People on the Sandringham and Pakenham Lines April 2026

 I recently took a train trip to Melbourne and got out the sketch book - no surprises there.

The first three cartoon portraits are derived from the black and white sketch I did on the train. Artistic License is a great thing; The first woman I did a blonde and a brunette version of.

                                                                Here is the original drawing.

  I drew this next one on the way home. I used an economy of line but a more realistic look. I did slightly exaggerate the man's nose and paunch. I don't much worry about some geometric lines being wobbly as straight lines can be boring and the train jolts around a little, making really straight lines difficult.

  This young fellow was dozing so he was great for a study in forms. I don't know if the hand is too big but it was large. You might have noticed I have an obsession with clouds but they give a good contrast.

One of the joys of this exercise is scanning the pictures on to my laptop. I increase shadows and contrast and if they are color I usually intensify it.

  Drawing people is a bit of a balancing act. If they are not sleeping I try not to be too obvious as it could be unnerving having a person staring intently. For this reason and also because people might get off at a station I draw fast and partially from memory. In any case, I often am drawing the whole section of the carriage so not looking always at just one person. Fortunately most people are so intensely looking at mobile phones that they are oblivious to anything else.