5-Minute Sketching: People

Pete Scully is originally from London, UK but now lives in California, USA. He has drawn endlessly ever since he first picked up a pen. He is an urban sketcher and avid keeper of sketchbooks.  He received a bachelor’s degree in drama and French at Queen Mary University, as well as a master’s degree in medieval English at King’s College, London. While living in the south of France in 2002, he met and married a Californian woman and moved to Davis, California in 2005. During his first summer in Davis, he began drawing incessantly as a way to record his new home, posting the results on a sketchblog. Pete drew his inspiration from other online sketchers, and in 2008 he became a member of the now internationally popular website, Urban Sketchers. His work can be viewed on Instagram: @pwscully.

Chapter 1: How to see

Outline simple shapes, Basic proportion: faces, Basic proportion: bodies, Basic arms and legs, Easy facial features, Hair in a hurry, Quick composition, Fast backgrounds, Play with perspective, Focus on foreshortening, Catch negative space



Chapter 2: Quick on the draw

Quick direct portrait, speedy selfies, Easy profiles, Playing with posture, Simple seated poses, Speed up with, dynamic poses, Draw the verb, Capture motion: dance, Capture motion: sports, Include speech, Capture conversation, Catch the passers-by, Crowds made easy, Clothes done quick, Focus on the emotion, Sketch commuters, Drawing children, Showing age



Chapter 3: Time-saving techniques

Use minimal lines, Fast and loose lines, Try tight lines, Try thick lines, Contour drawing, Fast texture, Speedy scribbling, Hasty hatching, Shade quickly, Catch the light, Simple tonal values, Play with contrast, Sketch over colour, Quick colour values



Chapter 4: Speedy supplies

Quick ink, Quick coloured pencils, Quick markers, Quick paint, Quick pastels and charcoal, Sketch first, colour second, Play with paper, Go digital for speed, Sketch off page



Key elements

Index