Malleable Amalgams

No comics today. Instead, a sombre drawing, since the weather was a little rainy over the weekend.

Sometimes, uncooperative sitters can lead to some fun artwork. The individuals whose faces take center stage here were actually sketched on different days. The woman (the top face) was pensively reading a newspaper article when she suddenly leaped from her subway seat and dashed off the train. Cruel and discourteous, since I was in the middle of sketching her portrait! The gentleman (the bottom face) was not so rude - he sat contemplating his Kindle for a solid 10 minutes. Unfortunately, a woman wearing a puffy winter coat and carrying a large piece of luggage stepped right in front of him, thwarting my efforts for several stops. It wasn't until after she left that I was able to continue sketching, but by then I had arrived at my destination and had to leave the train. Why can't people be more considerate of the fact that I'm trying to work here?!

The scarves and branches came from a clothing catalogue. Lately I've been taking clippings from catalogues, newspapers, and magazines, and incorporating pieces of them into my drawings. It's a good way for me to practice drawing subjects other than faces on the train (though that will always be fun).

You Know, Stiff Upper Lip and All That

I've started on a project of expanding my sketching repertoire. To this end, I took some old catalogues that were hanging around my apartment and cut some small pictures out of them, to sketch on the train. Here is one I completed just yesterday - hot off the presses, the pages literally smoking, from my sketchbook straight to this blog!

I thought the advice printed on these various items was pretty sound. They were a helpful reminder as I filled in every line of woodgrain in the copious background. Ah, how I suffered!

Though the lines of the cups and other items are a bit wobbly, I actually like the way it looks. Also keep in mind I drew almost every line of this while sitting inside a trundling subway car, so don't judge the steadiness of my hand by these lines alone!

I don't have much else to say about this drawing, but in case my brevity has left you feeling shortchanged, I will also post here a recent sketch I made of my cat. It was a rare moment when he was sleeping AND I had my sketchbook nearby. In his ritual thwarting of my plans (more on that in future posts), he woke up and padded away less than one minute after I started drawing. But at least I got this much:

There will be more drawings to come, some like this one, some completely different. Stay tuned.