Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day 2010

Here are some more photos of us all hard at work, during the Wakefield Sketchcrawl on May 15th: Wordwide Sketchcrawl Day.


The one above is in the orangery garden at Beam, below we are loitering on a bridge, drawing each other and the Chantry Chapel:

This is my in my museum corner drawing the Victorian doll:


And here we are rewarding ourselves with a nice lunch in the sun:

If you would like to join up to take part in a sketchcrawl in your area, join the Sketchcrawl forum.

My goodness - don't look at that double-chin...

Thanks again to Dave Hanvey for the photos - we were all far too busy scribbling!

Wish You Were There..?

John took this took this pic of me while we were in Italy, sketching the Centro Storico (old town), perched high on the cliffs above the bay.


I originally had the chair half in the water, so the sea lapped my feet (lovely...) but the chair legs sunk deeper in the sand with each wave, putting it at such a rakish angle that I nearly fell out into the water!

Sun, Sea, Sand and a Sketchbook

More drawings from my holiday in Italy, the ones I couldn't fit onto the main blog about the trip:

Because I had a few days in one place on the island of Procida, I was able to do more sketching during the day, mostly sitting on the beach (jealous?).

The sea's a bit hard to do much with, so I mostly sketched the cliffs, although I had a go at the waves on the one below, and was really pleased with how it turned out:

The 90's film Il Postino was filmed on Procida and the two sketches above are in the bay that features in it.

Sorry - my funny feet, yet again. I always love to paddle, whatever time of year. The sand was gritty and very dark.

The one below was on the sister island, Ischia. The beach was divided in two by a rope: one half you had to pay for, with fancy loungers etc, the more scabby end was free. Being cheapskates, you can guess where we sat...

Oh, and here's one that escaped earlier, from the 'walking between mountain villages' part of the holiday:

Thanks for taking the time to look in!

More Old Men

Here are a few more sketches from the first half of the holiday in Italy:


I didn't draw as often as I would have liked: the weather was a bit chilly and wet for sitting too long in one place, and we were walking most of the day anyway, and needed to get to our destination. No time for lounging about with a sketchbook!


As you can see though, I did capture quite a few old men, mostly either in bars or, more often playing cards in the evening.


I showed the sketches around when I'd finished, as I think it's a fun way of making contact with local people when you don't share their language. When they recognised their friends, there was much nodding, laughing and pointing.


The man's balcony was immediately above the two in the previous picture. I tried out my pen again, for a change:

If you want to hear more about how I draw, take a look at one of my short videos, or take a peek inside some of my other sketchbooks, such as those from my travels, to countries like China, Namibia, Vietnam, Australia and various other places all over Europe.

Margaret Beaufort School Workshops

Remember my visit to Margaret Beaufort Middle School down in Bedford?

After my lectures, the children had a great afternoon, trying their hand at a whole range of different book-related workshops, and I popped my head in on as many as I could manage.

Mrs Wickins, who did a sterling job of organising the whole thing - a momentous task - sent me these photos, as well as a few pics of some of the results...

One workshop was to create silhouette book illustrations (lovely sense of movement here!):

Another was for groups to work on whole books. This was a 'touch-&-feel' picture book, with lots of collaged textures. Every page of this book is a different bizarre pizza topping, with a lift-the-flap comment:

Yet another project was for groups to make split-page books, where the reader can create crazy combinations while trying to match things in the right order:


Other children made lift-the-flap French recipe books, and maps and charts to illustrate stories. This is a painted book illustration. The children were given various poems and stories excerpts to choose from. Can you spot the evil creatures hiding in the woods behind the poor unsuspecting dragon?

Apparently Mrs Wickins and I did very well: the children declared it their 'best Bookday ever'! I was very proud to be a part of it. Glad you enjoyed yourself guys!

If you haven't already seem them, take a look at the comics some of the boys created.

Me!

