Adding figures to sketches

When I started sketching on location I only sketched buildings and maybe a few trees. I was terrified of adding people. Places are alive because of people and sketches feel kind of empty when they show no human figures.

The vast majority of my recent sketches show only people doing things, athletes, musicians, etc. I haven’t sketched places in a while. So I felt I needed to practice drawing people as if I would be adding the figures when sketching a space. Here are few quick tips for when adding people to sketches:

• The horizon line is pretty much at eye level of all the figures standing, either close to us or far away. I like to vary a few, like some shorter ladies and maybe some taller guys just to add some diversity. Sitting figures have a different eye level!
• Small head, large bodies! I don’t really bother to establish the real proportions of the figures, like how many heads or whatever. Such rules are great for figure drawing, but my sketches usually take me just between 15-20 minutes, so I have to be loose and spontaneous. I don’t mind if the body ends up way larger than in reality. We’ve all seen people with much larger bodies than their heads. A large head and a small body however make figures look like extraterrestrials.
• Figures closer to us show more detail than those far away. When adding color, figures far away are painted with cooler and duller colors. Warm and bright colors bring the subject forward.
• Waking figures are more dynamic than standing symmetrical figures. Walking figures can be suggested by tapering one of the legs. The opposite is done with the arms.

I still prefer to just suggest details rather than them being very defined. I like my sketches to tell a story and, unless the person is the story, details might distract from the focus. This practice sketch maybe suggests a little more detail than I’d like, but I did this without reference or direct observation –there wasn’t a story to tell here. When I’m back out there sketching places on location I’ll figure out the balance of how much detail to add to my figures.

Nostalgic of Puerto Rico

I have been missing my homeland. I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico but moved to the states five years ago. I don’t regret the move at all, as I’ve met fantastic people and lots of doors have opened. But I miss my hometown –the warmth of the people, the smell of the ocean, the taste of the food, the sound of the coquís.

Today I dug out some previous sketches I had done in Old San Juan, where I used to work and sketched regularly. These sketches were done April 16, 2011, coincidentally the date for Sketchcrawl #31. I had finished teaching a class with my Industrial Design students and decided to sketch the courtyard of the building that houses the School of Fine Arts, Hospital de la Concepción. Some of my students joined me and we had a great time. For these I used a PaperMate flair and Copic markers on a multimedia sketchbook.

Today I really miss Puerto Rico… my family, my friends, my students, my homeland. I hope to visit soon and be able to sketch again the bright blue skies and the incomparable green foliage.

If you like these sketches and want to support my art, prints are available on my Etsy Store.

#tbt, #throwbackthursday, #nostalgia

Doodling with Coffee, Wine and Watercolors at La Campechada

We spent this past weekend participating in the event called “La Campechada”, a multi-disciplinary union of artists, musicians, performers, urban artists and actors remembering José Campeche y Jordán, considered one of Americas most important artists of the 18th century. It was celebrated in Old San Juan, where Campeche spent his life. It was a very well planned event, so kudos to the creators from the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.

Our sketching group “Garabateando.com” spent two wonderful days doodling, painting, sketching and enjoying the company of lots of artists. Although most artists were very friendly, I kind of got the feeling that we were looked down upon, probably mainly because our small format. Almost everyone else had several large format pieces for display or sale and most had even several easels. It is also strange that I didn’t see any other artists using watercolors. Our setup was also very low key, as we sketched sitting on the curb instead of standing up. My wife designed and fabricated some fabulous portable sketching tables I’ll show in a future post.

I did several watercolors, but I really enjoyed sketching with coffee and wine. It was my second time using coffee, but I was just trying out doing some wine washes. I liked the effect, so I will be exploring it furthermore.

I hope the event becomes a yearly celebration, as we had a lot of fun and even sold a few of our doodles. We made some friends and several were interested in joining our group. Although those were two very long days, it was worth it… It was a wonderful experience that we’ll remember for a very long time.

Here are some of my sketches for the weekend:

Sketching at Lunchtime

This week I’ve re-taken sketching at lunchtime, practicing with graphite some non-architectural subjects. These sketches were done in about 5 minutes each, except the last one, that took me twenty minutes.

 

Garabateando@la Plaza Colón

Last Saturday we met at la Plaza Colón in Old San Juan.  I also sketched the Casino de Puerto Rico which is in front and also moved to the Castillo San Cristóbal nearby.  Here are some of my sketches:

Plaza Colón

Casino de PR

Castillo San Cristóbal