David Drazil's Blog, page 3

How to Draw People Like an Architect

  Drawing people and human figures is an essential skill for any architect or hobby sketcher in order to make sketched spaces more understandable and relatable.

Here are 3 Reasons Why integrating human figures in architectural sketches is important.

01/ Architecture is for People

Generally speaking, architecture is about creating spaces for people and therefore it makes sense to add people into spaces which are meant for them.

02/ Storytelling

By populating our sketches, we depict more lively environments and we create greater opportunities to express our idea, because people are the key element of storytelling.

03/ Sense of Scale

Finally, and most importantly, human figures add a sense of scale to our sketches. Therefore, we should always refer to a human figure when defining the scale of sketched spaces and surroundings.

Get better at sketching Human Figures by practicing with this Free Downloadable Worksheet!

Download Free Printable Worksheet for Human Figures!DownloadWe respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.

And don’t forget to grab your Freebies - to make it super easy for you, you can get my hand-sketched Human Figures as Photoshop Brushes (.abr), Vector graphics (.ai, .dwg) and more. Head over to Freebies to get them!

If you want more in-depth material on how to:

sketch human figures based on the right proportions

incorporate them into perspective sketches

and work with them to build a sketched composition in the right scale

then check out my PDF Handbook or join my Online Course for more video demonstrations.

Happy sketching!

David
#SketchLikeAnArchitect

PS. Check out also the following blog post: 3 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN SKETCHING HUMAN FIGURES

 

Step-by-step Tutorial: Shading in Perspective

  One of the basic skills in architectural sketching is adding shading to objects in our scene. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to distinguish between shade and shadow and how to add parallel shading correctly in perspective.

01/ Here are sample objects and given real direction of sunlight as well as its direction in plan (p).

02/ First, draw parallel lines with the real direction of sunlight through all the necessary corners. The sun rays are considered parallel in this example because of the great distance of the Sun.

03/ Construct the outlines of the shadows.

04/ Add vertical hatching to the shaded surfaces.

05/ Finally, use darker hatching for the areas of shadows. TIP: Choose the direction of hatching accordingly to the orientation of surfaces to make the objects easily readable.

Get the worksheets for practicing different areas of architectural sketching in my PDF Handbook or join my Online Course for more video demonstrations.

Happy sketching!

David
#SketchLikeAnArchitect

 

5 Key Take-Aways from my Conference Talk

  In November 2018, I had the pleasure to speak at the conference about architectural visualizations in the Czech Republic - Vizkon 2018.The title of my presentation was 'Is Sketching Dead?' and I talked about the role and importance of architectural sketching in today's world, which is heavily focused on digital technology. So today, I'd like to share with you 5 Key Take-Aways from my Talk.

01/ Most of architectural sketches are not for presentation

From my experience, vast majority of architectural sketches are process sketches - they serve mostly as a design tool and can help you improve and develop your ideas. By sketching you can brainstorm new ideas, solve problems, shape your design, and make iterations to optimize it. All done quickly and naturally.

02/ State of FLOW

Massive advantage of hand-sketching is that there is a direct and instant connection between your mind and your hand. There's no technological barrier like with using a software (no matter how good user you are). During sketching you can get very easily into the so-called state of FLOW, where your creativity and problem-solving skills are at their peak.

03/ Effective (!) Communication

Edgar Degas, well-known French painter, said: "Drawing is not what one sees, but what one can make others see." And there is some deep truth in that, isn't it? Sketching is mainly a tool for visual communication - and to be effective in such communication, we have to make sure that others understand exactly what we mean. Learning to sketch and draw well is a huge step towards better communication and understanding.

"Drawing is not what one sees, but what one can make others see."

Edgar Degas,French painter

04/ Human Touch

In free-hand sketching, there are many mistakes and imperfections. And it's alright. Humans are not perfect and they will never be. Good free-hand sketches contain a strong human touch which resonates with people and therefore sometimes it's a better way how to present an idea than with a clean and polished rendering.

05/ Designer = Problem-Solver + Communicator

Lastly, I wanted to share this definition of a designer, which is one of my favourites. It's short and very, very truthful. Designer has 2 main roles - it is a person who solves problems and communicates solutions. The whole #SketchLikeAnArchitect project is here because I believe that ability to sketch and draw dramatically helps designers in both of these roles.

So that's it. Do you think sketching is dead today? Just commment below and let me know what you think about this topic.

Until next time, take care and happy sketching!

David
#SketchLikeAnArchitect