future me

My love of drawing active older people is expanding.

They have such lovely jowly, wrinkly faces and expressive eyes. I just love them! I’m not sure I do them justice, but they have history which means they learned to make the most of the now.

Secretly I think I’m drawing the future.

Most of the older people I know are living the most amazing lives, getting together with friends, going out and having fun, to a show, to swimming, to the shops, to see the sights and in general - having fun and learning all the time. It should be celebrated. Most of the depictions I see don’t fully do this so it’s now my thing - older people doing all the things and having a ball doing it!

I love these people! Not always the same people, maybe I’ll make a narrative… They definitely deserve a story.

This does seem to keep cropping up, I’m not a writer, this type of blathering on has been the best I can do and I really just write what I’m thinking. Anyway, I’ll keep thinking and keep drawing and fingers crossed a narrative pops up. I’m confident it will. I think.

more drawing!

I really like how the drawings I do, tell a story, showing emotion and a sense place. I’ve really enjoyed developing consistency and simplifying my finish while not losing any of the information. Or at least, that’s what I’m aiming for.

In working towards getting better and building on what I talked about in an earlier post, Portfolio Development, what I’ve found out about myself is that I really, really, REALLY, like drawing old people. Their faces can have such sense of fun and although they have bigger ears, their face structure is quite similar to a child.

To play with this idea I’ve started drawing these oldies in the same situations as the kids and I think they've worked out amazingly well.

Love swings (2021)

Still love swings (2021)

I have a couple more and I’ll put them in my portfolio so you can go to my Work page and see them in amongst all my other pictures. I’ll also be putting them on Instagram.

Continuing to get better and challenging myself is ongoing so keep an eye out for more!

Cheers,

Sketchbook scrawls

Lately my sketchbook is all about people. Specifically the back of the head. Train travel and cafés provide lots of subjects, but staring at people can be a bit confronting, for both the stare-er and the stare-ee.

I've seen the panicked look on people's faces, the uncomfortable shift in their seat, hunch of the shoulders and the blush as it creeps across their skin when they realise they are being drawn. 

The back of their head, though is way more non-confrontational and it gives me practice at size, shape, form, hair, fabric, bags, phones, ears and sometimes, even hands. Phones often give you cover, people don't notice anything when they're on their phones, so occasionally I get a face. 

These are untouched photos straight from my sketchbook, no fiddling with lighting or brightness etc. I usually post this sort of thing on my @hilary_cresp instagram if you're interested.

Cheers and chin-chin!