The Brief

This section aims to introduce you to observing figures.

Single figure

Start with someone you know. Draw them doing what they do every day or when you usually see them—watching a film, using the computer, doing the washing up, ironing, reading a book, washing their hair, drinking a cup of coffee, digging in the garden, or dozing on the settee. Try to describe the activity.

Crowds and activities

For the next series of figures choose somewhere that is populated.  This could be a very “ordinary” location, or there may be a particular activity that is more of a one-off event.  Don’t dismiss everyday activity.

Choosing my sketchbook – single figure

I have opted for a square sketchbook this time so I can block out frames to sketch in. I am drawing the same person doing different activities. My approach with these single-figure drawings is to keep the drawings simple by blocking out colours and then adding the lines afterwards. I also added some coloured pencils afterwards wherever I needed more textures.

In the previous sketchbook exercises in this section, I used both a limited and vivid colour palette. It is more difficult for me to keep the colours limited, even though I like a simple colour palette more.  So in this exercise I will also try to keep my colour palette limited to the bare minimum.

Getting started – single figure

When drawing on site, I get nervous about getting the composition down in pencil before things move too much, especially if I see a scene I really like.

I tried to relax by knowing I could always return to the drawing, fill in from my imagination, or even re-create the scene on site when the person resumes the same pose. Nevertheless, I managed to do a scene of my friend Anita at the hairdresser by quickly getting some lines down in pencil. (Figure 1)

Once the lines were down, I could block in the colours with acrylic markers.  I like to block out the colour first because I want to use lines only where necessary, in other words, where there is not enough contrast between two objects or planes.

I also tried to use colours other than black for my line work and experimented with underpainting. 

The first drawing is Anita at the hairdresser. My second drawing in Figure 1 shows Anita cleaning her flat and then working on her laptop later that day. My use of colour is different from what I see, but it was chosen to depict the mood and feel of the scene. 

Anita has blonde hair, but she is sweet, sassy and a bit eclectic in her style, so I used colours to describe her personality and everyday activities.

On page 2 (Figure 2), she opens the curtains, drinks water, and takes food out of the fridge to make lunch. I am trying to be even simpler with my drawings by leaving elements out that don’t really add to the story.

Anita has many plants, simple décor, and a minimalistic style, so I convey that feeling in my drawing by keeping the shapes simple and using the white of the paper as a “colour”, too.

Getting more comfortable

On page 3, I am becoming more comfortable with how I want to convey these drawings. I am also more familiar with the acrylic markers. Now that all of Anita’s work is done, the day seems more exciting, as fun things like shopping are ahead.

Adjectives coming to mind so far are:

• Pretty Pink Hair
• Book Worm Anita
• Spacious Home
• Minimalistic Rooms
• Plant Lover Anita
• Healthy Lunch

Now, I am bringing green into the illustration to add more colour and vitality. Anita is having lunch, and then she will go on a bike ride to the Art Shop. Not everything in these illustrations is realistic.  I am adding elements from my imagination, such as the black ground she stands on while tying her shoes (Figure 3). The trees and zebra patterns in the background are also from my imagination, which brings a sense of fun and expectation to the drawings.

More adjectives coming to mind are:

• Fit and healthy
• Fun
• Adventurous
• Tranquillity

This time of day is Golden Hour when the western sun gives everything a golden glow (Figure 4). Although I am not using gold or yellow in this scene, I am using a warm peach pink, which seems to give the same effect, especially when I use it with acid green.

The drawings tell a story of her activities, from arriving at the art shop to choosing a sketchbook and looking at more books.

I have jotted the images down in pencil, with notes of what colours best describe the time of day, mood, and feel. I have also taken photos in case I need to refer back to them to retrieve more details of the day.

Daylight is coming to an end so I have switched over to blue, grey and black.  Anita is still browsing around, looking at stickers and labels.  We are having a coffee and taking all things art. The background where she is drinking coffee reminds me of Cubism and her shirt takes on more angular shapes as we discussed art.

Now that I am using less colour, I am experimenting with different line weights and patterns.  Using less colour makes visual space to experiment with lines and patterns.  The bike is now going in the opposite direction than before to show that she is going back to where she came from. At home, she is packing all her art materials and stationery on the table. (Figure 5)

Anita is home and had a full day.  She is relaxing, so now I am choosing a mono-colour palette of greens. 

Adjectives coming to mind are:

• Intellectual Anita
• Arty Anita
• Crisp Cotton Shirt
• Delicious Coffee
• Productive Day

As the day progressed, my decision-making changed as I drew the same figure repeatedly depending on the mood and feel, time of day and activity. (Figure 7)

The first page is very different from the last page, but the pages have a common thread which is Anita and the style of drawing. 

Choosing my sketchbook – crowds and activities.

I am using a regular A5 sketchbook for this activity because I want thicker paper. The previous sketchbook did not handle the acrylic as well as I thought it would. The acrylic markers bled through the paper in some places which I could cover up by using extra layers of the marker.

Getting started – crowds and activities.

I am going to use my cell phone camera to capture the activity and then focus on the mood and feel of the site while referring to my photo on the screen and the on-site scene. This will work best, especially at a theme park where people are moving too fast for me to capture.

 Figure 8 on the right was my first drawing of the theme park. I focused on the main activity at the event, which was waiting in a queue to enter a certain area of the park. I started the drawing by blocking in colours and shapes. It was a very sunny day, and there were many cast shadows. First, I blocked out all the shapes and then added the lines and blacks.

I used the same technique with the drawing on the left, although I realised afterwards that the crowd in the distance doesn’t look convincing because the edge of the path is too straight. It would’ve looked more realistic if the edges of the path had the shapes of heads and body parts, similar to the foreground.

Lastly, I have done another drawing in Figure 9 of two women at a coffee shop, chatting and drinking coffee.  The woman on the right was wearing loose clothes, which was challenging to sketch as she was moving all the time.  First, I did the outlines in pencil and from there I added the black ink, pastel background and watercolour ink markers.  The drawing has some abstract elements, such as the half wall behind the table with the granite top. 

What have I learned?

• To quickly get an image down on paper, it sometimes works well to use a marker to draw the shapes. You can later add the linework and details with pencil or pen.
• Use thicker paper when working with any marker.
• Using less colour makes visual space to experiment with lines and patterns.
• One of these drawings took me a lot of effort to try and capture the moment, mood, gestures, and surroundings, but next time I might just focus on a person’s activity to build amalgam drawings.
• The amalgam drawings can be used as a reference to build a finished sketch, instead of making a finished sketch on site.
• Photographs can be very useful to capture details if you don’t want to ‘look’ at a specific table all the time in a coffee shop and perhaps make people feel uncomfortable.
• Overall, it was an insightful exercise to open the door to many sketchbook activities like these.
• Next time I would like to add text to my sketchbook sketches for instance, “hairdresser” where the character is at the hairdresser.  This might give more clarity to what the viewer is looking at.