Citizen Sketcher

Here’s a silly self portrait of me at our local noodle house Kinton Ramen.

It’s probably my favorite self-portrait so far. Even if it doesn’t look very much like me :) I think it looks a bit like my grandfather though.

During the pandemic I started cutting my own hair. My grandmother cut his once a month, with him sitting, leaning over the kitchen sink. Same sink for the cooking, the dishes, and the portable washing machine.

I’m starting to like my hair standing up like this. I think I look more Asian.

Here’s an interesting comparison. The watercolor portrait on 90lb Strathmore Aquarius (above), painted at home, taking my time – versus a sketchbook page (below). The type of paper makes a huge difference.

On the sized (water-resistant) sketchbook paper the brushstrokes are more ‘edgy’ with sharp transitions and distinct edges. Not as much natural ‘bleed’ through the paper fiber. The same sizing that helps your sketchbook pages take paint without buckling, prevents the watercolor from blending naturally.

Aquarius is a very smooth paper physically (even less tooth than a normal cold-press), but more importantly, it’s highly absorbent. The fibers soak up a lot of water, which allows the pigment to ‘creep’ inside the paper, giving you a more ‘blended’ look.

Sadly, that’s the end of my #OneWeek100People for 2022 – but you guys can take the weekend if you want to keep pushing for your 100! I’ll be on the Facebook group commenting on your posts. If you did a project this year that you’re proud of, please post and share!

Take care and see you soon.

~Marc

Tomorrow is the official LAST DAY! of #OneWeek100People – but of course you can use the weekend to finish off.

How many of you are going to hit 100? Did you keep up with 20 a day? or maybe you plan to go out on the weekend and blast through 100 people in a single day!

It’s very possible you know! That’s only 3.5 hours of two minute sketches. So – if you’re behind – don’t worry! You can still catch up!

They don’t have to be fancy watercolor sketches. You could just do them with a brush marker, or a ballpoint even. These little ones are the kind of thing that will get you to 100 in a single day.

Whatever it takes to get the miles out of your pen. What my sketching buddy Liz Steel calls ‘The Hard Yards’ or Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Ten Thousand Hours’ of practice. It all adds up – even the simplest doodles.

So how about some ‘quick tips’;

#1: You don’t have to finish the entire figure every time. Especially when two people are dressed the same-ish.

#2: Parents and children give you nice groupings. Fussing with kids’ jackets gives you a nice time window to sketch. Maybe watch the kid for a little while and pick the best pose. Or even draw a totally different kid if it makes the sketch work :) I stole this hat from a different boy!

#3: Have a mental list of what you’re after. For the people doing the Scavenger Hunt – I actually found someone reading a book! Not a phone, but a real book! I knew I would get at least one book-reader if I was out the entire day and when I saw her through the window of a passing train, I didn’t have to think ‘is this a good one?’ – it was on my list already!

#4 Exaggerate! It’s more fun if this lady’s bag is HUUUUGE!

#5 Finish even if it’s not working. I couldn’t remember how this guys legs looked, and the final result is kind of weird – but hey – finish the sketch anway!

#6 Look for different body shapes.

#6 It’s easier to draw a hat than a face. A hat is an instant character. People choose their hats carefully!

#7 If you see something more than once, it’s a good subject! These giant scarves are on-trend this year in Montreal. Once you notice something is in fashion, you see it everywhere. Grab these details and they make your sketches ‘of the moment’ and/or ‘of the place’.

Bonus Tip!: Eat more dessert. A sketching friend from Switzerland taught me that three stops for dessert can make your whole sketching day better. Every time I stop for a snack, I paint a few sketches. That way I don’t have a lot of drawings to paint when I get home. If I don’t get things finished the same day, I tend to never get back to them. So I think this is a good trick – plus – three desserts a day!

Ok – enough silliness – I hope you’re enjoying your #OneWeek100People. If you’ve done anything at all this week, please take a snapshot and post it with the hashtag. You might encourage someone to go out tomorrow and try to get their 100!

Thanks ~m :)

Please enjoy a #OneWeek100People video-sketch of some working men in high visibility winter parkas.

This was painted from a shot out the car window, driving home one February afternoon. Typical street-activity in Montreal at this time of year. Fresh potholes every spring!

I quite enjoy how abstract a figure can be and still look real. (Well, it does to me anyway :) I’m trying for an effect here. An everyday image caught at the traffic light, – seen out of the corner of your eye on your drive home from work.

Please enjoy a bonus video! The Dog Walker :)

This is a watercolor silhouette sketch, done from a cellphone photo snapped out my living room window. This dog is one of our new neighbors I think. They sometimes go by around dinner time, so my looking out the window and their walk seems to line up.