Here are rather funky portraits of me by Y1 and Y2 children at Emmaus Primary School in Sheffield:

Chewton Mendip Primary School

Here of some more samples of the illustrated stories the children did as a result of my visit in January.

I really like the sense of space in this first pair of illustrations, by Scout Whittaker, and the exciting way the village has been drawn, curving round the waterhole. Beautifully done:

In case the words are too small to read, the story reads: 'Once there was a tall, gangly giraffe called Rufus. He wore worn, blue dungarees. He lived in the scorching hot Savanna, his village surrounded a sparkling, clear water-hole.'

This next one, by Jack Doman, reads: 'The little lion had no roar, so he tried and tried.'

I love the big sky and the way the pencil colours are applied, allowing your eye to mix the shades together, just like the way I showed the children I often work with my pastels. Well remembered Jack!

Orlando Fraser's Dance Duo reads: 'And they danced and they danced until the sun went down. When they didn't dance, they talked about being famous.' Fabulous colour, again cleverly blended for the sky, and what a wonderfully striking composition, with the animals drawn against the huge, setting sun!

This next one, Sports Day by Anna Hester, is written in such beautiful clear handwriting, I'm sure you can read it yourself. Poor Tony - he sounds about as good as me at games! I'm so curious to know the rest of the story, to find out why he is smiling, despite his troubles...

This last one is called 'The Work-out Bunny' and is by Isabel Lee. Great facial expression! Love the design of the bug character too:


'In the dry, dusty Savanna there was a lazy, boring rabbit. One day he was looking for food and found a small bug. Just as the rabbit was about to eat the bug it then talked: "Don't eat me, I can help you." "How?" "I'll be your coach and help you get fit and sporty," said the bug. "Okay." "Stay right there, shouted the bug as he ran behind the tree. He came out holding a headband and water bottle. "Put this on, hold this and follow me," said the bug.

Really lovely stuff, don't you agree? Well done guys, I'm really proud if you!

Sketching People on the Nottingham Train...

Yes, I'm back on trains again. If you read my main blog, you'll know that I've been doing quite a few trips back and forth to Nottingham.


Here are some of the sketches that I couldn't fit into that post.


This woman above was strangely intense looking, mostly I think because of her quite harsh makeup.


I spent some time playing in Photoshop with this next one: yes, the seats really are that red!


Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to play with colouring most of them yet. Maybe later. I always enjoy that bit and find it rather therapeutic. Actually, the whole 'sketching-on-trains things is rather Zen: such intense focus concentration, it's almost meditation!

If you are trying to draw people in public places, you might be interested in this post with all my best hot tips!

Drawing People on Trains Again...

I've been playing around in Photoshop again! You can see the original, unsullied, black and white pencil drawing on my main blog here.


There is an article with loads of hot tips on how to draw people in public places on the main blog here.

Colouring Drawings in Photoshop

Had a go at colouring the last train sketch I showed you, tinting it in Photoshop as I often do. I'm rather pleased with it. I like to choose just a couple of colours and leave a lot of white 'negative' space, rather then colour everything.


If you want hot tips on drawing people on trains, read this.

Train Portraits in Pencil

These are a couple of train portraits I did on my way home from Bristol this week.


If you'd like to see the ones I did on the way there, pop in on the post about my trip to Chewton Mendip Primary School.


If you want to try sketching people in public places, take a look at this post full of hot tips!

Ice Sculptures

Here are some ice sculpture photos I took at the Festival of Angels in York at the weekend:

The sculptures were a complete surprise, and so even more of a delight to discover.

They made the first batch for Saturday lunchtime, but their features had melted by the end of the day, so they brought out new ones on Sunday.

Gala Day pics

Though I took my camera to the NCBF Gala Day, I forgot to get it out, so I've had to wait for other people's pictures.

This is a nice one of Julia Jarman and I, signing after our event. Love the face painting, especially that cute tiger!

"D'ya know what it is yet..?"

Here is Julia, leading the pirate singing, during our Class Three all at Sea storytelling:

While she was doing that, I was unfortunately looking like this: