Recently I’ve been on a quick-sketching binge.  Everything I look at got scribbled onto paper in a minute or two.  That’s a lot of fun and, I feel, it helps me “see” shapes and their relationships more quickly.  But it’s sort of like eating a steady diet of Twinkies.  You might even like Twinkies but at some point you’re going to want an apple.  I needed an apple.

I stopped to pick up a pound of coffee at a local coffee roastery.  I decided to sit and draw so I also bought a coffee as an excuse to inhabit one of their chairs.  I sat on a high chair near a window and two guys sat down near me, below my eye level, and I saw an opportunity to ‘know’ that my subject would be there for a while.  I started sketching with the idea that I would have ample opportunity to truly capture their essence.

Have you ever gotten off the freeway and had a hard time driving as slowly at the side street speed limits require?  That’s how I felt.  I started blocking out the sketch with some well-placed dots and then found myself scribbling details.  I tried to slow down but my quick-sketching brain just wouldn’t let go.  This was a constant struggle throughout the process.  The result was a sketch that wasn’t quite a quick-sketch but not what I was really trying to accomplish.  I think I have to get my sketching brakes checked.  Oh…and how do you draw shaved heads?

Stillman & Birn Alpha (10×7), Pilot Falcon, DeAtramentis Document Black, Pentel brush pen