Today, I decided to get out and draw my favorite subject, unsuspecting victims. They aren’t very hard to find; they’re easy to spot and they’re everywhere you can imagine. Luckily for me, the ones I like to draw like to live in coffeehouses and similar places. I started this page yesterday, as we were having lunch at a place called Vito’s in Modesto, California. The food was pretty good and, best of all, they had a good clientele. Unfortunately, I was only able to get in a quick sketch of one of the cooks. I wish I could have stayed longer at Vito’s; there were quite a few people I would liked to have drawn, including our waitress. Oh well…. This morning, I got up and walked over to my local Starbucks. It was a little quiet with just a few people there. I, nonetheless, ensconced myself at my favorite table over near the window and near the outlet. When you spend hours, like I do, drawing in coffeehouses, an outlet to plug your iPod in is of utmost importance. I need my music as I draw, you know? The lady that I ended up drawing at Starbucks seemed suspicious of me and kept glancing over my way as I was drawing her. I pride myself on having perfected my public drawing technique – the majority of unsuspecting victims never suspect that they’re being immortalized in the pages of my sketchbook and if they do realize that I’m drawing them, it’s already too late, the deed has been done. I, still, managed to draw her, despite that fact that she kept glancing over at me as I was drawing. Ha, take that! Later on in the day, I went out again – this time to a busier Starbucks. I’ve been to this Starbucks many times before and for some reason it seems as if there’s always people there that are peddling pyramid schemes to customers. Most of these people are young, in their 20’s, Asian males; they’re usually dressed all in black and are well coiffed. Today, two of them were sitting right next to me – one was the leader and the other was the lackey. Sure enough, they had quite a few people who seemed to have appointments to get indoctrinated into their get rich quick scheme. The guy who was the lackey was seated closest to me; man, he was the perfect unsuspecting victim – he hardly moved at all. He had very distinct features that made him easy to draw. I spent about 45 minutes from start to finish and the guy barely flinched. Feeling satisfied with my drawing, I packed up my satchel and left. After all these years, I still enjoy going out and drawing people;each person is a story unto himself or herself and that’s what makes it interesting for me. Anyway, that’s how I spent my day today.
