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A little shy about sketching people in public

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A little shy about sketching people in public

I set up at coffee shops quite often, but I usually don't sketch people. Does it make people nervous if I start drawing them?

Definitely don't stare intently at people :D With practice, you can 'take' a mental snapshot of the person/pose, and scribble it down later. And most of the time it will be a very quick gesture sketch anyway (unless the subject is wearing a really weird outfit and you want to capture the details!)

If you are doing quick sketches, you shouldn't even be noticed by anyone. No one but a model is going to hold still and pose for you. Have to learn to capture on the fly.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

I agree with Phacker.
You can scribble subtly and surruptitiously usually without arousing most people's suspicions, especially if they're engrossed in something else like conversation or a book.

I generally don't care what people think if they catch me drawing them these dayse. They might move or leave or give you a look of some kind, but then you can just move on to someone else.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep these things in mind before I go at it again. I'm not quite at a level of just looking at drawing from memory. So it sounds like I need to practice:)

don't try it in a biker bar, unless you're known and accepted there

Hilarious. I was selling my biker cartoon shirts a biker event or two this summer and felt the same way. I drew one I liked enough, and really didn't want the guy catching me drawing him, but he had a great beard. I went over with the drawing and gave it to him. He had me sign it, and bought one of my shirts, which he also had me sign.

I've been around bikes my entire adult life and it just varies.

Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...

Laurence are you responsible for all my German traffic? I get these little bumps now and again from there and I'm never sure why. There is a biker culture there, of course. But then, somebody over there is way ahead of me with Chris and Marty.

Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...

Werner... I gotta find more on that. There's a very brief spot of him in the Toon Boom demo reel, riding along on his chopper. Very cool look. Haven't been able to dig up anything on him in the US except for some comic books available through J&P cycle.

Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...

Werner?

Werner is a favorite in Germany. When I was in Cologne a few years ago, my class and I went to see the latest version of Werner at the local Cinema.

Michael Stuck's studio is responsible for thge productions- though I think they work with other studios in a co-production.

I think Werner is an out of work plummer- you know... like Joe the plummer.

Jabberwocky is German he would know more!

Thanks

On sketching people, the other day I as eating at a resturaunt that has window seats that over looks a fake river walk. Next to me was a girl making two inch size sketches of whatever was crossing her view at the time. I thought that was a really good idea.

I think that you should sketch if you see someone interesting for you and if that person stars yelling than just show your draw and say that it's for art =))):o :o

I didn't go to art school, so when I used to sketch people in class and around campus I would get some weird looks. I had some trouble drawing people quickly, so I think it seemed like I was staring a lot of times. When I was in class this was a problem cause I couldn't tell them I'm just sketching :p without the teacher noticing haha.

Do any of you have interesting ways of handling problems with weather, while sketching in public? I am looking for ideas on how to keep the stuff I carry to a minimum.

Try a Brush Pen and small watercolor set

Wontobe,

I understand what you mean by going "lite".

Here are several ways I travel: with a sketchbook and 3 or 4 sheets of watercolor paper I add...

Most times I will take a fountain pen with an extra fine nib (brilliant brown ink) and a brush pen. You use the brush pen to grab values from brown ink.

or

A fine ballpoint pen - Hampton Inn does the best pens and a small watercolor set (I now put liquid watercolor in the color cups and let them dry - the color is more saturated and the dry color cups are hard to find).

or

All three, fountain pen, ballpoint and watercolor set

Here are the tools

Hello again.

Here are my tools...inspired by Glenn Vilppu...what more can I say...

Happy Holidays!

Ok, I will get a box that is big enough to a few pencils and a sharpener. Oh and a rock to hold the paper down. Seriously, the wind around here is nuts, these days.

Heh... that takes me back.

I remember sketching some people in the food court of a mall when I was in college. They caught me snatching a few looks at them, exchanged glances and moved to another table.

Try going to an airport. People strike great poses in airports. Nowadays, those folks travelling will be so focused on getting to where they're going, they probably won't even notice you.

Follow @chaostoon on Twitter!

Try church

Take a small pad to church. You're sitting there for an hour or so anyway. Plus, most people are usually too focused on the preacher and choir to notice or care. Or at least I don't think they care. I'm getting the hang of drawing men in suits quite well. And yea, airports are also a great place for those of us traveling on the holidays. Especially with these cloudy skies, there's bound to be lots of waiting around.

Take a small pad to church. You're sitting there for an hour or so anyway. Plus, most people aren't usually too focused on the preacher and choir to notice or care. Or at least I don't think they care. I'm getting the hang of drawing men in suits quite well. And yea, airports are also a great place for those of us traveling on the holidays. Especially with these cloudy skies, there's bound to be lots of waiting around.

Yeah, I doodle at church all the time.

LilGrim, I wanna go to your church. Anyway, here are some of my sketches. They end up being a little longer than 1 minute gestures, maybe, 3 min. Okay...5 minutes.

try drawing in public and charging the people for it.. nevermind sitting in coffee shops..

you ever see the guys at the amusement parks drawing cartoons of people infront of them?

Well, set up your own shop doing this.. hit up fairs and festivals...
you will not believe the $$$ you make if you're even half-good.. don't work for ther park itslef because they take all the $$$.. you will only get a small percentage..

do your own thing.. the only catch is that you have to be calm under pressure and be able to draw infront of 20 people watching you at once, all while successfully capturing a likeness of the person sitting infront of you.. stressful? HELL YEAH!

but if you're good, then you're gonna make way more than you could at any animation studio, I guarantee you that..

Hmmm...I do like money...but

don't you need a license for this kind of stuff? Anyway, thanks for the advice! I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I'm not totally broke yet, so maybe, I'll practice at this upcoming fundraiser. I'll be sitting there for hours anyway.