by Marty Coleman | May 19, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Back People
I draw in church and often it’s the back of the person in front of me. I have also drawn the backs of people in auditoriums, airline terminals, meeting rooms, waiting rooms and coffee houses. But it’s in church that I will most likely find the person facing away. In these cases I take advantage of the challenge. The challenge of drawing hair (never an easy thing), but even more so, of drawing personality without a face. That is hard. And the definition of success in that endeavor is different than if I have a full set of facial features to clue you into what the person is feeling or thinking.
I think of it as the difference between music with lyrics (facial features) to tell you what it’s about and instrumental music (no facial features) where you aren’t told something explicitly, but indirectly. In that case the music becomes much more individual, with interpretations not helped or impeded by word definitions. Having said that I don’t always obey the rule. I may not show a face but I sometimes I have thought bubbles that tell what the person is thinking.
Color Drawings
Black and White Drawings
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by Marty Coleman | May 1, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Talking People
While most of the drawings I do in public are of just one person there are plenty of times when I am able to draw more than one. I usually won’t attempt this unless I feel I have ample time to compose a more complex image and I have some assurance they will stay in place long enough. As with any live drawing, sometimes it works out, some times it doesn’t. There are many drawings I have of multiple people but in most they are all just sitting, not necessarily engaging with each other. It often is just 2 separate portraits that happen to be on the same page. But that isn’t the case with people who are talking to one another.
It’s a delicate process to create an image where it appears people are actually talking to one another. Obviously there is the task of drawing the mouth so it looks like it’s saying something but that isn’t always essential. Finding a non-verbal gesture that may indicate something, like a question, an exclamation or an attitude, can sometimes be even better than a mouth being open.
This selection of 10 goes all the way back to 1987. At that time I worked at Eulipia Restaurant in San Jose, California. I would often bring my sketchbook in my backpack because after work we would often decompress by sitting around the bar. Having my sketchbook with me meant I could draw while we relaxed. At that time I was drawing with a simple ball point pen, my only requirement being that it be black ink instead of blue.
The rest of these drawings were done with a Copic ink pen first then painted with Copic ink markers and in some cases Montana Acrylic paint markers.
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 18, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Phone People
Some of the best models are those who are engrossed in something. And nothing engrosses 21st century humans like their phones. I take my sketchbook almost everywhere because if nothing else, I can guarantee that I will find someone on their phone. I don’t often ask permission in this situation since they are absorbed in something. But whenever possible I will show them the drawing afterwards and connect with them so they can see it when it is finished.
Someone on their phone is also a perfect opportunity to create a story by adding in thought or word bubbles. These I make up completely and don’t have anything to do with the real person. It’s just an idea I had based on the drawing and what I imagined they could be thinking about.
These drawings are from Sketchbooks starting around 2010 or so, when the iphone made extended phone usage much more prevalent.
Do you have a favorite? Which one is it?
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 4, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Coffee People
I have been continuing to scan my sketchbooks. Each sketchbook has a unique focus due to its own properties of size, paper quality, etc. It also has to do with what I was doing at the time. This sketchbook has a lot of live drawings of people in public settings. I was spending time in coffee houses because I was live streaming regularly on the Periscope app and this was a fun and interesting way to engage my audience. The camera would be pointed at me and my drawing so I could talk while they saw my drawing appear. I would sometimes end the video with me going over the meet the subject of my drawing and introduce them as well.
These are a selection from my 2015-2017 sketchbook.
© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 26, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour, Travel |
Plane People
I’ve been scanning my sketchbooks this year and recently scanned one from 2000-2002. There were a number of drawings of people on planes or about to get on one. Planes and waiting rooms are wonderful places to people draw and I always make sure I have my sketchbook with me when I travel for that exact reason.
In some cases I met these people, found out their name and a small portion of their story. Some knew I was drawing them, like Jess the flight attendant. She was sitting staring down the aisle late at night and it was kind of hard to miss me drawing since I was the probably the only person with a light on in the cabin. Other times I am observing, taking in not just the face but the whole environment, like in ‘A Passenger’s Story’, which really more my story of what is happening all around her rather than what she is thinking. And then again I am often just imagining what someone might be thinking based on just a brief conversation like in ‘Cate Wishing’ or on nothing at all, like in ‘I Hope He’s Nice’.
Click on any image to start a slide show. Let me know what you think, do you have a favorite?
Gallery
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 15, 2024 | Art, Digital Work |
These images weren’t first created with apartment buildings in mind. It was after they were done that I started to see personalities and interactions, conflict and companionship, connections and structure and found the tie-in to close living. Click any image to see the slide show.
