Ditch Your Eraser

USk Chicago: Tuesday Tips & Tricks by Ted Gordon

What’s the fastest way to improve your drawing?

Ditch your eraser.

How can I get a decent image of my pencil sketch online?

While you are at it, ditch your pencil; draw in ink.

GOING ERASERLESS:
The more you do something, the better you get at it. When you are studying what something looks like and practicing rendering it, you are improving your drawing ability. When you are erasing those marks, you are practicing erasing, not drawing. Don’t worry about stray marks, just keep drawing.

Another way I like to put this:

Everyone has thousands of terrible drawings in them. The sooner you get them out, the better. Erasing will only slow you down.

INK:
Committing to eraser-free drawing is easier, if you draw with something difficult to erase.

A huge benefit of drawing in ink is that it photographs well! You don’t have to sharpen an ink drawing, adjust its contrast or do anything! If you do, it handles those adjustments much more simply and clearly than a graphite drawing.

Create cleaner drawings. Ink, compared to graphite, stays where it’s put and doesn't need fixative applied to make that happen. It’s less likely to smudge and, depending on which ink you use, can be more or less waterproof.

Draw with Confidence!

If you are nervous about abandoning your eraser, you may be surprised how drawing with ink can make your marks more bold - in more ways than one.

Using a pen encourages you to be more deliberate. That creates a cleaner, more elegant line, in my opinion.

Conversely, if that ‘tightens you up’, go nuts. Put all those lines down there. As long as you are looking and drawing, you are improving.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I highly recommend drawing without your eraser, if you haven’t. You’ll notice that many Urban Sketchers are drawing in ink already. My recommendation comes from the advice of greater artists that have preceded us as well as my own experience, seeing this improve my drawing and the drawings of my students.

You can see my Urban Sketches and Plein Air Paintings here: http://www.tedgordonart.com/ http://instagram.com/motionimpossible

What do you think? Have you experimented with leaving your eraser out of the picture? What other reasons do you like to draw without your eraser, or in ink?

How Urban Sketching and Plein Air Painting Compare and Contrast

TUESDAY TIPS & TRICKS, by Ted Gordon

How are the Urban Sketchers and Plein Air Painting movements related?

As an artist with a hand in both and with our upcoming combined show, the Urban Sketchers Chicago Holiday Showcase, with Featured Guests, Plein Air Painters of Chicago 11/21-12/13/2015, let’s examine similarities and differences.

HISTORY

Technology had something to do with the formation of both. Plein Air means "in the open air" or simply, “outdoors.” The technological advance of paint in tubes allowed artists in the mid 1800s to explore nature and capture the effects of sunlight in the moment. Urban Sketchers is about drawing on location, in a supportive, global community. The internet was key to its formation and is integral to the global sharing aspect.

Plein Air: Elephant Vigil at Showmen's Rest, A Plein Air painting in a limited palette of Richeson casein

SIMILARITIES

Both groups create images on location, in the moment.

With some exceptions, the size of our drawings and paintings tend to be small, for reasons of both portability and time.

We travel with our materials. Watermedia (watercolor, gouache, and casein) and digital tools are used in either. Of all of these, watercolor is the most popular crossover medium in my experience.

We’re both interested in capturing the Truth of a place and time, exploring the world around us.

Fountain of the Muses, Rio De Janeiro, in Winsor & Newton watercolor

DIFFERENCES

There are exceptions to all of these items, however, in general, the differences tend to be about time and materials. Plein Air Painting tends to take much more time per image and is painted with paint or pastels. Urban Sketches can be created in much less time and may use any material.

Urban Sketches tend to be even smaller than a typical plein air painting. When you consider that an Urban Sketch might be drawn on a pocket-sized sketchbook while waiting in line, as opposed to being created on an easel set up for several hours, you can understand why.

Urban Sketches, without question, can also be drawn indoors. Cafes, museums, and concert venues are all typical Urban Sketchers venues. Exceptions prove how similar these efforts are. In both Plein Air Painting and Urban Sketchers, the world is our studio.

Based in its journalistic roots, Urban Sketchers aims to tell the story of our surroundings. Urban Sketches are far more likely to contain text within the work than in a Plein Air painting.

The story of a Plein Air painting can be much less literally narrative. For instance, the story could be about what the sunlight is doing during your painting or how intensely blue that boat is.

Plein Air is almost always done on an easel. Urban Sketching sometimes is, but often isn’t, for mobility and quickness.

