Questions about life drawing in public

[Xeon_OND]

I went to the city where there's lots of people today, and stood there and drew a small spiky bridge that looks a bit like those from medieval times, as well as a couple of buildings, then I went to a museum to draw some of the artifacts there.

I've some questions:

1) When you're standing and holding a board with A3 papers stacked on it, the sketches you do are super sketchy compared to when you're sitting comfortably at your table? Mine was so sketchy to the point that I think I'm the only one could see what my sketch was.


2) When drawing tall buildings (50 - 70+ storeys), do you guys have problems with it or am I the only fucking one?!

I'm standing like several miles away and I gotta look all the way up, then look down at my paper and by then, the memory of the building in my mind is half gone. Also, the details of the buildings are so small that I can't even make out what they are, much less draw them.

Sure, I could go closer, but that would mean tilting my head 180-degree backwards to see the building and then back 180-degree forward to see my drawing paper.

Any advice or tips on drawing huge buildings (furnished with millions of intricate details like windows, protruding edges, decor etc.) from life?

I find that when drawing buildings from life, it's hard to apply perspective UNTIL you get home and sit down comfortably at your table to refine the sketch.

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Side note:

Drawing in public is fun! It was scary as fuck (I would rather sleep at a graveyard for 1 year), but I'm gonna do it again next week.

I was at the tourist area today, and plenty of tourists walked behind me to see what I was doing, with a few of them standing next to me and looking at my shit. Considering that most of them probably came from America and Europe where they've seen street artists who can draw like Renaissance masters, they must have thought I was drawing crap. Or maybe that I was an abstract artist. :D
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See ye all! :)
Xeon

[dpaint]

You need to get an easel. and a board you can use it with. Get some drafting tape the kind that wont mess up your paper when you peel it off. Tape ten sheets to the board one on top of the other. Set up the easel with the board so your subject and the easel are in you line of site and you don't have to move your head that much.

[Xeon_OND]

You need to get an easel. and a board you can use it with. Get some drafting tape the kind that wont mess up your paper when you peel it off. Tape ten sheets to the board one on top of the other. Set up the easel with the board so your subject and the easel are in you line of site and you don't have to move your head that much.
Thanks Dpaint! So, I assume when you folks draw in public, you use a paper size larger than A3?! I'm not sure what paper size usually is used on easels.

[dpaint]

Actually you can use whatever you want. Just depends on what you want to lug around and how much attention you want to attract. When I draw in public I usually use an 11x14 sketchbook but I'm not drawing cityscapes. I'm usually sitting somewhere trying to draw people like in a pub or airport or park setting. For city scenes I usually stand and paint and I have a pochade rig on a tripod I use for painting. I have used the french easel, board and paper though when I was starting out.

[Ananda C]

I use a A5 sketchbook to draw outside, it's enough for me.
I used to carry around a A4 or A3 but it drew some attention and made me scared to draw in public... damn shyness and people looking over my shoulder...

1) I mainly draw people, and they're usually moving, so the drawings are usually sketchy and lack details...

2) I don't draw buildings and if I did, they aren't tall where I live.
Anyway if you can't remember them when looking at the paper, try to train visual memory while drawing them, it'll probably be a nice exercise.

[nofu]

As you said the details of the buildings are so small that you can't properly see them then I can't really understand why you want to see them in your drawing, just as your eyes do generalise a bit. If you wanna show details, get closer and only draw a section of the building, otherwise the details are just a distraction and that miniscule they're most likely not done justice to anyway.

[Xeon_OND]

As you said the details of the buildings are so small that you can't properly see them then I can't really understand why you want to see them in your drawing, just as your eyes do generalise a bit. If you wanna show details, get closer and only draw a section of the building, otherwise the details are just a distraction and that miniscule they're most likely not done justice to anyway.
LOL, well, I just thought it would be great if I can see all the details and draw them out. This way, I could have a complete drawing with everything in it.

However, doing life drawings in public has taught me that a lot of times, this is just not possible, and that you gotta draw different parts of the subject on different papers and viewpoints and then at home, piece everything together into 1 drawing and use perspective rules to make everything correct. :D

I use a A5 sketchbook to draw outside, it's enough for me.
I used to carry around a A4 or A3 but it drew some attention and made me scared to draw in public... damn shyness and people looking over my shoulder...
I'm using a small A5 (or A6) sketchbook to draw sometimes when I'm going to work, but on serious sessions, it's A3. :)

1) I mainly draw people, and they're usually moving, so the drawings are usually sketchy and lack details...
That leads me to the next question: how do you guys draw people in public? Considering that most humans move non-stop the entire time (except those sitting at cafes etc.), it's just not possible to put even the most basic sketch down with all the proportions correct, even if you draw real fast (people are moving every nano-second).

