HOW AND WHY I DRAW.

Background

Since October 2019 I have been posting some of my drawings on Linkedin. I started posting them by accident really, but have always tried to be informative and to tell more of the storyline of what I beleive makes an architect tick, drawing, in all its guises.

These posts have proven remarkably popular and a growing number of folk have been asking how and why I draw, so I have pulled together a range of my work and information related to my drawing techniques for those who are interested.

So, Why do I Draw?

Firstly I have always drawn and I find it hugely enjoyable, such an effective communication technique and a means to catalyse any thought and discussion.

I believe that drawing is fundamental to the practice of an architect and particularly in my own practice Nicoll Russell Studios.

We believe that it is every bit as important as the digital world and that it allows an architect to analyse, the time to think, to consider context, design development, co-ordination and ultimately the delivery of buildings. They catalyse your cognitive understanding as your draw of place, space and detail and they illuminate client discussions and design workshops or the resolution of construction detailing and sequencing on site. We believe that drawing is every bit as important as the computer and indeed encourage those working in the digital modelling of our work to use pens and paper to step back from the model at appropriate times and to consider by hand how key issues should be resolved.

It is an engaging process where everyone can take part and can be immensely enjoyable for clients.

Drawings for an architect can be very elegant or evocative, but they can quite often be quite primitive and used as an absolutely immediate form of visual communication, for instance drawn using a joiners pencil on plasterboard on a site.

Each form of communication has their place.

Analysis, the consideration of the specific on site and the way a design evolves at the tip of the pen gives you time to think, to get under the skin of a particular location, building and requirement, to create an approach which fits and seems right.

Sketchbooks

I am and have always been a keeper of #sketchbooks. They are part journal, part workbook, excercise and of course artform. I have many types, some more recently have offered added capabilities due to smart technology, but fundamentally I like a sketchbook which has a good robust cover, is easy to open, has good quality paper for a number of techniaues and is relatively portable. From that perspective I rarerly use an A3 pad, but will use a double page spread to create a larger work, that tends to be more easily achieved when the pad has laced pages as opposed to spiral bound pages.

Historically I have used spiral bouns Daler Rowney Cartridge Pads in A6, A5 and A4 sizes. Alongside Lyndhurst spiral bound 7x5 and 10x8 pads and Moleskine large and extra large pads which are stiched (allowing for double page spreads). The Lyndhurst and Daler Rowney pads are relatively inexpensive and therefore have lighter paper ranging from 135 g/sm to 150 g/sm and 25 to 40 pages per pad, whereas the Moleskine pads are more expensive but they provide up to 88 sheets (176 sides) and provide papers ranging from 100g/sm to 200g/sm for sketchbooks and above all are robust so provide a good surface to draw on when outside.

It is easy to be overburdened by kit and paper, it all takes time to assemble and it all adds to weight when you carry it and it then all has to be selected when drawing. So, very often the best idea is to use as few sketchbboks, pens, pencils etc as possible. I can certainly vouch for that, because I do go mountainbiking and draw when I am out an about, so I end up carrying mountainbike gear, food, water and drawing gear to boot, so packing with discretion is important. Ultimately the big thing is drawing.

What to Draw?

That obviously depends upon why you are drawing.

In my work I will draw on site to let the site soak in to analyse it, in terms of its built, townscape and landscape context, I use it for design development, comminication between colleagues, consultants, clients, stakeholders and contractors and of course presentations. So my view point is entirely focussed upon the design process or likely design process, augmented by walking the site and of course photographs. In terms of communication, subjects and view points are selected to tell the story of the scheme in hand, to be informative and to catalyse discussions.

For pleasure I draw whatever catches my architect's eye, but that may at times attract me to the surprisingly humdrum, the backlands, the industrial and the vernacular, as much as it does to the refined architecture of our great cities. Drawing certainly heightens the moment and it is a great counter point to mountainbiking allowing a focus on the place and the moment. Indeed during lockdown due to the restrictions in place this helped me 'revisit' places I could no longer go too and to heighten the enjoyment of places far closer to home and ecourage me to discover. Of course due to social distancing requirements I am very careful where and how I draw. I draw very quickly, I am deliberately aloof and I suplement what I draw with photographs. Colour as a result has moved from the field to my house, which in turn has allowed me to relive the experience all over again, It must therefore be a great mix for my health and wellbeing - so why not give it a go. And in turn that has also encouraged me to use increasingly mixed media approaches, because at this moment in time we are all communicating digitally.