While Plein Air paintings are made with paint or pastels, Urban Sketchers draw with any kind of media and wildly individual styles. Plein Air styles, while they can be quite varied, aren’t as divergent as the Urban Sketchers styles can be, in my opinion.

Urban Sketchers tends to be more casual, mobile, and quick. Urban Sketchers’ subjects are more likely to have a person or an action as the subject. In contrast, plein air paintings often take much more time to complete and are more likely to contain natural environmental or architectural subjects.

Plein Air painters are more likely to edit an environment for aesthetic purposes. A tree might move or wires might be omitted without feeling that the truth of the place had been compromised in plein air.

Lindberg Park, painted in Winsor & Newton watercolor on location. Are these Plein Air or Urban Sketches? Yes!

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I think that some of the differences are superficial, while others are very strong. Which you are doing at a given time may have more to do with your equipment and intention than anything else. There are definitely times when the lines are blurred. To be clear, I don't make a value judgement between the two and there's no reason you can't do each in the same day.

For artists that like to experiment, I encourage you to try both!

You can see more of my work, Urban Sketches and Plein Air Paintings here:

http://www.tedgordonart.com/

http://instagram.com/motionimpossible

What do you think? In what other ways are Urban Sketchers and Plein Air Painting similar or different?

One Spot - Two Different Subjects

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon in the loop, riding my bike, sketching and taking photos.  One of the reasons I love living in the city is the ability to hop on Lake Shore Drive bike path and just ride and see where the day takes me.  After a recent guided kayaking tour I took with my wife on the Chicago River, I was inspired to return to one of the major stops, near Merchandise Mart and the recently finished river walkway.  I found a nice spot on the Franklin Street Bridge.  With a great view east, down the river towards Michigan Avenue, I started off with this loose ink sketch of the skyline.  I normally like to lay out my sketches in pencil, but just decided to go for it in ink with this one.  I tend to be a perfectionist.  I like to spend my time making a sketch work well, often times, too much time.  However, diving right into this ink drawing was a real nice change of pace and really freeing, creative experience.  Instead of making sure each line was completely straight, I allowed the pace of my drawing to dictate the characteristics of the sketch.  All in all, I was really pleased with how it turned out and was able to capture the essence of the skyline with gestural lines, stippling and some hatching.

The beautiful thing about being in the Loop is that there is nearly an endless supply of things to sketch.  Having finished the skyline sketch, I stayed in the same spot and sketched the Franklin Street Bridge House, which was a lot closer to me and allowed for some greater attention to material, proportion and detail.  The lighting and shadows were changing very fast so I penciled in a rough outline and indicated where the shadows were at the time.  By the time I finished the pencil sketch, the shadows had already changed and disappeared.  I then inked the drawing with a fountain pen and Faber Castell Cold Grey IV 233 PITT artist pen.



These two sketches were both done in a Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook, which has become my go to sketchbook for pen and ink sketching.  For a long time, I have had a tendency to go back and forth between one sketchbook and another.  I would bounce between a sketchbook geared toward watercolor, to one with ivory colored paper to another with grey toned paper.  But, I've enjoyed this Epsilon paper so much, I've been diligent in filling it up.  This sketchbook is shaping up to be one of my favorite collections of sketches yet.   I look forward to filling it up and seeing where the rest of the pages take me.

You can see more of my work and sketches on Instagram: @abillustrator and my professional website www.AndrewBanksIllustration.com.

I am trying to savor the last precious days of nice outdoor sketching weather before Chicago winter returns.

Until next time!

Andrew

August 2015 Sketch Meet: Blick Art Materials, Evanston

August 15th Sketch Meet - Group Photo © Kordt Larsen

Each month, Urban Sketchers Chicago meets at a different location to sketch as a group.   On Saturday August 15th, we had the unique opportunity to partner with Blick Art Materials in Evanston for this months event. 

Veterans to the group and many new comers alike gathered inside Blick for a brief introduction to Urban Sketching by Wes Douglas.  We were thrilled to see so many new faces.  Thank-you to Blick Art Materials for promoting the event and our group in their Evanston store location!

Wes Douglas introduces Urban Sketching to new participants © Alex Zonis

© Alex Zonis

Per usual, we dispersed throughout the local neighborhood to sketch for a few hours.
After sketching, everyone re-grouped at Blick to share their work with one another.  Blick was kind enough to let us take over one of their long glass display cases where everyone
laid out their sketchbooks.  

