EXERCISE
ARCHITECTURE: Ilga Leimanis Architecture is around us all of the time. Whether you find yourself in an interesting space or an ordinary one, there is always something to draw. Challenge yourself to find inspiration wherever you are, either at home, on vacation, at rest or traveling. IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED 1. What is your point of view? Think about your relationship to your space. Where are you? Are you inside or outside? At the top or the bottom? To the left or right? How close or far away are you? Take a walk around the area to locate a good point of view to start from. Time permitting, try another view at the same location. How do the drawings differ? Which is more interesting?
4. Experiment with materials and color. A simple black fineliner is all you need to make interesting architecture drawings, but why not experiment with colors and materials? Try ballpoint pens and colored markers, pencils or oils sticks for color. Add wet materials such inks or gouache or watercolor crayons for a cross between working with a brush and a pencil.
2. Focus on directional strokes. Drawing spaces can be a real challenge. Let the direction of the planes of the building—the walls, floor and ceiling—help you describe the structure and enhance the feeling of the space. Make marks or lines go up or sideways to show how that plane is read in space. For organic shapes or rounded arches, accentuate these marks for interesting drawings, making the eye move around the page and implying a movement in the space.
5. Cut the paper. Glue in parts of maps, receipts or tickets from your travels to help tell the story of the surrounding architecture. Add color with colored paper and texture with printed images from different sources by gluing them onto the page as a shortcut to achieving the effect you want.
3. Show scale and distance. Tell the viewer how large or small something is by using cues they will know, such as people, trees or cars. Separate your drawing into three distances: far distance for objects really far away, middle distance, and the foreground for what is nearby.
this page: Ortelius Drew, Maloe Melo, Amsterdam, Netherlands opposite top: Ilga Leimanis, Two Temple Place, London, UK opposite bottom: Tim Baynes, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
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SKETCHING BUILDINGS
6. Travel with your sketchbook. Pack simple materials and a small sketchbook to take with you on holiday. Find opportunities to draw the different spaces that surround you and the architecture around you wherever you may find yourself in the world.