Love carrying your iPad Pro around for drawing?
Utilize it to the fullest by creating realistic sketches of people in cafes and other places. Here’s how I draw many of them with loose lines!


Hello sketcher!

I show you the time-lapse of today’s sketching session at a cafe called Phuc Long in Ho Chi Minh City.

I took a cup of Milk Tea with ice and sit outside to sketch with my Ipad Pro and Pencil.

I put the earphone with music I love in my ears, and I was ready to sketch with no distractions.​

Having not much inspiration on what to draw, I simply looked around me and draw people.

I started to draw a woman in uniform. And I was not much satisfied with the outcome. My lines and body posture came out pretty stiff.

sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil
Drawing people at a cafe with Ipad Pro using Procreate
sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil stiff lines
My lines are stiff when I start a sketching day

I realized such a thing happened a lot before when I started a new drawing session.
I felt like my level downgraded.

Sometimes I even gave up when I just needed a warm-up session to start properly.
So my Brain – Eyes – Pencil could recalibrate.

If your first sketches are “rusty”, don’t give up.
The next one will naturally get better.

The rain started, so I found refuge inside the cafe.

sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up waitress at counter b
I noticed the waitress at the right counter. She mostly remain still at her position, so it was easier for me to draw her than other waiters who were constantly in movement.
sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up drawing too early
My 2nd drawing of the waitress (on the left) start to loosen up a bit more. Yeah!

To succeed and have fun with the techniques of quick sketching:
Don’t try to reproduce 100% what you see – but what you feel.
You may even exaggerate some lines.

The proportions need to look right but don’t have to be perfect.
Sometimes I like to elongate some body parts.

sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up drawing too early elongated arms
The girl on the right was slim, and I elongated her arms
sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up drawing too early a
Draw without perfection purpose, but to experiment! You will progress a lot faster.

I sometimes feel shy looking at people.
It happened I stare at them a bit too long. Haha.

But remember that you don’t have to be afraid of looking at people when you draw them.
If they catch you drawing them, they will smile at you.

It is fun to try to catch up with information in a few seconds only.

At first,
try to catch the body posture, and the attitude. (Ignore the details)
This “feel” will guide you.

Then, look at your model again, and catch some big elements, then details.

sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up hb
It is a real pleasure to draw that way.
It inspires me a lot in my Product Design sketches.

I don’t exactly remember how long it took me to draw this board.
I easily lost track of time when I draw.
I believe around 1hour30. It could be more though.

sketching at Phuc Long cafe in Vietnam loosen up your lines to draw people with ipad pro and pencil dont give up procreate ipad pro pencil drawing
Play with the composition adding various scaling of your subjects.

If you too have some free time, I invite you to draw the people around you!

If you are confined at the moment, you may draw your family members.

You do not need to ask them to pose for you.

“Secretly” draw them during their usual activities of the day: cooking, watching TV, doing gym…

Be observant, and “Draw their natural moments!”.

Cheers,
Chou-Tac

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