WILL KNIGHT
these tea caddies and I guess it is places that are beautiful and full of life, but not necessarily in the way that we would design as architects - places that have layers of history. But I could not pick one. MM: What are the steps that go into your drawing process? Could you run through how you would begin a piece? WK: Absolutely. I would start with going to the place and then doing some quick sketches in my sketchbook of what the client or what I would see if I got the section in a certain way or a plan or elevation. Then from that, we would make a decision and then use that drawing to then make a survey. I am only ever surveying to make a drawing, which is probably quite different to how an architect would survey where they are having to make a whole suite of drawings. That survey drawing is then translated usually at 1: 20 scale, which I find is a scale that is manageable in terms of paper size but also enables MACMAG 48
you to capture the detail of the flotsam and jetsam of life - tea cups, fire extinguishers, plug sockets and all these things. From there I am then pencilling out the key elements and then using ink to produce a line drawing and then applying watercolour to show depth and light and shadow and texture. For the technically minded amongst us, I only use one line weight which is 0.2. I know in art school line weights are the thing that students struggle with but I think because you then have the pen and watercolour you can show shadow and depth through that. I am lazy, I am not changing line weight for a window. Then I head to Craig Laurie at the Mack to get it scanned as soon as possible. MM: We are particularly interested in the drawing you completed for Glasgow Heritage, could you talk to us a little about that? WK: So that was a bit of a step change for me because it was not a conventional drawing in
terms of the approach that I discussed before and in terms of the steps to do it. I would not normally engage with the idea of an aerial drawing or a bird's eye view, I could maybe do it, but it would not be something that would necessarily float my boat. Though the idea of looking at the original drawing by Thomas Sulman from 1864 and seeing his approach and looking at OS maps and seeing how forensic and considered he was really energised me and enthused me for the project itself. To follow his hand, which I think is effectively what I am doing in terms of the fact that someone has drawn these places before. The learning opportunity of looking at that drawing in such focus and time was an exciting challenge and unpicking his drawing and his method and then applying my own hand to it. It would have been very difficult to have approached it without the existing drawing being around. I certainly feel that, although it's an analogue approach again and it is pen and watercolour, I {59}