© Kordt Larsen

© Andrew Banks

© Andrew Banks

© Andrew Banks

I have been participating with USk Chicago since 2013 and have never seen so many sketchbooks laid out together at a monthly event like this before.  Since I began participating with USk Chicago and the Urban Sketchers movement, it has been fun to see our Chicago community grow to the 400+ member group we are today.  Each month's event seems to attract a larger and larger group each time.

At the end of the day, Blick hosted a raffle drawing where three lucky winners recieved gift cards, each valuing $25, $50 and $100.  Thank-you to Blick for thier generosity and congratulations to the raffle winners!

Evanston Blick Art Materials Manager and raffle winners

After sharing our sketches, many of us walked over to World of Beer for food, drinks and conversation.

If you are interested in joining us at our next event in September, keep an eye out for an announcement which will be made on September 1st.

If you have any questions about Urban Sketching or our Chicago chapter, feel free to email us at urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com.  If you live in the Chicago area and are interested in joining our group, find us on Facebook and request to join.

Lastly, you can also find USk Chicago on

Twitter: @USk_Chicago
Instagram: @USkChicago

Look forward to seeing everyone at September's event!

-Andrew Banks

We All Have A Sketch To Tell

A Recap of The Chicago Sketch Seminar 2015

The recent Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar, held July 11th and 12th at the Palette & Chisel and surrounding neighborhoods was a fascinating collection of art instruction, collaboration, conversations and the sharing of art supplies. But most importantly, the act of so many people coming together to the north side of Chicago is to create memories and stories.

Each time that an urban sketcher puts pencil, pen or brush to paper, they are creating memories about a scene. A scene which they have spent a few minutes choosing carefully as the one they are going to invest as much as a half hour or more sketching and painting. This takes time, a lot more than a quick snap of a camera to record, and with each stroke there is plenty of brain activity taking place into the selection and mixing of color, brush type, pen selection and considerations for composition. After a personal investment of time and talent upwards of an hour, very few of these sketchers will ever say, "Well, that was a colossal waste of time." It would be akin to delivering your first baby and say "That was interesting, now where were we?"

There were other stories that were more about the human spirit than in paper and paint brush. Deb Donnelly was leading her Sunday morning workshop on "Mingling Watercolor with Words" when a young woman from Korea happened upon her group. As Deb tells the story, this young woman was in her final hours of her visit to America and she was trying to capture as many of the artifacts that she could get her hands on to take back home to Korea with her before she had to leave. 

She was attracted to all of the wonderful art supplies laid out by the workshop participants, even wanted to purchase a few of them until she spotted the Chicago Sketch Seminar t-shirt (printed by Monkey Pencil Screenprinting) worn by one of the participants. That participant, Miguel Retana, was so moved by this Korean woman's need to buy this shirt from him that it led Miguel to taking the shirt off his back and gifting the shirt to her. It would be a memory that would not soon be forgotten by this young woman, Miguel, or any of the urban sketchers who were there to experience this wonderfully warm gesture.

If you are interested in learning more about the kind of seminars that Urban Sketchers Chicago produces, the art supplies we use, our monthly Sketch Crawls, and the warm humans who make up our group, send us a quick note to Urban Sketchers Chicago 
at urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com or check out the Facebook group's page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Urban Sketchers Chicago/

CALL FOR PHOTOS!

Did you take pictures at the Chicago Sketch Seminar?  The USk Chicago Planning team is writing a series of blog posts recapping our Sketch Seminar weekend.  We want to see the Seminar from your perspective, thank our sponsors for their contributions, and show them the amazing work that each of you created.

Please send pictures of:

• you using sponsorship art materials or prizes
• sketches made with the sponsorship materials or prizes
• instructors demonstrating with sponsorship materials

Email your pictures to urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com with the subject line "Seminar Photos".  Tell us which products you used and what your impressions of them are.  If your photo(s) are used, you will be given credit.

Keep an eye out for blog posts coming in the the next month!

Sincerely,
USk Chicago Planning Team

Sketching Architectural Details

TUESDAY TIPS AND TRICKS

If you have ever finished a sketch, held it up and compared it to the actual subject only to realize that something about your sketch was just not right, this post is for you.

Between Barbara Week's recent post entitled "Off The Grid - Designing a Page" which talked about guidelines as compositional tools, and a recent architectural sketch I made, I wanted to "piggy-back" off of the topic of guidelines in urban sketching and talk specifically about how guidelines can help you simplify and map out the different parts of architectural details.

