Sketching should be both enjoyable and educational;
and both may be helped by a little contemplative peace.
As such you are likely to be happier in a quiet leafy
courtyard than a busy high street, and in the side chapel
of a cathedral as against the nave.
Search out quiet corners and try to have a wall behind
you if strangers looking over your shoulder make you feel
uneasy. One other tip about selecting your spot for
sketching: choose somewhere that feels safe (street
crime is unfortunately on the increase in most European
cities) and keep an eye on your wallet or handbag.subtleties are often only made manifest to the observer
through the act of drawing.
One of the professional tricks of the contemporary
architect is to draw a bland office façade with plenty of
deep shadows, thereby suggesting a building of greater
visual richness than the one to be finally built. In this way
the designer may ‘persuade’ a planning committee or
amenity society to accept the proposals. The normal
method of showing shadows is to assume a sun at 45°
over your left shoulder – hence the window sills and
eaves can then be picked out with a dark-blue or even
black shadow. Designers have long realised that they can
enhance the appearance of their proposals by using
shadows based upon an abstract and decidedly flexible
view of reality. In many ways the artist drawing a street
scene or building can adopt this device and in the process
make a dull northern scene look quite lively. Even if the
sun is not shining, the assumption is that it can enhance a
subject and make its visual qualities more accessible to
you as artist, and to those who look at your sketch.
Choosing the position to draw from is also largely an
aesthetic matter. The relationship between the parts of a
sketch is important and you should seek to achieve a
measure of harmony or balance in the drawing. The
elements to consider are those features in shadow and
those picked out by the sun, those that can be rendered in
line as against tone, and the parts in elevation as against
perspective. All these factors dictate where you choose
to sit, what time of day you select to draw, and what
materials you employ.
Taking time to consider these elements saves you
from frustrations later when the drawing does not work
out in spite of all your efforts. The sketch is really a piece
of design, and hence a great deal of thought and planning
is required. It is unusual to find that you can race into a
drawing and be pleased with the results, or feel you have
learnt from the experience.
3.5
This drawing of the swimming pool by Alsop and Lyatt in Sheringham, Norfolk,
was drawn from inside a car in order to provide shelter and privacy, and the
best angle for the sketch.34 Understanding architecture through drawing