Sketch-shots

I dedicate this impulsive sketching post to a good friend who's venturing into the world of drawing and cartooning. You know who you are, "N". :) We were talking the other night about trying to sketch people, on the move. That is, life drawing the folks around you in everyday situations. Of course, folks continually move. They're not posing for you. And of course, any attention drawn towards your drawing would break the magic. Just tell anyone you're taking a photo of them, and the spontaneity of their pose and looks usually fades away. Same goes for sketching. But I digress.
We were talking about not having time, under these situations, to really draw someone. I gave him my take on this. First take a quick rough or gesture drawing, then finish it off later. I kind of equate it to taking a snapshot with a really primitive camera that doesn't see everything. That's why I called this post: "Sketch-shots".

I was in the local shopping mall, waiting for my family to finish up in a store I didn't really want to be in, and I had my mini-sketchbook, and a stubby pencil. What to do? Oh well. Surrounded by folks that wouldn't stand still, I decided on the 30 second approach. This time, 30 seconds to take my sketch bearings (gesture lines of sorts), and later 30 seconds to enhance, or stress the salient points of the sketch of the person, rather like, stress the personality of the sketch-shot.
The first two were mid-way "kiosk" dwellers, filling in their time idle time in conversation. The other two were random folks, one in the cell-phone wave pose, the other had a significant hair style to capture (that last one through store glass). The last lady, well, she was very much into her conversation, and had interesting facial expressions, hard to resist drawing.
Anyway, the point I wanted to stress to my drawing friend was that you can pretty much capture a situation, look or emotion from someone, from the pose, in a few seconds, and work on it as much as you like later. It doesn't matter if you make it look like a cartoon, as long as the image's message comes through. I didn't sketch any masterpieces here, but I'm happy with capturing the moments. The experience becomes part of you, and later, no matter how badly you portrayed someone, it serves you as a learning tool, and something you can "draw" on the next time you're at it. Its all about learning, all the time, and if you hit a good one along the way, celebrate it. I celebrate even my ugly mistakes (look at that ugly hand and arm with the cell phone guy). But I drew, and that's what I wanted to do.
Hope you liked these... they were fun to do, and now they served a purpose, I hope. Onwards, art warriors!

Beach People

Yesterday at the beach. Apart from a mega sunburn because I got lost playing in the sand with my daughter, I had some time to sit and sketch a little.

Here's the nephew, taking a break, watching the bathers frolic in the waves. There were some nice rocks to sit on right next to the water. It was the last day of our stay, so understandably, most of us were tired, but not tired enough that we'd miss on the sun and fun.

Below, some more quick sketches. A random hat-lady, someone I know very well getting her long awaited fix of healthy beach exposure. She needed it more than any of us. And my daughter getting her surf on. We discovered she loves the waves, as long as they don't toss her into the sand, or she takes in more salt-water than she's used to (not much at all).

I have to work on timing, and vantage points. Carrying a sketchbook, as small and handy as it may be, is kind of a problem when you have to avoid sand and water around you.

Back to the daily routine at home, missing the short holiday we just had. We'll have to do this again very soon.

Cage Your Rage

I sat down for a while, and wanted to get some practice on subjects I don't usually draw. A friend of mine had asked me to create a hockey logo, and not being all that familiar with the sport, I decided to draw some of its accouterments to get in the mood. Among them, helmets. The "Cage Your Rage" came to mind while finishing this one helmet (there may be other things to post). I also thought of putting the dentists seal of approval next to it, in obvious jest, of course. Anyway. Now I'm curious if any of my local sport-loving friends ever heard of a Puertorican Hockey League. That's not that impossible if there's a Jamaican Bobsled team, isn't it?