On a visit to the library with my daughter today, I got to wondering why I had never thought of people-sketching there before. Later I returned alone, tucked myself as inconspicuously as I could into a corner and put pen to paper.

For the figures in their surroundings I didn’t go in with pencil first: though pen-only isn’t my usual thing, when it comes to capturing live and fidgety subjects, I figure it’s the only way to learn to trust my own mark-making instincts. I then dug out my pencil for the travel mug and books. (If you’ve ever tried drawing a random heap of books in correct perspective, you will know what a heebiejeebie-inducing exercise it is.) What struck me was that it is much easier to draw people in a library, where they are poring over books or shelves or staring at computer screens, than when fully caffeinated and chatting animatedly in a coffee shop! The library environment also means that one’s personal space is respected to a certain degree, so I found this a less nervy experience than I’d expected.

The brown paper was pasted in as a fix for a mistake and subsequently excised chunk of page. While screwups in sketching are to be expected and forgiven (blokey on the laptop with his short-arse legs, for instance), sometimes I commit a real ugh and it just has to be obliterated. In this case, it’s enabled me to include some text, and I like what it’s done for the journal entry as a whole.