Here’s a chap I saw on the Tube today, looking like he’d taken a long time finessing his ‘look’: hair just messed up enough; the perfect specs. He looks asleep here, but only because he was looking downwards.
A quick one this, between a couple of stops on the Northern Line just now. The textured brush works brilliantly for stubble, but however much I play with Brushes, the single line just keeps drawing me back (no pun intended).
Here’s a dramatic-looking lady from the Tube the other day, about whom I’d quite forgotten until I found her waiting patiently on the iPad.
She was all thick, black, glossy hair, heavy black leather jacket – and, yes, a great expanse of chest. Well, when you’re standing right over people, that’s the view. I try not to look like a pervert doing these, but it’s not always easy.
All I can say is that boobs – even gender – are irrelevant to my choices of subject. And I think previous posts bear this out, thankfully. (Just so we’re clear, that white line is her iPhone headphone cable. You knew that, right?)
Did a couple of sketches today, mostly abortive as people kept getting off. (The train, not with each other.) But I had a little inspiration on one of them, which was to whack in a background and then ‘cut out’ a silhouette of the subject to draw into.
I tried it again here, as you can see, and it worked quite well. The girl in question was reading her book, which always helps: the more absorbed they are, the less they wriggle about. Mind you, she looked quite like Clémence Poésy, which was a little distracting.
(Oh, forgot to mention: I bought a new stylus. Two, actually. These. They work really nicely.)
Still haven’t found my stylus, so this is still officially finger-painting. Even so, I was quite pleased with this quick sketch of the girl reading her book opposite me on the Tube.
The weather is pulling scarves and hats and coats out of the drawers and wardrobes of Britain. Good news for me: those rich folds, loops and layers of fabric always make for an absorbing subject. As long as I don’t forget to do the faces too.
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.
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?
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 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?)
