which helps to take the overwhelm-element out of the sketching process. We went to Winston Churchill War Rooms, part of the Imperial War Museum group. A really interesting insight into that period in history, so it was only apt that I sketched the man himself.
The Achilles statue is at the Park Lane end of Hyde Park, and the other statue I sketched was from a WWI monument. Both sketched with continuous line. These are fun to sketch because you’re looking up at the figures. Sketched with a fine liner and used Tombow brush pens for the tonal shading.
Sketching Recruit Training in Hyde Park
The big boss man was on the shire horse, and the man shouting the orders was standing. The recruits are given 10 weeks to learn how to ride a horse, and then 4 weeks training in full uniform to get the horses to move in formation. Not easy when you have a sword in one hand and only one hand on the reigns.
I wanted the focus to be on the two men in charges, so left the horse as minimal lines and kept him monochromatic. These were sketched on location, but watercolour was added when I got back to our accommodation.
I really like the graduated colour effect of the green coat on the left. There’s a vibrancy and brightness to this coat, that isn’t reflected in the other two coats. Don’t know what I did differently, but wish I knew, so I could repeat the process to get the same level of gradation in all my watercolour efforts. I think perhaps I used a more watery mix, which merged the three different colours a lot more dynamically. I really like the use of white areas in all of these coats too.
Sketching at Horse Guards Parade
Even though the area behind the soldier was dark, and the wall with the sign was light, I wanted the soldier to stand out, so switch reality so that there was a high level of contrast between the soldier and the background. There’s also a high level of contrast between the dark wall and the tourists in front of it, but that feels a visual second to the contrast and white background and vivid use of red and the dark coat.
I left all of the tourists as tonal sketches and only used a pale Tombow brush pen to add the shading. I didn’t want to attempt to sketch the horse, so just left it as an ink outline, and I think that makes the horse stand out more because of the contrast between the colourful soldier behind it, and the tonal shading of the tourists in front.
I don’t always think about composition and layout before I sketch, but I really wanted the focus to be on the soldier in this busy scene, and I wanted to make sure I created a feeling of depth and focus.
Two versions of the same sketch
This first version is the sketch I finished painting in London, but I didn’t feel like the soldier looked dynamic enough. The focus was on what he was wearing, and I wanted it to be on him.
When I got back home, I added colour to his face to convey his heritage, and used my gold pen to add colour to the helmet. I like this second version better, and I think these changes help to create the soldier as the focal point.
Urban Sketches of Random People
Woke up on Thursday morning, dying to sketch. So I made myself a coffee and portioned myself by the window of our accommodation to sketch the people on the street. It was freezing cold outside, and people raced by quickly, so I didn’t get a chance to sketch many of them – all moving to quickly. Except those stopping for a smoke.
I can’t remember where I sketched this trio of people – probably a pub or a cafe. I feel I’m making progress with the postures. Even though they were all standing still, they are still showing a level of animation and don’t look wooden.
Urban Sketches of People at the Royal Albert Hall
The whole point of going to London was to see Nightmares on Wax perform Smoker’s Delight at the Royal Albert Hall. It was the 30th anniversary of the release of this album, and was one that has a lot of Los Angeles memories tied up in it. We got to the RAH early, so I would have lots of time to sketch. I had planned on sketching the venue – or at least part of it, but it was too complex and I wasn’t in the mood, so I stuck to sketching the people. I took a load of photos, so maybe when I’m feeling inspired, I’ll have a go at sketching the interior or exterior of the RAH.
I loaded up my Twisbi Eco fountain pen with ink I’d brought with me, but hadn’t realised that the ink was soluble, so when I tried to add watercolour to these people sketches the ink bled. I added some tonal shading to them with a wet brush with water, but I really don’t like how much this ink bled.
Urban Sketching at The National Gallery, London
Our last full day in London, so we headed to a museum for a bit of culture – and some artistic inspiration for me at The National Gallery of Art in Trafalgar Square.
I spent more time looking at the art than sketching at the gallery. But I did take a seat at the entrance hall for a really quick sketch, and then I sketched people looking at the Monet.
I only visited the Impressionist and post-Impressionist galleries at this museum, but there is so much more to see, and the interior of the building itself is absolutely stunning.
Sketching Preferences and Style Development
I captured a variety of different people sketches during these two days of our London trip. It’s made me realise that I love the look of sketches with a mix of colour and monochromatic, and I’m getting more comfortable with depicting people or objects with just ink lines and mixing those in with full-colour sketches.
Being able to use a ink lines and watercolour in a variety of different ways, really does help to:
- increase the impact of the focal point
- add depth to a sketch, and
- reduce some of the visual confusion when there’s a lot of activity in close proximity.
It still amazes me how much I still have to learn. Just when I’m getting comfortable with my urban sketching style, I learn a new technique, or discover another style preference that sends me down another path of discovery. This creative journey is endless. But endless in a good way! Long may this journey continue.
