Activity belongs in the picture
Suhita Shirodkar’s own people portfolio includes a sealmaker, café conversations, a California farmers’ market and fishmongers in Goa. Those titles already suggest a useful distinction: people are doing things in particular settings. Explore the drawings on her site. Our companion market painting is Mark C Grant’s work, used to introduce the same broad subject of a public place in use.
Look for a verb
Before worrying about a face, ask what a person is doing: leaning, carrying, reaching, waiting, turning. Look for the line of the back, the tilt of the shoulders and the object or person receiving the action. A figure’s relationship with a counter or another figure can tell more than a collection of carefully inserted facial features. “Someone reaching for something” is already a little story.
Collect separate observations
For your own practice, make several brief studies of people from a comfortable, respectful position. Start a new study when a pose changes. Use an arrow or a word to note the direction of an action if the figure moves before you finish. Do not merge observations into a purported exact portrait. A page of fragments can be an honest and useful record of what you had time to see.
Put the setting back
Add a small counter, chair or stall shape to one study and see how its meaning changes. Now the posture has something to act upon. This is our suggested exercise, rather than a transcription of Shirodkar’s courses. Follow her own portfolio and teaching links for her approach. The useful lesson in looking is to notice the connection between people and their surroundings.
Your turn · 20 minutes
Take it to the page.
- Choose three observed actions and write a verb beside each.
- Draw a brief gesture for each action.
- Add one setting shape that explains a figure’s posture.
Look back: Can the action be understood without facial detail?
Sources & further looking
- Illustration: Market Stalls, Ormskirk by Mark C Grant ↗
- Suhita Shirodkar: People portfolio ↗
- Suhita Shirodkar: sketchbook and workshop archive ↗
Close-looking observations and practical exercises are this publication’s interpretation. Illustration credits are shown beside each work.
