Artist Mehmet Saygin Captures Everyday Life In 30 Expressive Watercolor Sketches

He said that the loose, expressive quality of his watercolor sketches developed naturally through regular sketchbook practice. “My style has actually developed quite naturally through sketchbook practice. When you draw regularly in a sketchbook, you don’t try to make perfect images and start focusing on capturing an idea or a moment quickly. That naturally leads to looser lines and more expressive marks. Most of my drawings are done in a relatively short time. Because of that, I don’t have the chance to go into many details, so I try to capture the most striking and essential aspects of what I see. The drawing becomes more about selecting what really matters rather than describing everything. I often apply bold colors with a relatively large brush, which creates strong and simple shapes instead of small, detailed areas.”

When asked what first drew him to watercolor and what keeps him coming back to it, Mehmet said: “What first attracted me to watercolor was its texture and unpredictability. Sometimes the paint spreads and mixes in ways you didn’t fully plan, so the image develops partly on its own. It turns the drawing process into a kind of dialogue, and every painting becomes a small surprise. I also like how practical watercolor is. It’s fast to use, dries quickly, and fits well with my habit of making drawings in a short amount of time. Another advantage is that it’s easy to carry anywhere. With a small sketchbook, a brush, and a few colors, I can draw almost anywhere.”

He also shared that his background in animation strongly influences his work: “ In animation, you constantly think about movement, gesture, and timing, and I tend to approach my drawings the same way. Even if a character is made with just a few lines, I want it to feel alive. I often draw characters as if they were frames taken from an animation rather than static poses. These ‘frozen movements’ give the figures a sense of life and energy. Part of that energy comes from the composition, but I think the suggestion of movement in the characters also plays an important role.”

Asked how he decides what to fully define and what to leave suggestive, Mehmet said: “I think this decision is mostly intuitive. After spending more than forty years looking at drawings, cartoons, paintings, films, and illustrations, you slowly build a large visual library in your mind. When I draw, I probably rely on that internal archive without thinking about it too consciously.”

Color, too, plays an expressive role in his sketches rather than a strictly realistic one: “I usually work with a small set of favorite colors. Keeping the palette limited helps me make decisions quickly while drawing. Your observation is very accurate: I’m usually not trying to reproduce the real color of what I see. Sometimes I choose a color that reflects the feeling of the moment, but other times I use color to emphasize a shape, a space, or an event in the scene. Because of that, the colors in my drawings are often not realistic but expressive.”

Speaking about the kinds of subjects that inspire him most, Mehmet explained he has a clear bias toward the ordinary lives of people: “I’m very interested in urban sketching. When I draw characters, I like them to have a connection with their surroundings, so architecture and place often become part of the image. For me, a story is rarely independent from the space where it happens. I enjoy drawing crowded places like markets, because they are full of color, people, emotions, and movement. Music is another subject that attracts me. Since I also enjoy playing instruments myself, drawing musicians allows me to express rhythm and motion in a visual way, and it gives me freedom in my use of color. I also like fishing towns — the water, boats, and rocks create beautiful opportunities for watercolor to play its own games. In general, I’m drawn to scenes from everyday life: a few people talking, a couple drinking coffee, small moments that feel alive. I think I’m most inspired by subjects that allow movement, strong visual symbols, and freedom in the use of color.”

He explained that his process shifts depending on the situation and that he works from observation, photographs, and memory. “I actually use all three. It depends on the situation and the purpose of the drawing. If I want to practice quickly at home, I sometimes find a few reference images on Pinterest and combine them into a single drawing. It’s a fun way to experiment and improvise. During urban sketching meetups, I enjoy drawing directly from observation — in the street, in cafés, or wherever we happen to be. When I travel, I always carry my sketchbook with me, and I like drawing small scenes while waiting for the metro or during a coffee break. If I’m working on a more fictional or planned piece that I want to spend more time on, I often rely on memory or on ideas from my previous sketches.”

When asked about his process, he revealed: “Most of the time, I don’t make a pencil sketch. I’m not trying to achieve perfection, so I usually start drawing directly with ink and then add watercolor stains on top of the drawing. Sometimes, however, a drawing feels like it needs large color areas first. In those cases, I make a very light sketch using watercolor pencils and place the large watercolor washes on the paper before the ink drawing. The water dissolves the pencil marks, so the sketch almost disappears. After that, I draw the lines with ink on top of those watercolor shapes.”

Finally, he also shared a few of the artists and traditions that continue to inspire the way he sees and paints the world. “I probably have thousands of favorite artists. But if I think about the direction I would like to grow in, there are a few contemporary artists whose work I admire a lot and often look at for inspiration. Felix Scheinberger, Kek Hoon Pin, Victoria Semykina, Jorge Gonzales, and Artem Krepkiy are some of the artists whose work I find very inspiring. At the same time, the tradition of Turkish cartoon and comic art is also very strong, and I feel the influence of many masters from that world as well.”