~This a random rant on something I'm having issues with. Not meant to be taken too seriously. ~

I heard a good way to improve at drawing people from your imagination/without references is to draw from life. You know, sketch random strangers to understand form and proportions and what not. Simple, right? So I decided to take a little sketch pad to school and plant myself near the library and the coffee cart where tons of people are all day.

Problem 1: People were moving at high speeds in all directions. How do I draw a split second pose? I looked for stationary people and decided that the people standing in the coffee lines and at the tables were my targets. I started sketching someone and realized:

Problem 2: I can't sketch someone without full on staring at them, and then repeatedly glancing between them and my paper. Creepy much? Then a girl sat at a table with her back to me and I thought; perfect I'll draw her. Which lead to:

Problem 3: Some people have an uncanny ability of knowing when someone is staring at them. She turned and I immediately looked away. In case anyone doesn't already know, this is a BAD strategy. Don't acknowledge that they caught you and casually direct your glance elsewhere works better, sometimes. I tried yawning too, a yawn makes you look really out of it. Of course I didn't do that with this girl, so she kept darting suspicous glances at me like I was gonna cut her hair off or something.

Anyway I get off balance when people stare at me so I don't really want to do it to other people.

Does anyone else do this/have problems with it?

Maybe it's just me I over-complicate everything lol.