It’s been a while since I posted; I had technical issues that prevented me to post from my phone but my friend Ramiro helped me out. I have been very busy at work, add the cold weather and that results in less lunchtime sketching.
A couple weeks ago fellow Urban Sketchers Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel came up with the challenge of drawing 100 people in 5 days, so anyone who decided to participate would use the hashtag #OneWeek100People2017. I guess they meant work week, because it ran from Monday to Friday; you needed to average 20 people per day to complete the challenge. I’ve had a very busy schedule lately, so I knew it would be uphill for me to complete the challenge, but still gave it a try. As did thousands of people from all over the world… crazy.
The challenge didn’t specify how much time per sketch, so you could do 1-minute gesture sketches or more detailed ones. I know I can crunch 100 gesture sketches in a couple hours, but decided that if I was gonna do this, the sketches would be more than a gesture sketch, colored, and done by observation, no photographs. Even if that meant I was shooting myself in the foot.
Spoiler alert, I couldn’t finish the challenge. I ended up sketching 55 people, using the app Sketches Pro on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. Probably I had too many variables: I am not used to sketching digitally, and when I do, I normally use Procreate. But Sketches Pro allowed me to use some great tools, like the ink pen and the watercolor brush, which I loved.
Having a tight schedule, I could barely sketch in three batches of 15 minutes per day– on the train to work, at lunch and on the train back home. I used to like sketching people on the train, but this time I didn’t feel the same. You mostly sketch 3/4 rear views, some side views and very few faces. And during winter everyone’s clothes are basically the same colors, so after three days I got bored. Also, in order to average 20 per day, I had only about two minutes 15 seconds per sketch. So evidently I was falling short, calling it quits on the fourth day.
I’d like to revisit this challenge when my schedule isn’t as packed; I think it is a great exercise. I’m still satisfied with what I accomplished, even if I didn’t complete the challenge. I got myself to sketch like 50 more people than I usually sketch in a week, so that itself is a success.
Did you participate in the challenge? I’d love to learn about your experience.