The goal for this video is HOW LITTLE YOU NEED in a silhouette sketch. Just the shape – filled with any random color – and then you can go back with shadows on top.

As we head in to Day Three of #OneWeek100People, I hope you’ve been getting your 20 people a day? I expect I’m probably behind! But it doesn’t matter if you ‘win’ the marathon – the point is just to be doing something every day and sharing with the rest of us! It’s the team spirit that keeps us all motivated.

So – I’m heading over to the Facebook group to see what you guys have been sketching.

See you there!

~Marc

It’s the morning of day one and I’m imagining people all over the world packing their sketching gear and heading out with their sketch-buddies! I hope you guys are going to be able to get back out there and have a great time. But if not – here’s a sketch from Instagram :)

Please enjoy this video version. This is my first test of Vertical Video – it’s my understanding that if you view this on phone it will appear correctly – well – vertical.

This one was done on Saturday night, warming up for the big event.

I’ve sketched @Pinsent_Tailoring before – he was one of my IG portraits from last year’s #OneWeek100People. I’m a huge fan of his work. I enjoy his combination of historical references and an operatic sense of taste.

I don’t know if it’s good to admit this, but Instagram is a huge part of my life now. It’s not just the pandemic, and it’s not just a social media thing. It’s new kind of window on the world. It’s been giving me a tremendous amount of artistic inspiration.

So, no matter if you’re heading out to sketch on the street, or, if you’ll be staying in and drawing from reference – here’s to a great #OneWeek100People. See you on the hashtag, or in the Facebook Group.

Hey everyone! Are you getting ready? This Monday is the official Day One of #OneWeek100People for 2022!

I hope you’re inspired to go out sketching :)

Maybe on the street, or maybe you’ll meet some friends for life drawing class? That’s what I’m doing tomorrow – a fun evening workshop right before the week officially starts. If I get anything good I’ll post them later in the week.

But of course, it’s perfectly ok if you’re sketching from photos or video. I know that everyone is not able to go back into the world yet. But – just me personally – I’ve crossed a kind of threshold.

Of course the pandemic isn’t over everywhere, (just recently been reading about Hong Kong), and – with the end of masking requirements in a lot of areas – plus probably a diaspora from the war in Europe, I expect we’ll get another wave.

But! I’m trying not to talk about negative things. Right now I find myself willing to consider more managed risk. I’m quadruple vaxxed myself. I ended up getting offered an extra shot, so I took it. And I plan to keep masking and social distancing for the foreseeable future. So – considering these measures, I’ve decided to go back to public life.

I’ve returned to life drawing classes (and writing groups) – and that means I’m taking the subway again! Which also means – I was able to make this little video for you.

My only goal here is to show how you can take a VERY SIMPLE sketch – the kind of incredibly basic line drawing anyone can do in 10-30 seconds – and then improve that drawing later – to the point where it’s unrecognizable. (For the better I hope! hah!)

You might choose to doodle on location, then stop at a café and visit with friends while you color.

Or you might take snapshots with your phone, and draw from those later? That’s what I did for the video, because, well that’s the only way I can capture it for you.

Or, you might just fill a sketchbook with visual notes and then only finish the very best ones? Or even re-draw them from your own sketches? There’s a lot of ways to do it.

Any way you want to approach it – the simple gesture isn’t really the end-goal. It’s a stepping stone. You can just use it to improve your skills, or – you can literally improve the best of your gestures like I’ve done here.

So, hope you enjoy this quick bit of inspiration – and we’ll see you on Monday March 7th for #OneWeek100People!!

Thanks! ~marc

This year, Liz Steel and I (Liz is the co-creator of #OneWeek100People) – we were talking about how to best return to post-pandemic sketching from life. We hit upon the old sketching game – the scavenger hunt!

in I bet some of you have done this kind of thing right?

The rules are simple.

Here’s a list of types of people. (Text below).

The challenge is to see how many of these you can sketch – FROM REAL LIFE! Note: there’s no such rules for the larger Just-Get-To-100 goal. (Photos are ok there :)

This scavenger hunt is an OPTIONAL fun thing, Just a game to play that will get you out on the street.

So, to score a point, that means un-posed sketches, not from a photo. And then POST THEM on the FACEBOOK GROUP. (Or hashtag with#OneWeek100People on the platform of your choice.)

You can add color later, or even do a little more drawing. But the capture should be ‘in the moment’. Also, you can ONLY SCORE ONCE from a subject. That means you have to keep finding new things!

OK? If I missed anything ask away in the comments, or of course your judgement is fine!

So yes – score yourself one point for every sketch you get – and see if you can get 20/20!

We’ve also added ‘BONUS SKETCHES’ which score 2x points because of their extra difficulty. So the potential maximum score is 30/20!

Best of luck, sketching friends!

