Subway Sketching and Observation

[SimonLeclerc]

Hello everybody,

I am new here and I'm looking forward to get more involved in this art community.

I'll post some of my Observation sketches in this thread, mostly subway sketches.

I think sharing our art is a great way to keep ourselves stimulated!

(pardon my rusty english, I'm a french canadian)

[SimonLeclerc]

[SimonLeclerc]

a sketch i did in a little café in Montréal

my scan gets a little blurry in the middle of the sketchbook

[SimonLeclerc]

[Axelga2112]

New favourite
Straight into the inspiration folder.
Keep stimulating!

[angieb.]

Fantastic! I'm new, too, but Welcome!!

[Marria]

Welcome to CA.org, I love your sketches, they make my eyes happy! Looking forward to more uploads!

[SimonLeclerc]

Thanks everybody for the kind words!

I like sketching in the subway because

it helps me to increase my drawing speed
and to discover new faces/bodies design

A great exercice for every artist!

[SophieW]

Wow! Your observation works are lovely. You’re definitely right in that it’s something that can greatly help with the drawing process. I can’t wait to see your future work!

[diamandis]

God, I love you French artists.

How come so many of you guys draw in a similar style, though? I don't mean that as an insult, I'm just curious. I've seen lots of French artists that have such a similar style of line, shading, etc. (You remind me of one of my heroes, Sylvain Marc.)

Are you an animator or is this just the style you draw in? You definitely seem to have an animator's abstraction going on.

Great stuff.

[SimonLeclerc]

^
thanks for the appreciation!

I'm not French though, I'm a Québécois, so more of a North American!

I try to be as polyvalent as possible and having a large variety of style,
but when I'm doing observation sketching,
I guess it's my natural line that comes out first!

Thanks for pointing out Sylvain Marc, I'll definitely take a look at his work

[diamandis]

Oops, I missed the "Canadian" part in your first post.

WOOOOW @ your portfolio link. Gorgeous work.

Sylvain Marc's style is more cartoony than yours, but I couldn't help noticing the similarity in the roughness of lines, etc.

Question: what's the benefit to using a glass drawing table? (I saw it in your painting here) Is it any different from wood?

[Zac7]

So lovely. So human. I am inspired to go out and draw.

[SimonLeclerc]

WOOOOW @ your portfolio link. Gorgeous work.

Question: what's the benefit to using a glass drawing table? Is it any different from wood?

Thanks again;
for the glass drawing table, i bought it for 2 reasons:
I bought it on sale so it was pretty cheap;
but I use it mainly because I installed a neon light under the glass, so I can use it as a drawing table and a light table (which is very useful when drawing from rough to final)

So lovely. So human. I am inspired to go out and draw.

Thanks a lot!
Do it!

[lionheartGFX]

wow great line and beautiful gestural sketches, i must ask, if you could make a standard around how many minutes does it take you to do these sketches? and what do you do when people move (or get off for that matter)? you work from the information you already have? or doyou come up with stuff on your own? another thing i dont have subway in my city but we do have buses tho i cant seem to draw well there because of how bumpy the road is, do you think i could still try? haha i cant afford drawing lessons and tried going to see parks but man the people move around too much im not that skill ful yet OR im doing it wrong haha i dont know, either way dont stop postint these i really like them and could learn alot from them too! if you ever got a bigger project going on for yourself do let us know too you got yourself a fan over here

[SimonLeclerc]

if you could make a standard around how many minutes does it take you to do these sketches?

Hum, i don't really know, it depends;

per exemple, if i'm waiting for the metro to arrive and i'm sketching someone who is also waiting, I can estimate that I have about 1 to 3min to draw.
If i'm in the metro, I know I'll have more time to sketch someone seated, because he won't generally go out at the next station.

I always sketch the big figures first, no detail, thereby I know I'll have the essential informations if the subject leaves.
Sometimes, I can sketch someone in a position, then finish my sketch with another subject who has a similar position. It is faster this way because the general proportions are already more or less established.

Sometimes, I go over my lines when I come back home, especially when I want to scan the drawing, because I sketch with a Blue pencil and it tends to be too pale for my scanner

another thing i dont have subway in my city but we do have buses tho i cant seem to draw well there because of how bumpy the road is, do you think i could still try?

Yes for sure, I also draw in the buses too.
You should bring a sketchbook everywhere you go.
Don't worry if the road is bumpy and your lines aren't straight;

the purpose of this activity is not necessarily to make beautiful picture, but to look for informations in our everyday life and to learn from observation!

some subway sketching and a sketch of an anatomy class I went to

[ClockworkLives]

Love your style, so much character in all your sketches. Great stuff!

[SimonLeclerc]

I started working full time in the last weeks, so I didn't have the chance to upload as much subway sketching as I would like to,

but still, here are a few new ones

[Yemi775]

i love how you choose your subjects for sketching, i'll do that haha and great figures buddy!

[Morningtea]

Love these sketches!

[SimonLeclerc]

Some sketches from today..

I have a new sketchbook with some cheap grainy paper,
which make it kind of hard to have a nice pencil line and hard to scan my rough sketches decently..

but still:

[Martin Szymanski]

Really lovely stuff. As has been said before, your stuff has a lot of character and humanity to it. Great line work and I really love the shapes you use.

[Colour Coded]

Awesome style you got there. Keep em coming!

[Betty86]

cool sketches, you have really lovely style. i tried sketching during bus travels but is too shaky and bumpy for me.

[SimonLeclerc]

new sketches from this afternoon's metro ride!

[SimonLeclerc]

cool sketches, you have really lovely style. i tried sketching during bus travels but is too shaky and bumpy for me.

Don't be affraid to make shaky and bumpy drawing!

Sometimes, they are the ones with the greatest energy;
Plus, never forget that you are doing this exercice for your own fun and learning, not for the perfect picture!

and thanks for the compliment!

[Ghast]

there is a great sense of character and energy to your figures. The giant girl in the art studio is hilarious. Interesting possibilities for a narrative

[mundanity]

oh wow wow wow your stuff is great so much character and wonderful figures in such a short amount of time. you're awesome.

[Aquaticdog]

Wow, your stylisation is so sweet and lovely

Do you ever get caught drawing the person? Or do you draw like a ninja?

[JakehC]

Absolutely love everythign you have done.