Buildings and architectural details can seem like daunting subjects to draw.  Thankfully, there are several observational cues to pick up on that will help you map out your drawing and establish an educated guess about the sizes, proportions, patterns and elements that make up your specific detail.  You don't even need to know the technical names of the architectural elements, or how they go together.  You just have to have the ability to make observations.  After all, that's half the battle of urban sketching is, isn't it?

(A couple quick side notes: 1.Check out a couple of my previous and related posts for a more full set of tips on architectural sketching.  "Perspective for the Urban Sketcher" and "Drawing Architecture: Sighting Size and Proportion" AND 2) these ideas can be applied to other subjects including figure drawing, landscapes, and most other types of subjects as well.)

Here is the scan of my sketch.  As you can see more clearly here than in the picture above, I used several guidelines in my initial pencil sketch before adding value in ink.  I left the pencil guidelines in for aesthetics.  Personally, I like how guidelines can add to the story of a sketch.  Guidelines show your process.  They add a level of technicality to the drawing. Many of the greatest artists left pencil underlays partially visible in their masterpieces. I think guidelines give an added personal touch, but this is just my opinion.

The image to the right is fairly self explanatory, however, I will share a little bit about how I approached this drawing.

I began by drawing the center line (dashed) guideline.  Since this detail is symmetrical, the center line is the most important guide to get you started.  Recognizing that the left and right sides of the detail have the same width, I added two more vertical guides, spaced equally as far away from the center line as I could have approximated while standing up, holding the sketchbook.

After I had determined the overall width of the detail, I used the sighting technique (explained in more detail here) to approximate how many widths (D) tall the detail was.  I found that the details was about 1.75 widths (D) tall.  Basing all of the approximate sizes off of one or two of the dimensions in your detail will help you keep all of the different parts of the drawing proportional to the detail as a whole and in relationship to one another.

I then drew a few horizontal lines.  I found larger shapes that I could use as benchmarks for the detail, so to speak.  So as you can see, (bottom to top) my horizontal guidelines fell on the base of the column, the center line of the window, the top of the middle column, the top of the two side columns, the bottom of the entablature, as well as the top of the arched pediment at the top.  Like in all other forms of design, there is a method to the madness in this detail's composition, which is why the sizes of A, .5A and 1.5 A all work well together, and were easy to approximate.

I drew the guidelines at the center line of the window, the top of the middle column, and the tops of the two side columns first.  A quick approximation told me that the bottom and top portions were half the height of A, and that the curved pediment on top was about 1.5A.

Now that the major heights and widths were mapped out, I filled in all of the rest of the details. (Column capitals, window mullions, arched openings above windows, additional lines on the entablature, as well as the dentils in the molding).  I did not draw guidelines for every single detail (although if you want to you can.)  Instead, since the major sizes and proportions were laid out, I could then "eyeball" the sizes and proportions of the smaller details since enough information was already mapped out for me.

This is something that may take a while to get the hang of, but once you do it a few times it will begin to make more sense.  At first, sketching like this may take a little longer than just "winging it".  However, the more you do it, the more it will make sense and will end up increasing your sketching speed in the end.  Learning how to sight size, proportion and perspectives were the most valuable urban sketching skills I learned when I was first introduced to urban sketching.  They are skills I use in almost every sketch I do to this day.

I hope this post, along with the previous posts on sighting and perspective are helpful.  Feel free to ask any questions.

Lastly, don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.  If you live in the Chicago area, connect with us through Facebook.  We sketch as a group every third weekend of each month at different locations throughout Chicago.

Andrew

Lessons From Your Own Sketchbooks

Tuesday Tips & Tricks


With only 17 days until spring, there is light at the end of this wintry tunnel, and before you know it you will be able to sketch this incredible city outdoors again.  Every year around this time, I start getting antsy for the upcoming spring and summer months. After being cooped up and restricted by the subzero temperatures, short days and lake effect snow I am ready to get back outside and fill up new sketchbooks.  I am sure all of the Chicago sketchers can relate.  For those of you who have the privilege of sketching in a warm climate all year round, this may enlighten you to the struggles of a Chicago sketcher in the winter:

You might be a Chicago sketcher if....

