104 Total for #oneweek100people2017 and Learnings

3/6/17 brush pen

Yesterday I asked whether you were sad or relieved that the #oneweek100people2017 initiative was almost over. Now that it is over (I hit 104 today!), I have to say I’m a little of both. I really did have so much fun that I felt like I could continue making 20+ sketches of people every day indefinitely and enjoy it. But a smaller part of me was relieved to be done because I enjoy sketching many different subjects, not just people, and it’s hard to make time for anything else if I’m counting heads all day! I’m happy I participated, and I look forward to next year’s One Week 100 People. (Based on the inspiring worldwide participation I saw by viewing the hashtag, I told Marc Holmes it’s going to have to become an annual event!)

3/6/17 brush pen

In his introductory blog post, Marc said that if you make 100 sketches “over a whole week, at least ONE will be amazing.” I don’t know if I ever achieved “amazing,” but I definitely had a few favorites out of the 104, specifically those that best met my personal goal of evoking an individual – not a generic symbol – with as few marks as possible. I’ve shown those favorites here. (A collage of all of today’s sketches are in my Flickr photostream and on Instagram.)

One of my favorite viewpoints today also turned out to be my most challenging: looking down on the curving line of people at the Assembly Hall Juice & Coffee counter (below). Such perspectival trickery! But it’s the sketch that got me to 104.

3/10/17 ink

Here’s what I learned from taking part in the challenge:

3/7/17

Even if the sketches are fast and gestural, it really helps to be able to see the subject well. I know this seems like a no-brainer, but I didn’t really think about it until I started looking over my sketches from days 1 and 2 and compared them to today’s. I had much better lighting at Zoka Coffee and the Northgate food court, and it shows in my sketches. Today it was much darker at the Via6 apartment/retail complex in South Lake Union, which was an outing with Urban Sketchers Seattle. Except for the few I did on the bus, I sketched most of my subjects looking down on them from the complex’s upper level, so they were quite a distance away and usually backlit. I found myself trying to guess at lines I couldn’t really see, and that usually yields mediocre results.

3/7/17 brush pen

Liz Steel mentioned on her blog that taking part in One Week 100 People has made her much more confident about sketching people. While I can always benefit from the practice of sketching 100 people in a week, it occurred to me that it’s not a challenge I really need because I sketch people regularly anyway (at least in the winter months). What I really should be doing, I commented to Liz, is sketching 100 buildings in a week! OK, that might be too aggressive. But maybe 10 buildings in a week, or at least one a day for a full week? That kind of concentrated, regular effort might make me more confident about sketching architecture in the same way that this challenge has benefitted Liz. I am going to think about that for the summer!

After I finished my 104, I had only about 15 minutes before the group sketchbook sharing, so I wandered around the Via6’s main floor, looking for a subject that wasn’t people. But wouldn’t you know it – people were everywhere, so I resigned myself to one more peopled sketch, this time in front of the fireplace near the entrance.

3/10/17 brush pen, ink, colored pencil