Next up, the woman who took the seat vacated by the one in the previous post.
This one was older, and seemed much less relaxed. Her predecessor had a big hardback book, which she was reading calmly and contentedly. This one had a newspaper, which she hunched over and scowled at, as you can hopefully see here. Mind you, it was the Evening Standard, so one can hardly blame her.
The yellowy line is the long gold chain she was wearing, rather than the wires of a blingy pair of earphones. In case you were wondering.
Back again after a bit of a break – holidays and such, which means my iPad spends most of its time as hostage to two small boys.
So, two quick sketches between Waterloo and Tottenham Court Road Tube stations yesterday. First, this young woman, who lasted only one or two stops. Happily, I feel like I caught something of her in that time, which is pleasing.
When he looked up from under his cap, this fellow looked a lot like Ridley Scott. Perhaps it was Ridley Scott, although I’m not sure why he’d be on the Dorking to Waterloo train.
The hat’s rubbish, a pretty lazy bit of drawing frankly. But the beard, using the same brush I used for those lads’ hair, worked quite well.
I don’t really think it was Ridley Scott.
This one was on the Tube. (See previous post.)
Only after I’d started did I have the thought of making each line the right colour for the thing it represented. Which is why only half her hair is yellow, and the other half is blue. She didn’t have blue hair.
Come to think of it, she didn’t look much like this at all. But none of you knows that, so who cares?
This was one of those journeys where everyone I started to draw got up and got off the train almost instantly. Maybe they clocked what I was up to.
So in the final moments of the journey, I did this lightning sketch of the three eastern European lads standing by the door, all with number-one haircuts. Didn’t come out too badly, given it was all over in about two minutes. Glad I found the perfect brush for their haircuts.
(Just realised I labelled it as ‘Tube’ later on, but it wasn’t, it was on the train from Dorking into Waterloo. These details are important to you, I’m sure.)
I’m briefly re-naming this blog Brushes With Chihuahuas, as I encountered this little chap on the Tube today. Well, not just him. He was in the arms of a young woman. And when I say encountered, I mean I sneaked glances at him from across the carriage, in my standard creepy fashion.
I know he was eight months old though, because a gaggle of young girls got on the Tube and immediately burst into a riot of cooing and ooh-aah-ing. Too well-adjusted and carefree to skulk about on the sidelines drawing secret portraits on iPads, they engaged the dog’s owner in a chat, and she explained he was just eight months old.
I just kept scribbling, but of course Chihuahuas move about even more than human beings, so I didn’t get much of him done before I had to get off the train. And he looks a bit like a Chihuahua/German Shepherd cross, which is not a terribly likely eventuality. But I rather like him, all the same.
I can’t tell you anything about this person, because this is a sketch I just rediscovered on my iPad, drawn in November last year, and about which I remember nothing at all.
Not sure why I didn’t post it at the time. I was obviously having a go at a different approach, and perhaps I didn’t think much of it at the time. But it’s got a sort of graphic quality that I quite like. Plus, I haven’t posted anything for ages, so it’s a useful stopgap.
Almost home to Dorking, I had a quick go at this middle-aged chap across the aisle. Hair is always so fascinating to draw: his was that very straight, sawn-off sort of hair that sits in sharp little lines like wires.
He moved as I drew, which you can see in the odd twist it’s given to his face in the drawing. But there you go. I choose to draw unsuspecting people on trains, I can hardly complain if they don’t pose perfectly for me.
I drew this friendly-looking old fellow on the Tube yesterday. As so often happens, he got off just as I was getting into it, but I go enough to feel quite happy with it.
He had a soft, comfortable look about him: an archetypal Grandad in his blue flat cap and enormous glasses. Quiet, still and composed in the way many elderly people are. An aspect of ‘You lot run about and squawk and jabber, you haven’t got a clue yet. I’ve seen most things, and I’m not in any rush.’
(Can we still say ‘elderly’, by the way? Is it ‘older person’ or something now?)
A semi-successful experiment with a different brushing style. To be honest, this was done so long ago I only dimly remember this lady, so not much on the verbal impressions side.
I quite like the washy quality of this, but it definitely looks too loose and uncontrolled to me. More successful Brushes to follow shortly…