• You have sketched the view from your living room window this winter more times than you can remember.
• You look out this same window hoping something new to sketch magically appears so you can satisfy your sketching needs.
• you have had to out-sketch mother nature freezing the ink in your pens or watercolor pallets
• you have put on more than three layers of clothing just to stay warm on a sketch outing
• you have spent hours flipping through sketching blogs, galleries, books and old sketchbooks in anticipation for warmer weather and more sketching opportunities....

If you have been thinking about urban sketching  more than actually sketching lately, you have also likely thought about your personal sketching style and at some point wondered how you could develop it, improve it or take it in a different direction.  I know I have, and as I recently flipped through my collection of sketchbooks I was reminded of how incredibly valuable our own sketchbooks are as teaching tools.  So much of urban sketching is about experimentation, trial and error, process and spontaneity.  Whether you realize it or not, each sketch you create is a compilation of countless artistic decisions.  These decisions shape your sketching style and express the way you see the world around you on paper.

Every once in a while it is well worth our time to look back at old sketchbooks to see where our sketching journey began, what artistic thoughts were running through our mind, what types of media we were experimenting with, and which techniques worked and which didn't.  Did you take notes about some valuable insight you discovered in the process of creating a particular sketch?  The nature of urban sketching is so spontaneous that we often move onto the next sketch, forgetting all about the sparks of genius that happened in our past sketches.  There are so many opportunities for us to learn from and build upon our own work.  Taking a look at our past sketches is a great way to see how much we have grown, to be reminded of where our creative process was at different stages of our lives and how it has evolved.  

So, while we wait through the rest of what Chicago winter has to throw as us, my challenge for you is to dig up the very first sketchbook you ever kept and flip through it.  



Go through the rest of your sketchbooks until you get to your current sketchbook (or most recent sketches).  What are your gut reactions?  You will be reminded of all of the great work you have already done, all of of the places you have seen, and all of the techniques you have tested.  Here are some more questions to ask yourself while doing this.  I hope these will start turning some wheels about how much you can learn from your own sketchbooks:

• What kind of things did I sketch?  Do I need to add variety to my choice of subject matter?
• Have I challenged myself by choosing subject matter that is out of my comfort zone?
• What different types of media have I tried?  
• What have I learned about my favorite pens, paints, markers etc...and how they react to different types of paper?
• What kinds of improvements do I see in my technique and how can I continue to build upon this?
• Which artists or sketchers influenced my work early on, and who influences my work now?
• What are 2-3 techniques I have always wanted to learn more about, but still have never gotten around to trying?

I hope that those questions begin to allow your sketchbooks to teach you.  Remember not to be too hard on yourself.  We can often be our own worst critics.  If you are looking to pick up some new sketching skills, USk Chicago will be hosting it's second annual Sketching Seminar in July.  More details about this will be on their way in the near future...

Best,
Andrew Banks

Graded Wash in Watercolor

Tuesday Tips and Tricks

Watercolor is a great tool for urban sketching.  In this post, I will show you a technique I use frequently in both urban sketching and my professional work.

Watercolor is a delicate media and can be frustrating to work with if you do not have some basic steps to work with.  Graded washes are a helpful skill to know when wanting to capture light, shade and shadow.  In nature, light rarely hits a surface as a flat tone.  Factors such as the orientation of the subject, the context of the subject and the direction from which the light is coming from all impact how light appears on the subject. 

Here is a step by step process for creating a smooth, graded wash with watercolor, followed by a few practical applications for graded washes:

Creating the Graded Wash:



1) Hold your sketchbook or paper at an angle to allow the watercolor to flow down the paper.  About a 35 degree angle works well for me.  If the angle is too high, the water will drip too fast for you to control.  If the angle is too low, the paint will not move fast enough, could cause unwanted buckling of the paper and will not allow for a smooth wash.

2) Load brush with completely clear water.  Apply clear wash to paper, creating a bead, allowing the water to gather slightly.  (If your angle is just right, the water will stay where you guide it.)  Make sure there is an even amount of water in all parts of the bead.



3)  Load your brush with a highly diluted watercolor wash and introduce it into the clear wash before it has time to soak into the paper and dry.  With downward brush strokes, pull the bead of paint down the page.  You will begin to see the pigment from your brush get pulled into the clear wash.

4) Load your brush with a slightly more pigmented wash and introduce it into your bead, continuing to pull it down the page.  (Work on doing this quickly.  If you allow the bead to dry, you will be left with a line of color that will interrupt the graded wash).



5) Load your brush with the highest pigmented wash and continue to pull the bead downward.



