Progress on Cafe Guy line drawing started at Starbucks

I like this little drawing I made at a cafe. I was trying to keep my people-drawing skills active. Doing it reminded me that I feel comfortable drawing people, even when they're not in intense action.

Here's a screenshot of the work in progress, on a bigger sheet of paper now. The original was about 4x5" at the cafe, and now it's 8.5x11" on watercolour paper.

Ink drawing of Cafe Guy, copied from sketch book

I actually made two copies at the larger size. The first was drawn simply from the original as a model, and without precise scaling. The result is very close to the original little sketch. By the way, the guy left while I was drawing - he was a cafe customer and I hoped he was merely gone briefly to the bathroom - but really only the table portion was missing, so I turned it into a ledge. He never returned, anyway, so I stand by that decision.

The other large copy was made by tracing the first enlargment, after it was inked. The violet ink I chose was barely visible when blank watercolour paper was laid over the enlarged, inked copy, taped to the window. This copy was also inked.

One of these larger copies will become a hard pastel illustration, and the other a watercolour. I'm in the mood for lively, fanciful colours and backgrounds lately, and this subject gives me lots of opportunity to play.

Some of my thoughts were captured on video using my cell phone, soon after making the first enlargement, and they are shared below. I hope my video comments throughout this blog will give you insight into how I work, and get the results I do.

I'm always learning more, don't get me wrong! It's been a while since I had full-time creative work. I miss it and want to get there again, using the internet regularly to share work, and push myself to ever-greater skill. The quality of illustration I see online these days, and now digital arts too, humbles me but also thrills me.

I like this sort of line illustration. It reminds me of doodling during high school math class, or drawing objects under force in high school physics. I recall very much having notebooks full of doodles that didn't relate at all to what I was supposed to be doing, as well!

Since my last office work position ended earlier this year, I am confident to keep practicing the excellent training I've had in live classes, and tutorials found online. The techniques are out there for all of us to practice and experiment with. I'm just relieved to find sites like fiverr.com that let me offer skills for convenient sale! Find me there- my handle is "Island Geek" and I have 100% 5-star ratings, and a 3% world domination value!