Following on from my Haunted House series from Inktober, I got a lot of questions on
tips for drawing buildings; do I use a ruler, how do I get my proportions right…
I was hesitant to make this video because a lot of what I know about drawing buildings
just comes kind of instinctively now from a lot of practice but I thought I’d share
just a few tips that might help to get you started.
Today’s video is sponsored by Skillshare and if you’re looking for a more detailed
and in-depth look at drawing buildings; creating confident lines, understanding the components
of perspective and techniques for rendering light and shadow, then I’ve found a brilliant
course on there called 'Sketch Like an Architect: Step-by-Step from Lines to Perspective' which
I’ll have linked below.
The teacher of the class even offers a free pdf workbook which contains all the class
notes as well as some exercises to really get that practice going.
If you’re new here, Skillshare is an online learning site I genuinely use whenever I’m
looking to get a better understanding, learn something new or develop a new skill where
there are tens of thousands of classes on all sorts of things that might suit your needs.
In the next few weeks, I’m actually gonna be using Skillshare courses to try and work
on my knowledge of digital art and design softwares.
They’re offering free membership to the first 200 people who use the link I’ll have
listed in the description below, otherwise it’s $10 a month for premium membership
and access to their growing library.
Now on to the video.
1.
Dominant Shapes.
- Take a second before you dive right into the drawing to just observe the general shape
of the building.
Is it taller than it is wide?
Does it have an overall quite square shape.
Is it asymmetrical?
I’ll generally break up a building into 2-3 dominant shapes in my head, maybe an overall
large rectangle and a trapezoid roof.
I’ll then sketch those shapes out in pencil to give myself an overall guide to work with.
If you start out with smaller details, you might find that the scale and proportions
of your building end up all wrong.
2.
Straight Lines.
- I personally don’t use a ruler at any stage of a drawing as I like a less rigid
more natural look.
I’ve found that one of the easiest ways to draw a straight line is to not try to draw
a straight line.
When we try really hard and take slow, careful strokes, it’s pretty common for our hands
to shake and wobble.
Sketch lightly and at an even pace and don’t be afraid to go over the same mark twice.
Another tip for drawing straight lines is to follow the edges of the page as a guide.
Try resting your finger on the edge of the page and moving your hand without adjusting
the angle or grip.
And it always helps to take a step back and look at your piece from a distance to see
if you're on track.
3.
Proportions; ‘If This, Then That.’
- Once you’ve got your overall shapes mapped out, you can start splitting the building
into smaller elements like porches, roofs, windows and doors.
I use general comparison rules with each element using whatever I’ve already drawn.
So for example, here the house is split roughly into thirds.
The window on the right is about half the width of the third it’s in and just over
half the height.
For the area with the door, it’s also split into thirds, and if the door is this width
then the windows on either side will be slightly slimmer.
Build up the image one bit at a time, using the parts youve already drawn as reference
for the size and positioning of things.
4.
Add Character - When it comes to inking your drawing, this is where you can really inject
your style.
I see a lot of beginners building drawings that consist purely of clean lines and flat
shading.
If that’s your style then brilliant, but don’t be afraid to inject some life and
movement into the drawing with different textures, varying lines, interesting colour or gradients
or shading, or any other elements in your own art style.
5.
Stop Over-Thinking, Just Do It.
- As I said at the beginning of this video, a lot of the skill or knowledge with drawing
buildings, or drawing anything, comes with experience.
And that means making mistakes, because you’re never gonna get it right first time.
While watching video tutorials, taking classes and reading books is hugely important, nothing
beats putting pen to paper and trying and failing and learning along the way.
One of the reasons I love drawing buildings is that they’re so forgiving of small errors.
You can add things and take them away if they don’t fit, make things bigger or smaller,
lopsided, whatever.
You obviously want to avoid things like doors that lead to nowhere and floating chimneys
but as far as I’m concerned, it really doesn’t have to be perfect as long as it makes sense.
That’s all for this one, I hope there’s at least one tip that you’ll be able to
take away from this and for any further understanding, don’t forget to check out the Skillshare
link below.
Thanks so much for watching, I’ll see you soon for the next one.
Bye!