6) Bring your bead to your desired edge or location.  Shake the brush off of or touch the brush to a paper towel to absorb the excess water.  Gently touch your dry brush to the bead.  Your brush will absorb the excess water back into the brush, leaving an even surface of paint on the paper.  If we left the bead of water on the paper, the excess paint would diffuse back up into the earlier wash and would create an unwanted stain.





 

7) Repeat steps 2-6 until you get the values you want.

Graded Wash Applications:
Here are just a few examples of applications for graded washes

Shadows
Here, the graded wash works perfectly for a shadow cast on the underside of an awning.  On a sunny day, light will reflect off of the ground surface back on the building wall.  The graded wash allows you to show this reflected light gradually darkening as it gets farther from the ground and up under the awning.



Curved objects
Curved objects have a range of tones (highlight, mid tone, shadow, reflected light, cast shadow) that can be achieved with graded wash.

Skies
Depending on where the sun is in the sky, the sky will have a graded wash.  For example when the sun is low on the horizon, the graded wash will be light on the horizon line and darker the higher you go into the sky.  When the sun is higher in the sky it is generally the opposite.

Drawing Architecture: Sighting Size and Proportion

In my last post “Perspective for the Urban Sketcher:Sighting” I shared a technique for drawing in perspective.  With some of the feedback I received from that post, I was reminded of a related, yet different technique that can be used with sighting.  Sighting can also be used to gauge size and proportions.  In this post, I will build upon the sighting technique and show you how to draw architecture, simplifying an elevation down to large, simple shapes and using architectural features as measuring devises.

If you've ever spent time observing architecture, you've probably noticed that there are almost always some degree of pattern and relationships between different shapes and masses.  Whether they are windows, doors, columns, arches, roofs etc... they are all sized and proportioned in relationship to one another and to the building as a whole.  An urban sketcher can use different elements of a building as tools to his/her advantage, especially when sighting.

When sketching architecture, size and proportions are dependent on your distance from and relative position to your subject.  So, before getting to the steps, the following rule must be followed in order for this technique to work:

Remember, once you decide where to sit and sketch, you must stay in the same spot until you have at least marked out all sizes and proportions.  (Once you move, your distance and relative position to the subject changes, and your sighting approximations will be inconsistent).

Sighting Size and Proportions: Step by Step

1) Take a few minutes to observe the building, pointing out some of the major shapes, structural features or patterns.  When sighting for size and proportion, you will draw your building starting with the larger masses of the building, moving down to the smallest masses and details last.

2) Chose one feature of the building to use as a measuring unit.  I chose the width of the tower.  With your sighting tool (pencil, wooden skewer etc…), fully extend your arm out, placing it in front of the architectural feature.  (It helps to close one eye and squint).  Move your thumb along your sighting tool until it reaches the edge of the architectural feature, essentially measuring the feature’s width.  This will become the measuring unit for the majority of the sighting.  So, all measurements will be in X number of tower widths.

3)  Measure the width and height of the building.  The length of this building was about 8 tower width’s wide.  The tower was 3.5 tower widths tall, and the roof heights changed at different locations, but ranged from 1.5-2 tower widths tall.  Use tick marks and guidelines to help visualize your measurements.  Here I marked out the overall length of the building at slightly more than 8 widths.  Use guidelines for all of your measurement.  You will begin to see how different parts of the building relate to one another.

 4) Mark out all the other large masses.  In this building there were essentially 6 large masses that comprised the entire elevation.  I sized each portion based on my measuring unit, the tower width.



The 8 tick marks I made on the length of the building helped as guidelines.  So for example, I sighted that the first mass (farthest left) was about ¾ of 1 tower width.  Since I have the tower width marked out, I was able to draw my vertical line for that portion of the wall at ¾ of the way through the first tick mark.  Repeat these steps for the rest of the masses.



5) Now that you've marked out the largest masses of the building, move to the medium sized masses.  For me these were the arches, windows and doors.  The colonnade of arches is nicely divided into 6 uniform bays, so I was easily able to divide the middle portion of the building up into 6 equal parts.  Use this type of logic for the rest of the details.  (If your details are not evenly spaced, simply use a smaller architectural element as your measuring unit to determine the distances and proportions you need.)

Now you can begin to add details, value, shading and shadows.



Once you feel comfortable sighting sizes and proportions on a building at a straightforward view, you will be ready to combine the techniques of perspective with those in this post.

I hope this is helpful!  As always, let me know if you have any questions!

-Andrew