Confessions of a researchaholic

March 21, 2019

How to draw human subjects on trains

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 6:40 pm
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Pick a schedule that the train is neither too crowded nor too under attended. It is very difficult to draw in an overcrowded or a completely empty train.

Pick a train (or a specific car) with open views so that you can easily see other passengers, preferably frontal faces.

The above two require some experiences but would not be hard to figure out after a few weeks.

Walk through all cars once the train departs to identify the best subject and your location.

Like research, the most important stage for art is picking the right subject. The rest is just execution.
The subject should have enough visual interest (at least to you) and yet in a stable enough state to draw (e.g. sleeping or focusing on a book or device).
Sit at a right angle and distance from your subject. You need to be able to see his or her face with sufficient clarify, while avoiding being noticed. (People might not behave naturally if they sense being watched.)

Time your drawing with the train stops.
Ideally you want to have enough time and physical stability to draw, so place the most important strokes (e.g. the outline and key features) during the longest segment (so that the subject is most likely to remain there).
Also consider how shaky the train can be; place the coarser strokes (e.g. initial base layer) during bumpier movements, and the finer strokes (e.g. detailed eye structures) during slower movements.

I usually have about 20 to 30 minutes for a trip during which I try to complete the drawing as much as possible. Sometimes I perform fine touches afterwards, but only if my visual memory is still fresh.

March 20, 2019

Quick sketches

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:13 am
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I had no more than a few minutes to capture a glimpse of this body posture waiting on the platform for an arriving train.

Most of the passengers disembarked in the Palo Alto station. This girl remained sleeping soundly all the way through.

I saw this interesting profile sitting in a conference room during lunch.

This guy was happily eating his dinner and looking at his phone.

March 19, 2019

Quick sketches of train passengers

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:35 am
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March 18, 2019

Quick sketch of a neighborhood cat

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 7:23 pm
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This cat likes to walk around the block with grace and greet me when I am around.

Quick sketches of train passengers

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 9:33 am
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I woke up at 5:45 am thinking I got plenty time and thus I almost missed the train were it not delayed by about two minutes.

On an evening train, I drew this guy sitting on a lower deck from a shaky upper deck.

March 17, 2019

Drawing from an IMDB profile picture

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:16 pm
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The proportions, which I did not spend a lot of time fine tuning as my main goal was to practice sparse coloring, are a bit off, so the subject is probably unidentifiable.

March 15, 2019

Quick sketches during a company happy hour

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 5:41 pm
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I had more time to draw the relatively stationary reader than the animated singer.

Quick sketch from memory

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 4:12 pm
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I saw this guy in one of the company cafeterias during lunch. I did not bring drawing tools then, and drew this sketch from visual impression afterwards.

March 14, 2019

College cheating scandal

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 1:35 pm
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I am not sure what kind of lessons these parents are trying to teach their kids by cheating with college admissions; maybe they have successfully cheated towards their own career successes and believe their kids can follow suit.

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