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So here's the first one for today. I got down there at about half nine in the morning and it was pretty quiet. I got myself installed in a corner at the back, facing the window with a good view over the room. This guy was sitting a few tables in front of me, so he was my first victim.

Unfortunately I realised a few seconds into this one that he had some kind of nervous twitch, and couldn't sit still for more than a few seconds, and his head was constantly moving. No problem though, that's the kind of thing I'm there to learn how to deal with, even if this was a bit of an extreme example. He got up and left after about two minutes so I didn't get very long with him anyway, but at least I'd made a start. I noticed him come back in and get another coffee about an hour later, so maybe he was twitching on account of the amount of coffee he drinks.

Second attempt.

I started the top drawing here first, but in less than a minute someone sat down and blocked my view. A bit frustrating but that's the way it goes I guess.

The guy with the phone was only a few tables away so I started on him. I just got him roughed in then he finished his call and put the phone down, shifted into a different position and picked up his paper.

Damn.

Aha, he's back on the phone. thankfully this was quite a long conversation, and I got five to ten minutes with him pretty stationary. This was the first one which came out ok.

I think his arm looks a little short, I got it better the first time. Hopefully fast measuring by eye is a skill I'll develop more as I do more of these sketches. I got a pretty good likeness though, even though the majority of his face is behind his hand, this drawing does have something of his character I think.

I'm surprised I managed to get as far as I did in the time. This might not be quite as hard as I thought, I really didn't expect to get anything out of today, it being my first time out.

This woman sat fairly still while I was drawing her. I watched her for a while and she seemed pretty relaxed, reading and playing with her hair, so I thought I'd give it a go. There was something I liked about the crook of her arm, and the fact that I could just see a bit of her hand. I wanted to see if I could get the angle of her head convincingly even though all I had to work with was the back of her hair.

I really like this one. Even though I could have kept going since she stayed stationary for quite a while, I decided to stop at five minutes. I'd caught the lean of her body ok, and the angle of her head, so I was happy. Next customer please.

Not quite so happy with this one. Although I think I got the shape of the head pretty nicely, the arm is much too short again. I must make a note to work on relating shapes more on my next trip, so I get the proportions better.

I think what really bothers me about this one, though, is that I didn't get any kind of likeness. When I say likeness, I don't mean so much whether it looks like the person or not, its more to do with capturing something about the attitude of their body, the way they're sitting. I look at this one and it doesn't conjure up a clear memory of the guy, whereas some of the others do. Also the newspaper is ridiculously small. I think I ran out of paper on the right hand side and tried to squeeze him in, which was a bit daft. Must remember not to do that.

Drawing number six. I really wanted to catch something about this guy. The way he was dressed he looked almost like a model for a portrait by Rembrandt, and he had a very characterful face. This one I took more time over. Since he didn't look like he was going anywhere in a hurry, instead of trying to get him all in one go, I kept waiting till he got back into position, or near it, before drawing any more. He was alternating between talking to his friend on his left and gazing out of the window.

I know the proportions are out, the head is too big maybe, but I still like this one. I think I caught something about his eyes and his pushed up nose which I'm quite pleased with. Also his relaxed, happy air. He looked like a really nice guy. I was half tempted to go over and ask him to sit for me for ten or fifteen minutes, but I bottled out. Shame really, he did have a lot of character and would have been great for a portrait.

Another nice one. I look at this and I remember him exactly, what he was wearing, how he was sitting. He looked thin and vulnerable, and that comes across a bit I think. Again the proportions are out, again the arm is too small, the distance across the shoulders too thin, but maybe that helped with the feel of the drawing. His head is bang on.

I don't mean to patronise the man, but he looked kind of sad. I hope things work out for him.

Last drawing of the day, not so happy with this one. What annoys me is the confusion of the arms. The hand up by his face is actually his right arm, the one furthest away, but when I look at the drawing now I can't help reading it as his left arm, the one closest to me. that's wrong, and the drawing should make it clearer which arm he's holding up to his face. All it would have taken is to continue the line of his left arm down so it crossed the right arm, that would have made it clearer. I guess I could do it now, but that would defeat the point. I want to be able to look back at these drawings and see where I got the first ones wrong, to remind me to watch out for making the same mistakes in future drawings.

I got the shape if his head badly wrong. To be honest, I was feeling an odd mix of being wired from three coffees and tired from the drawing. Something about drawing in a public place for the first time in years was tiring me out a bit I think. I have to admit my heart was beating when I started the first drawing, and I was a bit nervous that someone would notice me drawing them and take exception.