Ep 147: Draw Like an Architect

How good do you need to be at drawing if you want to become an architect? Or … How can I be an architect – I can’t draw? These are questions that in one form or another, I hear a lot, especially from people my age who became accountants and consultants. Is there an easy answer to these questions? Of course there is, but that doesn’t mean the answer is easy. Welcome to EP 147: Draw Like an Architect!

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Tools jump to 0:56

Sketching is not about creating a finished rendering, it’s about an explorative process that allows the designer to think through and evaluate the ramifications of their intentions. These are incomplete and this process oriented and remembering the intent is itself incomplete can remove some pressure from thinking that you need to create a masterpiece.

Don’t let what you see on social media, the highlight reel of sketches and drawings from people who have probably a) been at this a lot longer than you, and b) probably draw professionally and spend an exorbitant amount of time honing their craft. Your sketches are for you – nobody else ever has to see them.

Pens jump to 7:32

There are more opinions out there than I have the time or patience to articulate when it comes to pens – which kind to use, and why the pen they like is great and the pen you is basically like using a stick in the dirt. The bottom line is to find a pen that you like and don’t worry about the rest of it. For what it’s worth, I prefer Sharpie brand pens because the ink is dark, they are permanent, I get a dark line with out having to puddle the amount of ink I’m putting down which means the linework won’t smear (and since I am left handed, this occasionally is a concern). I have a friend who swears that the Bic ballpoint pen is the way to go – and I can’t stand that pen. Some people go for a nice fountain tip pen (here is the one I use when I do decide to give it another go.) The problem I have with Fountain tip pens, other than the smearing of the ink because of the puddle effect that typically occurs, is that I’ve had 1 too many issues with them on airplanes.

I like what I like, there are others that I think are worth using and I don’t turn my nose up at them, and in the end, you’ll find one that you like once you start looking.

Pencils jump to 13:53 – some people LOVE using a pencil to sketch, but I’m not that guy. I was sent a lovely gift a few years ago of Blackwing Matte Pencils and I have to tell you, these are some amazing pencils. I don’t use them that much, but that has more to do with the type of sketching and drawing I do, not some reflection on the pencils I am using. If you use pencils, you probably have some fairly strong opinions on them, but my position is typically based around the fact that I smear pencil drawings about 20% of the time, but the upside is that pencils never dry up! You can leave it sitting there in the pen/pencil cup and it will sit their patiently waiting on you to figure your business out and pull it out of obscurity and BOOM it works just as good as the last time you used it years ago.

Tablet and stylus jump to 16:25 – For the last two years, I have almost entirely sworn off pens and paper in favor of using my iPad and the software Morpholio Trace. I have to admit that this was a move that I resisted for years. And years. I just didn’t like it, I didn’t find it convenient, and I didn’t like the appearance of the end product. Fast forward to the Apple stylus and Morpholio Trace software … game changing for me. I am not endorsed by Morpholio (but would be happy to be!) and I would sing their praises to anyone who is interested in exploring this path. I am not going to make this a post on this particular piece of software, but I could.

Techniques jump to 23:52

For me, it always, ALWAYS starts with the line work and how you draw your lines. Straight or squiggly is a preference. I don’t have the technique in place to draw squiggly or jittery lines so I typically go for straight – and few people are skilled at drawing straight lines. I have shared the following tips before, but I don’t expect anyone/everyone to know everything I’ve ever said so some of you have to endure hearing the same thing every few years. The original post and story is immediately blow but I’ll write out the actual tips right afterwards.

Architectural Sketching or How to Sketch like Me

Hit-Go -Hit – The ‘Hit-Go-Hit’ tip is a way for you to pick up and set your pen back down on the page as you’re drawing in a purposeful manner. whenever you are drawing a straight line, you’ll frequently find that you need to reposition your arm, or the paper, to continue drawing.

Don’t Bend your Wrist – Lock your wrist and elbow into a comfortable angle and only move your entire arm when sketching. As you get more skilled, this tip can be relaxed and you can first bend your elbow and ultimately your wrist. In the beginning, by limiting your movement to the entire arm, you’ll end up with straighter lines. By combining this technique with the Hit-Go-Hit, your ability to reset your arm position on the page, you will end up with shockingly straighter lines.

Don’t Retrace your Lines – the only caveat is if you are coming back to add line weight. Draw a line and move on.