Tools and Techniques

So here is a glimpse of my daily work environment whilst working from home.

Some of the tools I am using for my #architectural work & for #sketching are my #Moleskine Pen+ smartpen which works with paper tablets by recording the line you draw & then importing it into the computer/phone, a Moleskine paper tablet is shown below the pens complete with one of my recent drawings of St Monans in Fife, my #Huion GT221 Kamvas Pro Graphic Display Tablet is in the background & has been stitched together and shadows applied in layers. Then to the side is a #Lamy #fointainpen (a basic one), a #Bamboo #smartpen which works with my iPhone and iPAd & of course a #Staedler #pencil.

So a real mixture of old school & new school.

The Graphic Display Tablet can be thought of as a large iPad, which is plugged into my computer. It is only controlled via its own smart pen and is therefore not confused by accidentally touching the screen etc. Graphic files can be large, certainly the image of Dub-da-Lamh which forms the masthead was really too large to be drawn on an #iPad both in terms of physical size and file size, my new setup, therefore offers the much greater processing power of my laptop, The #Huion model is my introduction to this technology, its screen is vibrant, it was easy to setup as a second monitor, it came with everything I needed and comes complete with LH and RH hot keys easing navigation. Although there are no doubt better more expensive models out there it has been a real eye opener to me, my only slight gripe is a minor parallax at the pen tip, but given its modest price this is entirely excusable.

I use a variety of software but at the moment I am most often using #Autodesk's #Sketchbookpro to render my images. I find the software to be very intuitive, easy and enjoyable to use and that the pens and brush tools provide everything I certainly need, Thus far I have not encountered anything negative whilst using the programme, The added benefit at present is that the software is free and is available on multiple platforms.

This setup has really supported my collaborative work with members of our team throughout Lockdown both in terms of drawing, whiteboarding and overmarking administration material. It has been highly productive,

But I also use Winsor and Newton Promarker pens in both their alcohol and watercolour based versions, the watercolour pens promote easy watercolouring outdoors allied to a waterbrush (where the brush is also a reservoir, Derwent and Caran d'Ache pencils and watercolour pencils and Pentel Pointliner black pens, as well as technical pencils and no nonesense Biro's.

Importing Linework and Animations

Clearly I use a scanner for the vast bulk of imports, but at times I also use my phone's camera and keystoning and the iPhone's standard software to correct the image if I need to acheive something out and about.

For those that are interested my drawings which are animated are mostly drawn using a #Moleskine Pen + on a #Moleskine #PaperTablet.

It’s a #smartpen which films me drawing & because of a mesh of invisible symbols on the paper the pen knows exactly where & what I have drawn. It’s really is quite smart allowing you to calibrate pressure sensitivity etc.

The beauty of this approach is that I really am #drawing on paper but I also have the ability to download my drawing straight into a graphics programme & save it as a .svg file or .png file with a line drawing with a transparent background or a .jpg file with a white background.

I can then take either into #Autodesk’s #Sketchbookpro to #render the drawing should I wish.

Because it films me drawing I can also save time lapses of my sketches as they emerged on the paper. These are played via the pen's app on my phone and then captured using teh phone's standard software, why the pen's app doesn't do that itself is slightly perplexing.

All in all this means I have a means of recording sketches digitally in my pocket, whilst enjoying the touch of the pen on real paper.

It is therefore a wonderful piece of technology my only negative point about it is that at times it does not record energetic lines, so it requires a more careful development of the drawing. That said, it has allowed me to create highly effective drawings and animations in the field paired to my phone allowing me to post drawings and videos literally from where I am standing drawing, creating current and interesting content supporting my storyline of why and how I draw,

Engagement

As I have already said, our practice firmly believes in the importance of drawing in terms of thinking, analysis, design development, stakeholder #engagement and problem solving which underpins the development of projects via a raft of computer applications. Each has their place. But drawing fundamentally allows people to freely communicate, to break down barriers and to engage. The success of my LinkedIn posts underlines I think underlines that and I hope that lay people and architects find this article of interest.