1. Person with an Animal
2. Construction or City Worker
3. Office/Shop Worker
4. Person Carrying the Shopping
5. Person with Bike/Motorcycle/Scooter
6. Adult with Child
7. Someone Eating
8. Someone Drinking
9. Someone Reading/Writing
10. Person Standing in Line
11. Public Transit Portrait
12. Athlete in Action / Kids Activity
13. Street Performer / Performer on Stage / Presenter
14. People on Escalator / Elevator / Stairs
15. Two People in Conversation
16. Colorful Clothing / Odd Costume
17. Interesting Accessory (Cane, Umbrella, Cart, Pram)
18. Someone in Uniform
19. Postman / Delivery Person
20. Business Attire, Formal, Dressed to the Nines!

BONUS ITEMS (worth 2x!) :

21. A person doing something you’ve never drawn before.
22. A group of four or more people! (You might have to run to keep up with them :))
23. Unusual Posture – lying down, sitting cross legged, handstand!?
24. Portrait of a stranger, drawn with permission – you must engage and ask!
25. Someone doing something they shouldn’t be doing!

When the calendar flipped and we found ourselves in 2022, the first thing I thought about was our drawing marathon #OneWeek100People. < < < Just follow that link to find out about the event! You’ll also find the last five ‘seasons’ of my sketches all in one place.

This year, we had a big decision to make – should we draw at home in quarantine – as we did in 2021, or should we return to drawing from life?

My answer this year is going to be – hit the streets my son!

So – it’s been 538 days since my last drawing of a living breathing human being.
(Discounting Zoom, which I’m sorry, but it’s not the same :))

I’m not going to rail at fate here. We’ve had a very lucky pandemic. Boredom is hardly the worst outcome. My apologies and sincere sympathy to anyone who’s had real misfortune. And besides, I was already moving towards studio painting, the quarantine only helped me along.

Me: “Head into the studio and lock the door? Yes please!”
Covid: “Ok buddy, you asked for it!”

As the fifth Omicron wave begins to lighten up here – I find myself champing at the bit.

#OneWeek100People was originally imagined as *living your best life through the pages of your sketchbook*. I want to use my drawing skills as motivation to experience things. And my experiences as a way to improve my skills! Pretty neat hey?

My sketchbook is a life support system – a magical machine helping an introverted artist go into the world and do things I’d never otherwise do.

#OneWeek100People is about turning that up to eleven. It’s both a passport and a boot-in-the-behind. It’s an invitation to put aside distractions and responsibilities, and tap into a whole lot of peer pressure. The good kind! The kind of teamwork that will banish my desire to stay at home and play video games, or to noodle away at oil paintings in the comfort (and solitude) of my studio.

So I hope I will see you this year in the Facebook group, or using the hashtag #OneWeek100People on your platform of choice!

So – that’s where I am. Excited to be back drawing from life. BUT! If you’re not ready – if your local Covid situation isn’t great, or if you’re immunocompromised, I absolutely understand. I hope you’ll feel like drawing with us anyway, working from photos and film.

I’m sure we all have our social media of choice? I like street photography groups on Flickr, (above) and there is the iOS app Museum by Sktchy, (portraits) or the youtube channel Croquis Cafe (for nude figures). or my old standby – cuing up a movie and sketching on pause.

For the street sketchers – especially those of you in a warmer climate – we have a new idea this year.

We’d like to introduce the idea of a #OneWeek100People Scavenger Hunt.

We’re going to send out a list of sketching subjects, and if you want to play, see if you can find the right kind of people out in the real world – and capture them from life.

Let’s play a game of hunt-and-sketch. More than a little silly I know! – but honestly – the experience of wandering, pen at the ready, looking for a great subject – it’s actually exciting! And it’s not something most of us would do without a reason. This is my invitation to spend a few afternoons wasting time drawing. Let’s do it for the fun of it :)

Ok – last thing! If you’re like most of us and time is your enemy – feel free to bend the rules. Draw on the weekend if you need to – we’re not going to check the dates of your sketches.

Or try my favorite thing – every time you have an errand – waiting at the DMV? Awesome! Picking up the takeout – no problem. Spend an extra 10 minutes sketching. Leave a little bit early for work and sketch the subway crowd. Make your buddy wait while you draw – or better yet – go sketching with a buddy! Ask your partner nicely if you can sketch while they do the shopping. (Just this one time :)) And the #1 time management trick for me? No TV or video games for an entire week. That saves me more than enough time to get my 100 people. It’s only 20 people a day!

Ok – I’ll send out more info on that tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Thanks for letting me into your inbox –

~marc

OK! Last thing! Let me just leave you with these – our traditional ‘progress bar’ images for people who want to paste them under their sketches. I always enjoy watching the row of people fill up!