I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to a fun annual challenge that was started by Marc Taro Holmes, and is now co-hosted by Liz Steel. The “rules” are very simple: draw 100 people between March 9th and March 13th. Any medium, any size, any source (life, reference, imagination), any level of complexity, with the focus being on quantity, not quality.
This post has a lot of good advice on how to go about it. It includes the encouragement to post online: the official hashtag is the title of this post.
Why should anyone do this? To practice drawing people, of course. The idea is that if you focus on quantity your inner critic will get a bit quieter, and, free of it, you will make some progress. Or not! Maybe you will just get more comfortable with imperfection!
My personal reason for doing this is that I have become very cowardly about including people in my urban sketches. When I do add them, I tend to make them tiny and hard to see.
And I have started early, because I was not sure that I would have time during the official week. (I might restart then, too.) I began by sketching from recent photos, using the same process/style I use in my urban sketches: that is, light pencil, then inking, then colour and shadows. Outside, I try to capture someone with a few pencil lines, then ink from memory and colour/shade from imagination. My goal is to make the people evocative of the sort of place I am at. (Since I draw a lot of tourist spots, this means I draw a lot of photo-taking.)
I currently have about 61 people sketched. I am in Kuala Lumpur right now, which makes this extra fun because of the variety of outfits. Here is my first page of sketches:
As you see, I started out writing what I was learning. Here is was that:
- Head size is important. (I struggle with making it small enough. Large heads look goofy.)
- Legs tend to be pretty asymmetric, including their length.
- I have no idea what to do about necks and chins.
- Shadows, especially ground shadows, help! But sometimes they are invisible; the bane of urban sketching, IMO.
The second page: a lot of photo-taking, and some fancy outfits (this time from my trip to Okinanwa).
What did I learn here?
- I find it more fun to sketch groups (I already do that sometimes, on location, even putting them together from unrelated people.)
- Yes, legs are very evocative, as is the line of the shoulders. The line of the hips matters too, I suppose, but at this scale it is rarely very obvious.
This time I took photos with sketching in mind. (BTW, it was an overcast day, so the ground shadows are derived from vague hints.)
New thoughts:
- Faces are annoying at this scale, especially with my thick pen. Sunglasses and facial hair may be easier, not sure.
- I do not think I am improving. But I think these are good enough to be in my urban sketches.
- It would be nice to have more fleshtone-adjacent paints available. My urban toolkit has none, not even a suitable brown. (BTW, the way I get the beige tone is by mixing something a bit darker, painting, and then quickly blotting. I blot for some clothes highlights, too.)
- BTW, note the one in the lower left (a photographer being photographed, ha) and see how well it illustrates the principle that, on flat ground, people’s heads are at around the same height regardless of distance. Only the legs and the scale change.
I am currently working on sketching people outside (mostly sitting people, who are easier), but I did not manage 20 yesterday. Other things I want to try include a finer pen and direct watecolour (fortune favours the bold, maybe). I might post an update later.
I hope this has been inspiring, at least to some. Happy sketching!