#OneWeek100People 2024 : Day Two : Getting my 100!
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So yesterday I did too much walking around and not enough drawing. Good exercise, and it was a sunny afternoon so I didn’t mind, but I didn’t get my 100! – and then the next day; winter is back! So that sucks.
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Here in Quebec we have a convenience store called ‘Couche-Tard’, meaning, Go-to-Bed-Late. Back home they’re called ’40 Winks’, but I’m not sure if there’s many of them still standing in Alberta.
Here we call it a dépanneur, or just ‘the dep’ (which can also means handyman or helper, so that’s the word for ‘convenience store’ : )
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Couche-Tard is famous for their fake Slurpee which is called a Sloche. The interent says “The Sloche has gathered much publicity through an aggressive (and sometimes controversial) marketing campaign.” < [That’s just a list of the obnoxiously funny drink names ]
This is all just a long winded way to say, it really sucks when it rains and snows at the same time. You end up with this whipped-meringue of ice water that weighs about 10lbs per snow shovel. I had to do that two days in a row this week.
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Anyway – I’m just chatting at you today while we look at sketches :) :)
Sometimes everyone is just ‘normal’ – so I look for conversational groupings. People often walk in pairs and you can sketch the way they’re interacting with each other.
That guy in the hoodie was very suspicious what I was up to. These are from cellphone photos and then drawn in the café. Is that ‘cheating’? Depends! If your goal is to develop your reportage style (that is, the ability to draw on the spot, in the action, under pressure, without fail) then yes, you’re cheating yourself of the discipline if you take pictures. Drawing purely live, in the moment, takes a lot more practice. And a lot more acceptance of your own mistakes. But how often do you really need this skill? If you want to be a reporter or a courtroom artist – sure! Or if you’re really serious about your journaling :)
But if your goal is to practice proportions, or draw drapery (clothing and bags are fun!) or learn how to make sketched portraits with personality – then all that is fair game from phone-shots.
Let’s just say : both skills – live drawing and sketching from reference (or the posed model in class) – they both contribute to each other. It’s cross-training. You need to do a bit of both.
#OneWeek100People 2024 : Day One : How to draw 100 People in a Day (even though I didn’t make it this year :)
It’s (almost) spring in Montreal, and the city is coming back to life – or – that’s just me I suppose. There’s plenty of people who enjoy winter, but I’m not one of them!
In the dark months, I go into hibernation. When March finally rolls around, it’s time for #OneWeek100People – it’s become a pagan ritual for me. A wild celebration of street drawing :) All work stops, I skip the gym, drop the home-reno projects, and I can eat anything I want when I’m out sketching!
For the last few years, I’ve been somewhat pulling back on Urban Sketching (as you are no doubt aware – you’re probably one of the dedicated subscribers who’s stuck with me :) This week is the first drawing I’ve done in months. Thus, I always start with the basics. Some years I do ballpoint, sometimes just a brushpen – the most basic kit possible. This year, I went with three tools. I always say, you only need two – the thinnest line, and the thickest line (which is usually a brush for me.) Today I have a crowquill nib, and my trusty steel brush, though I also brought a worn out sable so I could do a little drybrush. Since we don’t have color, at least we can have a little texture.
I wanted to do my show-off thing and do all 100 on the first day, but somehow, I couldn’t manage it. I’m going a little slow this year. Maybe I’m getting out of shape, maybe it’s because I have a little dental trouble right now. (Have to have a tooth pulled – they want $6K for an implant! That could be a sketching trip anywhere in the world!) but MORE LIKELY, the problem is I’ve become too picky.
When I look back at the first year, I see I was much more relaxed about the drawing. Less concerned with finding the right person. I would just draw anyone who passed in front of me. Doing 100 drawings in one day demands that you are sketching constantly, with as little downtime as possible. They’re just gesture drawings, but it’s still a lot of work. When I did it last year, I stayed out for 12 hours. This year I was lazy and knocked off at eight, AND, I didn’t even start till afternoon (it was too cold in the AM).
So here’s some tips for doing all 100 in a single day, even if I *failed to do it this year*!
How to draw 100 people in a single day:
- Use only one tool. Just a ballpoint, or just a brushpen: So you stay in the same ‘mark making language’ the entire time. Work direct-to-ink (or color). No pencil and drawing over.
- Stay in one place, draw whoever passes by: Don’t spend a lot of time looking for ‘interesting shots’ (my mistake this year!) – make each person interesting by how you draw them! Pick a populated place; such as my 2017 marathon where I went to a sold out show at the museum of fine arts.
