Cafe Nero - 23rd February 2006

Fourth cafe sketching trip. Although today's drawings didn't come out as well they did on the last trip (I don't think,) there's a couple of nice-ish ones and it feels good to be getting into a routine with these drawings now.

cafe sketch 18
First drawing from today, Madonna and child. I couldn't see very much of the baby unfortunately. It's also unfortunate that this is the first drawing from that day because it was probably the nicest subject I've had so far. The first drawing is always a warm up, it takes me one or two to get my line alive and moving.

This drawing has the sketchy quality I'm used to for a first one. Also the proportions are out, largely because I didn't plan the drawing first and started it too far over to the left. Trying to squeeze a drawing in when you've started too far to one side is bad news, but I keep doing it for some reason.

I like this drawing for the subject, but it's not one of the better ones I know.

cafe sketch 20
Second drawing, it's messy hair guy again. He must be a bit of a regular, I've seen him in there a few times now. It was nice to draw him again, I hope I get some more chances and can work on getting a better likeness of him over time.

For some reason this one came out much bigger than usual. This one's getting a bit stronger I think, I like the profile line, its stronger and more definite than the last drawing. I'd have been better off leaving out his joke rubber hand though.

cafe sketch 21
This one is a bit stronger, and getting back to what they were on the last trip. The line's not really flowing though, it looks a bit nervous and agitated. All the same, I quite like this drawing. The likeness isn't great though, looking at this one now I can't remember her very well.

cafe sketch 22
Last one of the day.

Some of the flow is coming back into the line on this one, but it's a bit late coming. Across the shoulders and the back is nice but I had some problems with the hat and the line of the head. Unfortunately this was a very quick one too, because she left a couple of minutes into the drawing.

I don't think I was on the boil on this trip. But as usual I had a great time doing the drawings, waiting for subjects, and every drawing gets me a bit further along.

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