The drawing skills are outlined in this book under
simple headings such as shade, line weight, composition
and rules of perspective. As with learning to play a
musical instrument, you have to spend time practising
and training eye-to-hand coordination The rules of drawing
are, like the rules of grammar or numeracy, based upon a
language we all share and understand. By combining
elements of the ‘craft of drawing’ with ‘graphic rules’,
you will quickly develop a technique suitable to your
particular needs – whether as a student of architecture,
design or landscape, or simply as an inquisitive tourist on
holiday abroad.
The process of sketching is not presented in these
pages as an end in itself, but as a means of raising the
student’s awareness of design by cultivating careful, well-
directed skills of observation. The sketch is both a record
and a statement of visual inquiry. The act of drawing from
life, be it of a town or a building, is to engage the artist in
the subject in a unique and rewarding fashion. If the
sketch is undertaken in the spirit of formal investigation
then the results can be considerable in terms of the
development of personal design skills. The linear
progression from sketchbook analysis to design proposal
is one that many architects have experienced. The2.1
This elegant sketch (of 1880)
by William Lethaby of the
High Street, Exeter, displays
a concern for construction
and structural expression.
(RIBA Drawings Collection)Why draw? 17