I haven’t dedicated much time to doing people sketches with 'just' line for quite a while, so this felt like a great class to ease myself back into it. I’m using a few photos from my summer trip to Barcelona, and the first one is a moment from lunch with my friend Elisabeth just as she was about to pay.

In the past I tried to be strict with continuous line, and it often left me frustrated as I felt I had to 'follow the rules' and the drawings ended up feeling tense. This time I allowed myself to blend continuous line with my own way of working. I kept the pen moving, but I didn’t worry about tiny lifts or breaking the line when I needed to.

Because of that, I could see the shift straight away. The second figure on the right has smoother lines and a much easier flow. It felt more confident and natural, almost like my hand remembered what to do once I stopped overthinking it.

Then I moved on to a photo of tourists standing in front of the Sagrada Familia. With that sketch, the lines became even more simplified. I was just looking, responding, and letting the shapes fall into place, even if some of them are a little 'off'. But I really like this little grouping as it really captrures that moment

It was really encouraging to see how much lighter and more enjoyable the process became when I stopped trying to be strict and simply let the drawing unfold organically. For sure I’ll continue with these figure drawings, and your class has really inspired me to keep trying.