The philosopher

Quick one of a speaker at a philosophy conference I helped organise. In biro on my notes sheet.

More queuer quickies

Starbucks, Oxford. Done in a few seconds with a fine marker and a brushpen in an A6 pad.

The Queuers

Threw these down in 15-20 seconds or so, while people were in the queue at Starbucks.

Done in sixty seconds or less (or should that be fewer)

The last two were done really quickly. Again I'm trying to emulate some of the bloggers I admire. The portrait took longer, obviously. It went well to begin with and there was a likeness; then I fiddled with it, lost it, then did some reworking from memory. Not what I'd call a success.

The magazine browser

Borders, Starbucks, Oxford. Brushpens in A6 pad. As usual she left. Sometimes I don't plan these right. I start directly with the lightest grey brushpen then lay in darker ones. Often though I get confused about the relative tonal values and keep having to go back and forth between the lighter and darker elements; sometimes it gets muddy

The sketcher

Starbucks, Oxford. Brushpen in an A6 pad. I was looking around for people to sketch and spotted this guy sketching someone else. That's never happened before. He looked as furtive as I probably do when I'm looking at my subject and trying not to be noticed.

The studiers

Starbucks, Borders, Oxford. Brushpens in A6 pad. I start directly with the lightest grey brushpen, and then add darker areas, trying hard to simplify. As usual, not finished (one really not finished).

The reader

Starbucks, Borders, Oxford. Brushpens in A6 pad. The guy left before I could work more on his shirt.

Starbucks, Oxford

Starbucks, Borders. The second drawing wasn't finished, obviously. I was trying to achieve some of the simplicity I see in another talented blogger, Martin: http://martin-dessin.blogspot.com/

A quick sketch

Far From the Madding Crowd pub, Oxford