Sketching People in Motion Craftsy class with Marc Taro Holmes

 

A sketch from this week in a café - 6 weeks after starting to use Marc's concepts.

Adding people to my sketches on location has always been a challenge. Particularly when I'd devote an hour or two trying to capture a building and then fear I'd destroy the overall image with distorted out of proportion figures that had nothing of the conviction I might be able to give my building.  However through Sketchbook Skool classes it became more and more clear that in order to communicate all that I want to in my sketches, to tell a story,  I needed people to complete most scenes.  Finally, I seemed to have found what would get me regular sketching people live in Marc Taro Holmes Craftsy class "Sketching People in Motion".

 

Live sketches from a week or two of using Marc's technique.

 Marc's style is I think quite unique to him and at first it seemed foreign and unlike my own work to add such things as a vertical shading/background line. But by having the focus of following a set method I seemed to be sketching without worrying about what people looked like until I'd made my way through all the stages. Only at the end of it did I stop to assess the sketch to realise I'd drawn a couple of people, sufficiently proportioned, telling a bit of a story. That they didn't always look recognisably like the people in front of me ultimately became irrelevant and liberating. I know that will come with further practice if I want it to.

 

3 weeks ago - Having to sit in waiting room became a joy - great time to study people!

I dedicated a sketchbook solely to sketching people live and ensured it was the only one I carried with me. Trying to keep myself honest to my commitment I didn't allow any food, coffee or building sketches in this sketchbook - if I had time to sketch, it had to be from live people. After getting a bit more confidence in doing this I started moving back toward more of what I think is my style and away from Marc's. One particularly huge help for me in Marc's strategy is being able to get the gesture and general shapes down in pencil first. I like sketching straight out in pen first often as it feels quicker but to get proportions right and get my confidence up, the pencil first approach is a great advantage to start with.

 

Last week - Watercolor first (no pencil) then pen after.

In the past week I have also been playing with watercolour first on some occasions (no pencil) which I still lose a bit of proportion on, but I find it fun and relaxing. My aim now is to keep up with the regular people sketching, maintain using Sktchy app once or twice a week (keeping familiar with faces up close helps me when people leave or are moving their head about a lot), move onto Marc's more advanced techniques (much of the above is based only on the first part of the Craftsy course) and learn more about communicating gesture, relationships and actions.

 

I would love to know what has helped you with sketching people live?

Sktchy Crowd

In a bid to further develop sketching people I've been trialling a combination of portraits together from my favourite inspiration App 'Sktchy'.

The first try was a page of women. I'm happy with the result but still spend more time than I had hoped on each person. My aim is to be faster and more responsive to shapes and profiles.

 For the Sktchy men, drawing more people smaller worked better. It helped me to simplify the line work and study variations in angles and features between the people.

Motivated to learn with Sktchy Portraits

Mercy. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 25 Dec 2013

I'm attempting to make 2014 the year I get comfortable with drawing people. My goal is to remove my hesitation of adding them to my urban sketches, to help bring them to life and tell more of a story. Having seen other Urban Sketchers give the Sktchy App a try, I signed up and started work.

 

 

Adrian. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 14 Jan 2014.

What's the process? Basically, creative people sketch from a constantly updated pool of photographic portraits provided by other Sktchy users.

 

Milly. Pencil, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014.

On completion of the sketch, a photo of the finished piece is then attached to the original reference pic and posted to the artists stream of work as well as the main page. Not only does this create a motivating and creative platform to be part of, but it's a great learning tool to see how other people interpret and create from the initial point of inspiration.

 

Jan. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 19 Jan 2014

There's generally a good number inspiring reference photos to be found. My preference is for more than just a face. People in action, dressed in printed/knitted fabrics, landscape or buildings in the background all make it a bit more interesting. I am not short choice (you can queue inspiring pics in your profile as you find them) and I already have enough muses to create one or two portraits a week for the next few months.

 

Weimaraner. Ink, Watercolour, White Gel Pen. 5 Jan 2014.

And what people post is not just limited to portraits of themselves. Actually, if anything I'm becoming overly attached to creating these portraits. They are taking more than the 5 mins I might be able to sketch someone if drawing on location. So the next goal will be to become more responsive and set a timer going...

 

The Sktchy App is free and can be found via here