Tag / cafe sketch

by Leonie Andrews

Two cafes

I’m currently thinking about two cafe sketches that I did this week. The sketches both included obscured figures but have a very different feel to each other.

The two sketches

The looser composition of the one on the left gives a much wider view of the surrounding scene. It also reflects that I was sitting at some distance away from the people I was sketching. I always do the figures first, just in case they get up and leave – which they did before I finished the background. On reflection, I can also see that the proportion of the obscured person is not in keeping with the main figure. I think the composition would have been stronger if I had corrected this error.

My sketching set up with a small palette, travel brush and small sheets of watercolour paper.

The second sketch is much more focused,  not only because the main person was sitting at the next table. Her focus was elsewhere and that big collar on her parka meant that she wasn’t noticing me sketching her. Again, the second obscured person was of interest to me. They also left shortly after I sketched them in.

One thing that I think helps make this second sketch pop are the dark shadows behind the cups. Many of us are ‘afraid of the dark’ when it comes to watercolour painting and yet, in the majority of cases, it’s just what a sketch needs to bring it to life.

I’ve also been trying to apply some advice from Singaporean sketcher Andrew Tan, who is an illustrator and comic book writer in his day job. He notes that to get a story across in a comic, you need to focus attention on the main character. You can do this by ensuring that there is a strong contrast between the focus of your attention and what surrounds it. Hence, the dark wall behind my person. There was indeed a shadowed wall behind her, but I dialled it up to help bring even more attention to her.

I think this is a much stronger composition

I regularly sketch at both these cafes. So, having these two side by side has prompted me to consider bringing a much more focused view when next I’m cafe sketching.

by Leonie Andrews

Look first then sketch.

It is always so easy to slip into the habit of drawing what you think you see, rather than drawing what you actually see.

This could be a correct perspective if I was sitting a good metre or so below this woman.

A perfectly reasonable sketch except when I came to add other people in I realised that they would, if drawn in correct perspective, be scraping the roof of this alley way of shops. The rule of thumb is all heads of people, near and far in a sketch, should be on the same level unless you are sitting way above or below you subject.

This is the second version of my sketch this morning after I realised the woman’s head was below the jars of honey, not above them.

Sitting at the same level as this woman this is the correct perspective as she is sitting at the same eye line as me.

Side by side.

by Leonie Andrews

Back to the cafe

Back sketching at our favourite coffee shop this morning.

So good to get back to our favourite cafe.

I spent some time thinking about what I wanted to sketch, which was one of the key points in the workshop I did with Richard Briggs last week.

Trying to leave out unnecessary details.

I was interested in the relationship between the hedge across the road and the small hedge close to me. But then I realised that I really wanted the focus to be on the cluster of small stools in front of the hedge.

A small table and stools.

While completing this sketch it dawned on me that the shadows of the stools were also fascinating. One set was being cast by the sun and the ones you see in the painting were cast from the light reflected from the plate glass windows of the cafe. Sadly time and a lack of paper meant that I didn’t make a third sketch, but perhaps I can work on that next time.

by Leonie Andrews

Backgrounds with people

Here are some more sketches from my current cafe sketching booklet. I am currently putting in some more backgrounds rather than letting my people float on the blank page. Some work better than others.

The red bottle, 1 December 2018, watercolour and graphite.

Woman under an umbrella, 3 December 2018, watercolour and graphite.

Mother with her two sons, 5 December 2018, watercolour and graphite.

Two women with a pot of orchids, 11 December 2018, watercolour and graphite.