- Draw small: I use a small pad, maybe 6×9″ and I tear out all the pages in advance so it’s just loose sheets. Then I can tear up a bad drawing, or just flip it over – whatever it takes to keep drawing. (These images are multi-page collages.)
- Pace Yourself, and; “Quantity is Quality”: The marathon is the goal today, not the individual drawings. I number my sketches as I go to pace myself – maybe I have to pump up the numbers with a messy crowd scene (or a page of tiny figures. If you really want to ‘win’ – go for the doodles!) I should actually count DOWN from 100 – that would be more motivating. I’m doing that next year!
- It’s a marathon – carry snacks: Just like a runner – chocolate is a good idea when you need to bribe yourself to stay put and keep drawing.
- Keep your mind in the game: I listen to podcasts or talking books. Sketching is reflexive for me; it’s eye-to-hand with no brain in between, so I like to keep my mind occupied. Conversation with a sketching buddy works too, but it’s hard to find someone that’s up for 8-10 hours of drawing and a lot of random walking.
- Remember your goal: You’re getting better with every drawing; even if it’s a failed drawing; even if it’s a boring drawing; you are getting better.
This year I bought myself a 5 Day metro pass so I can travel around from station to station and pop up on the street. I don’t want to be feeling stupid for paying for only one stop, or backtracking on my route.
One downside of subway sketching is you’re getting a lot of ‘people on the phone’ sketches. I used to feel this was a mistake, that it’s a boring pose – but I realize now it doesn’t matter. If you consider the subject to be more important than the drawing itself (I don’t know, a fire-eater or an exotic dancer, both things I’ve gone out of my way to sketch), then you’re on a treadmill chasing experiences. This can lead to a lot of fun adventures (one time we went out to draw rock climbers). But that’s not sustainable. Eventually you’ll be investing more time and energy in the travel than in the drawing. (Not to mention it gets expensive).
Maybe that’s grumpy old man talk. You should absolutely draw strippers when you’re young and dumb. You probably won’t feel up to it when you’re older :)
#OneWeek100People 2024, March 11-15!
It’s almost spring, the weather is turning. Slowly, slowly there’s more light each day. This time of year I’m starting to anticipate our annual sketching challenge #OneWeek100People.
When March rolls around in Montreal, the street-sketching season is still on the edge. Some years it’s honestly still too cold – but I always have the museums and the subway for sketching days. I have a touch of seasonal-affective disorder. It runs in my family. I’m not as bad as some people, but it’s enough that I’m really counting the days till you can go out without boots and a coat, and get a whole day of sunlight. It’s a whole new lease on life for people who live up north!
I hope wherever you are, maybe you’ll catch the spring-sketching bug, and head out to do some street-sketching with us.
Of course, this isn’t an official UrbanSketchers.org event, so we have more generous rules. Sketching from video, photos, or posed life drawing is ok with us.
I hope you’ll find some friends near you and join us for the eighth year of #OneWeek100People. Let us know if you plan to participate, especially if you’re looking for sketching-buddies near you, and please feel free to send me sketches during the event – either here on the blog, or join our Facebook Group.
See you soon!
~marc
Notes from a Workshop!
Hey everyone! Here’s a little free handout I made for the first ever USK:MTL instructed workshop! Held this past weekend in the Old Port of Montreal. The local team put on a great event, with three instructors, in a excellent location offering drawing subjects only a few steps away!
If you’re ever in town and looking for a cute place to sketch, I recommend the little park called Place d’Youville. It has one of the loveliest buildings in town: the Caserne Central de Pompiers. Built on the archeological site of the first Parliament of Canada. There is a very well done museum exhibition and interpretive installation on site. All of the blocks right around here feature quaint views that take you back to an earlier time. It is also the site of a little festival: the 18th Century Market, which is produced every year by the Pointe-à-Callière – our local archeology museum.
Thanks everyone who came to sketch for the day!
~m
Someone had asked me about how to paint interesting backgrounds for these floral sketches – so! I thought I’d do a slightly longer video (10 min) showing a rose painting from beginning to end.
This sketch emphasizes Negative Painting and Broken Silhouettes, and shows the way I fuse shapes by laying rich strokes of color side by side <<< and the importance of working briskly enough. You have to keep the wet edge moving forward, until you close the shape you’re working on. Ideally, all your strokes will merge on the paper, and you won’t get any dry edges inside a shape.
I titled this video A Shape By Any Other Name – because – it’s not actually video on painting roses, so much as a demonstration that anything can be painted with colored silhouettes :)
These happen to be flowers, but every subject can be painted the same way.
Thanks for watching!
