Sketching Ft. Lauderdale Beach on a Saturday afternoon is great for drawing figures. The beach is filled with figures big and small. Hats, sunglasses, shorts and bathing suits in all colors. Figuring out what to leave in and what to take out in this pencil sketch. I decided to look down the beach adding a variety of figures. Starting in the foreground I quickly drew the woman and boy. Moving further down the beach I added figures with less detail and height. Spacing the figures at different distances from each other. Closer together as the figures move further away.
Using perspective for the line of buildings and trees lining this stretch of beach I added the building on the right with the variety of peaks. From there everything gets smaller and has less detail as I move down the beach and into the background. On the opposite side of the paper the waterline moves into the background toward the center of the paper. Keeping perspective in mind I add the palm trees and shadows from the afternoon sun.
Sketching a busy scene is great practice. Use simple pencil strokes with less detail keeps the focus on the action. Getting the gestures in the figures instead of the details. Sketching Ft. Lauderdale Beach on a busy Saturday afternoon is a great way to practice drawing figures. Check back to see how the watercolor painting of this beach scene comes out.