Utilize Line weight – this is probably the most impactful item on this list and it is certainly the one that will visually make the biggest difference in the end product. Even if you incorporate profile lines, this will elevate the quality of your drawing 37x. I have written a post on line weight as part of the architectural Graphics 101 series – https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/architectural-graphics-101-line-weight/

Intersect Your Lines – this is pure style but will allow you to sketch faster, This technique is exactly what you think it is – when to lines come together, don’t attempt to precisely line them up at the connection point, have the lines run past one another and crossover.   By allowing your lines to cross at the corners, you can still convey the thought (or shape) you are going after, without having to focus on making the shape perfect.

Hatching jump to 35:29

Hatching – This is a method that I lean into a lot because it adds depth to the drawing which ends up producing an aesthetically more appealing drawing. I do not mean to suggest that this simply a vanity in vanity, I am on the record acknowledging my strong belief that better drawings bring more clarity and understanding to the drawing, and if you are sketching as part of your communicative process – meaning these sketches and drawings are NOT just for your – than a drawing that conveys it’s purpose with better understanding is exactly the point of making the drawing in the first place.

This is a technique that is incredibly powerful but requires some practice and skill to successfully implement. I don’t know if some people just get it, or if it is simply a matter of practice and trial and error – whatever it is, I’m not there and it is probably the technique that I work o the most.

Tone and Color jump to 38:42

I previously did not use much color when I sketched but will readily admit that I tend to prefer drawings that have an effective use of color in them. I utilize tone and line types (dashed, centerline, dots – etc.) as an additional way of putting down a narrative to my drawing, but adding tone and color to your drawing provides visual depth as well. Now that I am using my tablet more and more often, I lay down color all the time even though my application is not very sophisticated. Like I am advocating here, I simply need to experiment and practice more with methods that work for me.

… at the 43:08 mark I mention the only time I’ve really ever done and watercoloring … what has become known as “The Watercolor Lily Incident“. Feel free to entertain yourself with what might be the worst watercoloring exercise ever done in the history of humankind.

Practice jump to 43:59

I don’t climb up on a soapbox very often (or maybe I do, ask my friends) but I truly believe that sketching is not magic. It is a skill that can be developed with some time and effort. If you spend a few minutes every day and simply put some marks on the page, I promise you will get better and that blank piece of paper will become less and less intimidating to you. I will also admit that I don’t feel great about my sketching prowess and the types of sketches I create have more to do with thinking through a problem than capturing some moment in time when I am standing on a street corner in front of an amazing project. The overwhelming majority of drawings I create are iterative and represent simple things, and most of the time I “practice, I draw things that support the techniques that I advocated above – and I actually practice drawing lines and boxes. As an example of how this manifests itself, I included an example below:

In our conversation, I mention that most of the doodles I create are really just an exercise in putting ink on a piece of paper. In the example above, this was really an exercise in drawing straight lines … isn’t that fancy?!? Of course it isn’t, but it does provide value simply because drawing drawing straight lines when you WANT to draw straight lines, is something that will make all of your drawings look better. Significantly better in fact.

Would you rather?  jump to 47:51

This question seemed more interesting than what it turned out to be – mostly because Andrew and I agreed with one another and that’s never as much fun as when I get to tell him that his answer is wrong.

Would you rather live in a mansion with 20 people, or a small apartment by yourself?

The answer to this question might changed based on where you are at in your life – or it might be influenced in the manner of which you were raised. I don’t want to give the answer away but there are some unknowns to this question that should influence your considerations as you think through this question. How small of an apartment are we talking? Who are these 20 other people??

Ep 147: Draw Like an Architect

This is one of my favorite topics to discuss, partly because it’s a topic that resonates with me, but also because it’s a topic that seems to garner the most interest from the people who end up on this website (and we like to provide some value from time to time). There are so many additional considerations that we could add to this topic (why sketching would be good for your career development, how this skill set allows you to communicate in real time with your clients, etc.) that it is impossible to squeeze them all in to a single conversation. If you have an angle that you would like to share, or have us discuss, please let me know – I’m here for it!

I hope this post inspires you to pull out your pens and paper and start sketching. I’ve come to believe that if you can sketch well enough to convey your ideas, our clients are the real winners.

Happy sketching,

Cheers,

Architectural Graphics 101 – Line Weight

Ep 066: Architects and Sketching