Sketching-People

CHARACTER & SETTING
Setting and props are often used as just a backdrop to give
characters a sense of place, but setting and props also give
us a sense of character by showing us how a person is
behaving in his or her surroundings. An aggressive posture
is noticeably out of place inside a cathedral and reveals
something very different about the character than if he were
in a run-down bar. If you were to draw this scene, you might
choose to render the sublime architecture of the church in all
its detail and grandeur or simply give the man a Bible to hold
while he’s chiding another parishioner.
IN YOUR SKETCHBOOK
When you are out drawing real people in real settings, people
will be moving around too much for you to quickly capture
the whole scene at once. There are two approaches that
will help you capture everything. The first is to develop the
setting, then draw individual people as they come and go in the
setting. Your finished sketch won’t depict a singular moment
like a photograph would, but a scene you design from an
amalgamation of several moments. The second approach is to
develop a setting around a fi gure you’ve already established.
This second approach gives you some fl exibility as to the
character’s setting, allowing you to take a sketch done at one
location and transport that character to an entirely different
setting. For example, if you had a sketch of an older gentleman
leaning on a cane, you could place him in the park where you
sketched him or on a stage. You can see how setting changes
the character; one setting makes the old man seem lonely
and isolated while the other makes him the star of a show.
Try this yourself by taking a drawing you’ve done of someone
and developing a different setting around him than where
you originally sketched him. Think about an appropriate place
where this person and his body language, expression and
clothing would seem natural. Don’t just plop him down in
some random scene; choose a setting that reveals something
about the character, a place that enhances who he is.
SETTING AND STAGING WORK TOGETHER
This man is trying to get the attention of the two
women behind the counter. The setting not
only gives a sense of place but also helps the
audience understand the roles of the characters.
Plus, the way the drawing is staged lets
the viewer see the event from the customer’s
side, looking at the unresponsive employees
in the distance. Though it isn’t a complex story,
the staging and setting show us a story we
all have had experience with.