Yet more pub/cafe sketching

Maybe I should secretly snap the models so my success at getting a likeness can be assessed. The latest one is the lowest, done earlier today at the Borders Starbucks, Oxford, on one of their napkins. Then the other woman was in Far From the Madding Crowd pub (not a great likeness); the other two in Blackwells cafe on Broad Street, Oxford.

Sketching in the pub. Again.

Drawn in 'Far From the Madding Crowd' as I was writing and uploading the last post. You can see the sketch is perched on my laptop. It came very qickly and easily, such as it is. I have a real problem with hair, though.

More sketches in pubs and cafes

Thankfully, it doesn't take long for the fluency to return (see last post). These likenesses are a lot better. And at this very moment, as I write, I'm in the middle of drawing another one, waiting for the guy to return to the position I started drawing him in.

These were drawn in 'Far From the Madding Crowd', an Oxford pub (with free wi-fi, woo-hoo), and the last one in the Starbucks in Borders, Oxford; in, I think, an A6 moleskine booklet, which makes it easy to stay discreet. Except now, instead of looking like I'm quietly sketching, I look like I'm just staring intensely at people and doing something in my lap with my wrist... Mmm

Sketches in pubs and cafes

I did these after a significant gap in drawing. As a result I didn't feel particularly fluent. I must practice regularly. The last drawing, I don't feel is a good likeness of the model. I find I have a tendency to 'blandify' the features of the people I draw; somehow they resemble the model, but seem less pronounced; like I'm over-compensating for the risk of caricature.