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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING WORKSHOP

 

Additional Notes

Thank you for joining me on my Architectural Drawing Workshop. I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly did, and thank you also for the kind feedback - it meant a great deal to me! As promised I have provided a little more information but if you have any questions do get in touch at hello@gaelhillyard.com.

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Visual Anatomy of a Street Scene

We started the workshop by looking at a building from our physical perspective, and how to translate that into a desired composition. In the image on the left, which is of Stanford in Lincolnshire, you can clearly see that the vertical planes of the buildings will always remain true.

As we observe the view more, we can begin to notice changes in the presentation of horizontal lines depending on whether we directly look at the plane, for example if we view a wall head on, or if the view follows our line of distant sight, to a vanishing point, i,e. when they stop. If you look at the image above you will be clearly be able to make out these lines (you can do this by printing out this, or any photograph, and using a ruler to help you visualise it). The parts that are faced head on will have true horizontal lines, while those nearer to vanishing point will have deeper angles.

During the workshop we used these lines to form a basic structure, first by breaking down the building into geometric forms, such as rectangles, and ovals, and then enhancing these by introducing details such as flourishes, and shading to give depth.

As we progressed we looked at how to read a building, to give both a sense of its history, and its practical aspects: why windows are set back a little from the facia, how cupolas (domes) and pillars can help protect the fabric of the construction, and why windows change size relative to the building height. We also looked at the interior of the building and the different feel that was conveyed there.

We touched very briefly on colour and technique, and this is something I will be including future workshops.

In the meantime, I would love to see any work you have produced - send your images to hello@gaelhillyard.com.

Thank you, and happy architectural drawing.