I assume some of you guys probably use gesture drawing to capture the action and then later refine it into a recognizable human? Even if doing gesture drawings, it's gotta be a really fast gesture drawing, like a 1-second gesture drawing to capture the action, because....the person changes his action the next second (ie: guys playing basketball, walking, kids running in a mall etc).

See ye! :D
Xeon

[rusalka]

sketching on location or in public -
I usually bring a small sketch book that I can prop against a railing, in my lap or just hold. They usually measure less than 1cm thick and are about A3 in size or smaller. I found some nice ones that take water fairly well.

Use an ink pen that's loose and easy to sketch with. Pencil or ball point can often make your sketches get too tight. I find using an ink pen you can easily suggest shadows and light using water washes with a brush pen

For people, inevitably new people will take a similar or same pose as the previous person you were sketching. Or you can take the pose of a leg from one person and the upper body from another. If the person you were sketching moves, just move on to sketching someone else, and return to your previous sketch when another person takes a similar pose. You steal different parts from everyone around you and the background rarely changes so pretty soon you have a full sketch that's just cobbled from different parts of people at different times. Learn to capture the gestures and you can fill in the details using parts of other people, whatever clothing you might like to choose from, shoes, hair, etc.

As for people watching you sketch, I just ignore them and pretend they're not there unless they strike up a conversation. That's why it's really easy with a small sketchbook, it's not too obvious to people you're drawing them and if you hold it close to you no one can really see what you're doing.

Travel light and keep your sketches loose

[Xeon_OND]

sketching on location or in public -
I usually bring a small sketch book that I can prop against a railing, in my lap or just hold. They usually measure less than 1cm thick and are about A3 in size or smaller. I found some nice ones that take water fairly well.

Use an ink pen that's loose and easy to sketch with. Pencil or ball point can often make your sketches get too tight. I find using an ink pen you can easily suggest shadows and light using water washes with a brush pen

For people, inevitably new people will take a similar or same pose as the previous person you were sketching. Or you can take the pose of a leg from one person and the upper body from another. If the person you were sketching moves, just move on to sketching someone else, and return to your previous sketch when another person takes a similar pose. You steal different parts from everyone around you and the background rarely changes so pretty soon you have a full sketch that's just cobbled from different parts of people at different times. Learn to capture the gestures and you can fill in the details using parts of other people, whatever clothing you might like to choose from, shoes, hair, etc.

As for people watching you sketch, I just ignore them and pretend they're not there unless they strike up a conversation. That's why it's really easy with a small sketchbook, it's not too obvious to people you're drawing them and if you hold it close to you no one can really see what you're doing.

Travel light and keep your sketches loose
Thanks Rusalka! :) Well, at my level, I definitely can't use a pen, only pencils. :) It's quite easy to keep the sketch loose as long as you remind yourself at the beginning of the sketch. :D

Also, I thought the main purpose of gesture drawing is to capture the action of moving subjects (humans etc) and then be able to draw it out from there when the subject is no longer in the same pose.

For e.g: you see a kid running towards his mom at a mall, so you capture the whole action in one shot on your paper, and the next second you look up, he's jumping up and down in random directions, but that didn't matter, cos' you've already captured the gesture of the previous action, and can then build it up from there (at least, that's what I thought gesture drawing is all about).

Anyway, I'm now hunting for a list of new places to sketch.
For the time being, though, my main purpose of drawing in public is not to get pretty sketches, but to build confidence for sketches in future. :D

[Purrdey]

I just wanted to say thanks for making me realise I'm not the only one who's shy about this! I went to the British Museum with a class a couple of weeks ago, my first time. At first I was amused at the different reactions from people, then eventually I didn't even notice them.
A tourist wanted to buy one of the girls' sketches from her and paid her £20! We were all pretty much beginners so this was a great confidence booster.

[Xeon_OND]

I just wanted to say thanks for making me realise I'm not the only one who's shy about this! I went to the British Museum with a class a couple of weeks ago, my first time. At first I was amused at the different reactions from people, then eventually I didn't even notice them.
A tourist wanted to buy one of the girls' sketches from her and paid her £20! We were all pretty much beginners so this was a great confidence booster.
LOL yeah, drawing in public really helps to boost your social confidence and your art confidence. :D

At the places where I sketch, there were tons and tons of people using cameras of all sorts to take pictures, and I realize I was the only one drawing, so it's a very weird feeling. But once you start, and you start observing the subject, everything just magically shuts off (shyness etc.) and you start feeling like a real man with two huge rock-hard balls.

I just hope more people all over the world can start drawing in public so that I don't feel so weird being the only one. :D

And if this makes you feel better.....a survey at Wetcanvas shows a considerable amt of people who don't draw in public due to fear or other reasons, so by drawing in public, you're already way better off than those who don't. :D

Just my 2 cents!