point for people learning to draw since corrections are
easily made and the graphite or lead pencil has a
‘graininess’ suitable for many building subjects. Pencil
also lends itself to depicting shade, light and shadow and
this may be important in canyon-like street scenes. Pencil
drawings have one other advantage: they can be
photocopied to highlight or darken the tentative lines of a
timid artist. Indeed, modern photocopiers can be a useful
adjunct: not only can they encourage confidence in
beginners, but in addition, several copies of a drawing
may be taken (if, for instance, the sketch is the beginning
for further analysis or the starting point for other artistic
endeavours), while the original drawing is preserved.
Armed with a soft rubber, drawing with graphite pencil
is the best way to start freehand sketching, being flexible,
responsive and easily altered. Whether your sketches are
spontaneous and primitive, or intricate and spatially
accurate compositions reflecting a trained eye, pencil will
probably serve your needs well. It should be
remembered, however, that graphite pencils quickly
smudge, especially if you are using a coarse drawing
paper. It is imperative, therefore, that you spray lightly and
frequently with fixative. Having mastered the technique
of pencil drawing, the artist can then graduate to
sketching in charcoal or pen and ink, or using colour
washes.
Watercolour washes can be used to support pen or
pencil drawings in order to give the appearance of three-
dimensional form. Many people like to use grey wash
along with line work to produce rather classical sketches
of the type favoured in the eighteenth century. You can
mix your own grey wash, or do as I prefer and make a
grey by blending cobalt blue with sepia. The resulting
wash is less ‘dead’ than a grey watercolour straight from
the tube since hints of blue and brown appear as the
wash dries. Sometimes a pre-mixed wash can be
employed, especially if the sketch has to be produced in a
hurry, but often the wash varies in density, to the
detriment of the finished drawing. Watercolour can, of
course, be employed to produce illustration in its own
right. For watercolour sketches use a box of twelve
colours that come with a mixing box (Windsor and
Newton, for instance) and two or three sable brushes. Try
to use largish brushes to avoid the sketches becoming
overworked, and if you like you can take a crayon or
candle to experiment with wax relief to produce the sort
of lively architectural sketches made famous by John
Piper. For mood and character, dark-toned watercolour
sketches can hardly be bettered, but you will find paint a
difficult medium for analytical drawing.
Coloured felt-tip pens can be difficult to master since
their hues are often rather strong and do not mix well
together. But some subjects lend themselves to these
pens (especially modern architectural subjects and
industrial or automobile design). By mixing the bright,
almost luminous quality of felt-tip pens with more neutral
paints or pencil lines, the sketch can assume a sparkle or
resonance appropriate to certain subjects. Felt-tip pens
and magic markers are difficult to control but they have a
place in both the modern design studio and amongst the
sketching tools of an adventurous street artist.
Although I was taught never to use a ruler when
sketching, I do not now subscribe to this view. So many
of our landscapes and buildings are rectilinear in nature
that the use of a ruler to help establish the basic outline
and structure can no longer be considered a lazy short-
cut. The straight-edge is, however, no substitute for the
trained eye. If the sketch is as much learning process as
end product, the ruler may help the latter but does not
assist the former. Hence use the straight-edge if you will,
but do not expect to learn much from the assistance it
gives.26 Understanding architecture through drawing