~m
Day 21: #30x30DirectWatercolor : The Blue(ish) Boy
Something different for Day 21!
For day 21, I have an experimental video for you. I’ve done a full-length recording of a sketch, I believe it’s 23 minutes long. Significantly longer than the little slices I’ve been putting up for you so far. Unfortunately, it also took two days longer than I hoped to get this finished.
This is a portrait sketch of Zack Pinsent of @Pinsnt_Tailoring on IG, and it’s a vertical video, so you may want to watch it on your phone or tablet (very likely you are), for the best vertical experience :)
I’m very interested to know if you enjoy this video? Is it interesting to see the entire thing, beginning-to-end – or do you prefer the shorter clips I’ve been doing so far?
Have a watch; if you have a coffee break to spend on it! And please let me know what you think.
Thanks,
~m
PS: The post title is a play on the Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy. Kudos to everyone who guessed that already :)
Day 17: #30x30DirectWatercolor: Graphic Novel
15×15″ Graphite Grey + Spot Color + Photoshop Adjustment
So, I fell behind yesterday! Sorry! I don’t really have an excuse; which is of course causing a little anxiety. But hey – this is the reality of the challenge. Getting stalled in the middle is quite a common situation.
If we’re not in the habit of painting every day we can run out of inspiration – because we don’t have a backlog of ideas raring to go.
I don’t have an over-arching project this year. (You can probably tell from my somewhat random output). In previous years I’ve created a larger project. In an ideal world I’d have prepared sketches in advance, or at least lined up thirty days of reference material.
But, for whatever reason, I stand before you unprepared this year! Hah!
But I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. A painting a day is a painting a day. No matter how you manage to do it.
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I had a photo today – a street scene from a recent trip to Quebec City. But – – the more I looked at it, the less exciting it seemed.
So I made something up.
What is this little story? Is it a scene from a graphic novel?
I don’t know!
What do you think :) What is going on with this girl and her Dalmatians :)
I’d really like to know!
Day 15: #30x30DirectWatercolor: Peony Apocalypse
Day Fifteen! Halfway there!!
I have to admit I’m getting tired – so just a quick one today. Another study of a Peony. This time I’m concentrating on volume, and also, trying to understand how to make the flower look luminous.
Key learnings: Flowers are translucent! They can’t be painted in the same full range of values you’d use for a solid object. Translucent flower shapes need to have high key shadows. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but I’m a very dense sometimes, and the simplest things blow my mind.
Just try this: Keep everything in side the flower petals above the middle value, and everything in the background below the middle.
Ta-da! Your flower looks luminous. It’s so simple really, I don’t know why it should seem interesting to me, but there you go :)
~m
Day 15: Hey! We are crossing the halfway mark!
How are you all doing? Is everyone keeping up – got your 15? If not, tomorrow might be a good day to do some tiny studies to catch up.
I think I have 22 or 27/30 – depending on how you count fails.
If you’re taking ‘failed’ paintings to completion, in order to learn from them, then the bad painting still has to count for something. Otherwise you’re going to burn out. You put in the time! You should get to the reward.
On the other hand, I think one should learn to spot fails as fast as possible – that way you have more energy left to try again. Today I had three quick fails, where I bailed immediately. So I’m not going to count them. I just flip the paper over and try again. If the first few shapes are wrong, (The roof line in this case) the whole perspective will be off in the end.
Watercolor has no mercy! (Good thing I’m using student paper for today’s sketch :) I knew it would be tricky to get what I want.
In the end I had to stop and do an under-drawing.
This kind of complex architectural subject (even when I’m being intentionally weird with it) seems to require a drawing. So, most of my video today is talking about that.
I think my final answer is, I’m going to stop debating if using line in a “Direct Watercolor” is good or bad. Just like the topic of gouache. It’s getting to be pedantic to bring it up. (IMO). I feel we should only judge the final product, not how it was made.
And then – doubly so – we shouldn’t even judge these at all!!! That’s missing the point of #30×30; which is just to make things every day, and let the process carry you along. The learning is automatic, and unavoidable, if you simply show up for play everyday :)
(I’m talking to myself here, nobody is being a rules-lawyer. it’s just me thinking about it all the time :)
Ok! Have fun, and I hope you’re keeping up at the mid point here! 15/30!!
It’s day 13 of the #30x30DirectWatercolor Marthon!
Check out the video for a reveal of my five (5!) failed attempts, while I remember the fact that I’m looking for graphic edges :)
It’s come to my attention that some people who get this post by email preview, don’t see the video link. If that’s the case, just pop over to citizensketcher.com in a browser (safari, etc).
Thanks!
~m
Citizen Sketcher 