Category Archives: people

Waiting in town

A bus queue lined up alongside Bath Abbey, and more tourists sat on benches (previously, and here). Drawing directly with ink means ‘mistakes’ are visible, recording the process of feeling out where the lines need to go. Usually I just restate the line, … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, body, buildings, figures, from life, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, people, street scene, technique, urban, waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Open wide…

I’ve tried ‘extreme sketching’ a couple of times before, drawing while walking along (see bottom of post), during a paintball session, in the rain, and while on a merry-go-round. I enjoyed the challenge and the resulting shaky lines, so last week I had a … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, coloured paper, eye, from life, hands, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, people, self-portrait, waterbrush, white marker pen | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

55 passers by

I’ve added a new page to the blog, sharing books that are currently inspiring my sketching; the first is Hokusai’s Manga (‘manga’ originally meant ‘light drawings or sketches’). After copying some of his very simple but individual faces (bottom of post) I sat … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, figures, from life, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, people, sketching, street scene, urban, waterbrush | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Buskers, home and away

The large numbers of tourists visiting Bath means that it is blessed with many good street entertainers, excellent models for a quick sketch, and mostly fine performers. So here’s another collection of buskers, this time including one I saw in Japan. … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, buskers, coloured ink, coloured paper, figures, Japan, line drawing, people, street scene, urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Him off the Teevee

TV is always a good source of faces to sketch, press pause and they’ll happily pose for as long as you need; I like the way the drawings tend towards caricature. There’s sometimes a bit of lens/screen distortion on archive clips, and I … Continue reading

Posted in brush pen, coloured paper, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, people, sketching, television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On the beach #2

Another couple of coastal sketches from Tenby. First a collection of people on the beach (both in full technicolor and the original on location line-drawing), followed by the same beach seen from a cliff-top bench, with nautical railings obscuring the view. Beaches are … Continue reading

Posted in beach, coloured ink, every day matters, from life, holiday, inks, line drawing, people, sketching, watching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

I, Robert

Some robot/robert sketches from Japan, mostly at the Tokyo Museum of Emerging Science. First some animatronic manikin heads that nod and change expression empathetically when you speak into a microphone. They’re looking down on Asimo, the museum’s star attraction, named after Isaac Asimov, … Continue reading

Posted in body, coloured paper, from life, hands, inks, Japan, Lexington grey, line drawing, pencil, people, robots, Uncategorized, urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Still lives

A family waiting outside the Bath Grand Pump Rooms, next to the Roman Baths. They sat silent and still for about 20 minutes, which made drawing them much easier. I was about 30 yards from them and couldn’t see whether they were serene, … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, coloured ink, family, from life, Lexington grey, people, street scene, urban, waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

26 more Japanese commuters

More quick sketches from Japan, this time a collection of commuters at Kyoto main station around 10pm. I was sketching from one of the many high balconies (see below), pleased to catch a couple of salarymen in the middle of a … Continue reading

Posted in coloured paper, from life, inks, Japan, journeys, kit, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, night, people, trains, urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tokyo commuters

I spent last week on a study trip to Japan,  a great opportunity generously supported by the Japan Foundation. The schedule was hectic and very full, but it helped to hone my speed-sketching skills, straight to ink using a simple fountain-pen and water-brush kit. So … Continue reading

Posted in brush pen, collections, coloured ink, from life, inks, Japan, kit, line drawing, monochrome, people, trains, travel, urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment