Coffeeshop drawings for the week of May 31st

There are few cities behind the Orange Curtain that are as cool and chock full of character as Fullerton. It has old craftsman-style and Spanish style homes, a solid Farmer's Market, a 1920s movie palace and a collegiate vibe due to being the home of CSU Fullerton. And if I weren't already in love with this north Orange County city, one of the chillest coffee shops in all of Southern California calls Fullerton its home: McClain's Coffee House. It reminds me so much of the cafes that bordered Thompson Square Park that I'd go to as a college student in New York: dirt cheap, a little scummy, but instead of it being run out of the bottom floor of a brownstone, it has the oh-so-Californian touch of being a converted craftsman-style home (the bathroom still has a bathtub in it).  Up until last week, I would strictly go there to read, never to draw; this is another case of a coffee shop with a terrace that is filled with people, while the inside barely has anyone and is just not great for drawing people. But, after my positive experience drawing on the terrace at Intelligentsia, and because I want an excuse to visit it more, I decided to explore drawing on McClain's terrace. It's not bad for drawing people - it is decent enough, in fact, that I plan on going back. The drawing of the young woman in a hoodie was done at McClain's - I've been trying to practice drawing more environments and different figures in space, so you can kind of see McClain's lovely porch behind her. The guy reading at her table wasn't actually there when she was there, but instead sat down at the same table later, so I added him in there for kicks.

I did some more terrace drawing at Intelligentsia last week, too - the drawing of the woman with the bob, reading on a bench, is from there, and, along with the terrace drawing from McClain's, is one of my favorite drawings from last week. She was lovely, stayed pretty still as I drew her, never caught me looking at her, and was so much fun to draw.