Hey everybody! It’s March! 2025! I’m somewhat shocked to note this is the 9th year of #OneWeek100People. This means *next* year is kind of a big deal.
There’s very very very few things in life I’ve suck with for more than ten years – besides drawing.
Every year my drawings get more interesting to me, but harder and harder for me to explain what I’m doing.
“I just paint them?”
So: what can I say about this one?
Color Blocks: Every major shape in the sketch is one color, but all the colors are dirty’ed up with the neighboring colors.
Draw with the Edges: The background shape cuts around the white faces – wet on dry – so they have a razor edge. The colored shape is drawing the head in negative. The weird orange dots in the background are only there so I can get away with flagging his head in bright orange. It makes it look like the orange is on purpose.
Work Fast for Blending: I work fast so that shapes can bleed into each other ( her pant leg for instance ). But I don’t let important edges touch; like between his and her jackets. If that one edge had smudged you lose the overlapping figures.
Reserved Whites: This year was using a nice big brush. I don’t know, like a #10 round? Male Pinky Finger Sized. It’s fun because it’s so fast, it hold so much paint, and you have to make the reserved whites by instinct. I think of the whites as internal edges. The white on his shoulder is a pretty great mark – it shows you what is an upper surface, but it also indicates where his bulky jacket sleeve insets into the shoulder, and it draws the shape of his hood. All the other small whites in his torso are doing similar work, describing folds in the jacket sleeve. Not sure if you can tell; but they’re NOT drawn into the sketch. I outline shadow shapes in the sketch, but I try not to outline highlights anymore. A highlight with a line around it doesn’t work!
We just had a 125 year record snowstorm in Montreal; so this year it’s going to be all metro (subway) drawings. There’s next-to-nobody on the street; nobody is doing any activities outside. You can barely walk on the sidewalks downtown. So this year get ready for a lot of people-on-their-phones :)
By the way – who’s your favorite subway rider today? And why is it that amazing fellow in the fedora and shades. That guy brought the funk!