Typically when I am creating a design on my ipad I start with a line or a shape and let it tell me what the next line or shape should be. I eventually discern a pattern and will build on it until I am happy. It sounds funny but I know I am done with a piece, on paper, canvas or screen, when I feel happy. By that I mean it feels like it is what it is supposed to be. There is no time frame for this, it can take minutes or it can take years. My digital work doesn’t usually take very long but I do have drawings and paintings from the ’80s and ’90s that I have taken out of a drawer and started to work on again, finally finishing them 30 to 40 years later.
There is no time limit on creativity.
© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com All rights reserved
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 5, 2024 | Series |
‘The Napkin’ is 16 Years Old Today
16 years ago today I posted the first napkin to my new blog ‘The Napkin Dad Daily’. In December of 2023, A few months ago, I posted a newly drawn napkin.
And 25 Years AGO…
The first one I ever drew was in 1998. That makes 25 years of drawing on napkins and being the Napkin Dad. Not a bad streak if you ask me.
I guess that’s why they call it ‘wishful thinking’, right?
How do your wishes and desires influence what you think is real?
drawing © 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Nothing is easier than self-deception. For what each person wishes, that he also believes to be true.”
Demosthenes
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 3, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
The Sad Women
“I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” – Isabel Allende
When I think about the Middle East recently I keep thinking about how powerless so many women must feel as they watch their world being destroyed. They have their differing opinions and beliefs but I believe their pain makes them much more alike than their religion and background make them different. Because of that I am confident of the same thing Allende is. I don’t know the solution to all these issues. But I believe the women of the region are more likely to find the answers than the men are. I can think of no better place and time than here and now to have women in charge instead of men.
The Sad Women, pen and ink on paper, 2024
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by Marty Coleman | Dec 29, 2023 | Mermaids |
The Influencer Mermaid
This is the first napkin I have drawn in at least 2 years, since the live streaming app Periscope closed down. I am not sure why I started it, probably just because the napkin was handy and I felt like doodling a bit. It turned into a new addition to a long running series I have of mermaids. There are links to the rest below the drawing.
© 2023 Marty Coleman / napkindad.com
Here are the other mermaids
- The Virgin Mermaid
- The Night of Mermaids
- The Modest Mermaid
- The Arctic Mermaid
- The Lake Mermaid
- The River Mermaid
- The Fearful Mermaid
- The Influencer Mermaid
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by Marty Coleman | Nov 27, 2023 | I Draw in Church, Sketchbook History Tour |
Amplified People
As many of you know, I draw in church. When I lived in Tulsa the person I drew at church most often was the pianist. We sat in just the right location to get a good view of her so she was a ready subject. When we moved to Texas and found a church the orchestra was behind a low wall so I didn’t have a good view of them. However, I did have a good view of the singers who led the worship. Next thing you know I was drawing a lot of people with microphones. Most of the time I would actually not draw them while they were standing up in front. I would look at them while they sang, memorize certain things about how they stood, held the microphone, what they wore, etc. Then while the sermon was being preached I would start the drawing with that person in mind. I didn’t worry about being accurate, it was just a place to start on the page.
‘The Mottled Woman’, ink on paper, 2022
Sometimes I think of something the person is saying or thinking, other times I don’t.
‘The Colors and the Grays’, ink on paper, 2023
Singing Apples, Thinking Oranges
At the Edge
The one thing that occurs to me again and again, especially in Christian circles, is how different what we say is from what we think.
‘The Sea Angel’, ink on paper, 2022
Some people are able to rise above. Not many, but some.
‘Cathie Hill Singing’, ink on paper, 2023
My sister-in-law singing at her outdoor church in Colorado.
‘Eve with Singing Snake’, ink on paper, 2022
What if the snake had listened to Eve instead of the other way around?
‘The Singer and the Pain’, ink on paper, 2022
The thing is, people say things often because they believe it convinces others of who they are. But if you are around someone long enough their actions say who they are not their words and no one is fooled.
‘Interview with a Meteorite’, ink on paper, 2023
The drawing attention to disasters all around the world, the big crazy ones, is often a tool by which we hide our own disasters from ourselves and others.
‘Halo of Guilt’, ink on paper, 2023
Being a saint is as much a curse as it is a blessing. You know you did barely anything to deserve the accolade and yet you can’t escape it. BTW, I do not know this from first hand experience.
‘The Show’, ink on paper, 2023
The voice speaks but it is the hand that proves who you are.
‘The Hallucination’, ink on paper, 2023
Sometimes it doesn’t have to make any sense.
‘Interviewing Emptiness’, ink on paper, 2023
Not everyone has something of value to say.
‘On the Scene’, ink on paper, 2022
There is always a camera.
‘Many Las’, ink on paper, 2022
So many ways to sing something so simple.
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