Sketching people

I’ve got a small Moleskine “Sketch” sketchbook. Got it years ago. Never used it. I’m using it now - I’ll fill it with random people. Trying to simplify my lines. Get to a point where I’m not unhappy with my people sketches. Here are a few of my early ones.

Ink and watercolor sketch of a young fictious woman viewed in profile. She's wearing a pink tank top, and has long blond hair. She's holding a phone in our outstretched had. There is a green background behind part of her.

I like the motion imparted in this one. Drawn completely from imagination. Totally sketch, but I’m satisfied with that.

Ink and watercolor sketch of a boy. Viewed from the front, only his upper body is visible above a line. His hands are on the line, maybe a table? Bright orange background

This was my first one in the sketchbook. After watching a tutorial from Martin Lachmair on YouTube

Ink and watercolor sketch of a guy playing the guitar. He has long hair. There are musical notes around his head. There is text on the page that say Inception, a visual sketch of a musical sketch, concept inspired by a visual sketch.

This one was done from a youtube link a friend sent me. We’d been talking about sketches. He’s a musician, and pretty good one at that! But me sharing my sketches triggered him to start thinking about his music sessions as musical sketches. Where he doesn’t need perfection, and gives himself permission to explore and play.

Ink and watercolor sketch of a guy walking. He has grey hair and a short grey beard. He's wearing a sweatshirt and cargo pants. Viewed from the side. Green background behind him.

I saw this guy walking around a parking lot and thought it might be fun to sketch him. Had no time to do it there and then, so I took a photo and sketched him later at home.

I’m trying to do at least one a day. So it might take me about two months to complete the sketchbook. It’ll be interesting to see what my people sketch look like at the end of that book!

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Published on May 16, 2026

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