Douglas Vail, AIA
Travel Sketchbook
Beginning in 2015, I served as the Program Coordinator and Faculty for the Architecture Program at Dallas College, creating the curriculum and teaching the courses in an industry-recognized Associate-degree program.
Steps in Sketching:
Find a strong view to sketch: look for something interesting in your view, even if it’s a very ordinary or mundane view.
Start drawing: lightly pencil in your horizon line, representing the halfway point between top and bottom of your view, and pencil in your vanishing point or points.
A one-point perspective results when you’re drawing a scene where the objects in the room or the space are parallel or perpendicular (at a right angle) to the direction in which you’re looking.
One-Point Perspective
A two-point perspective results when you’re drawing a scene where the objects in the room or the space are not parallel or perpendicular to the direction in which you’re looking (like the corner of a building).
Two Point Perspective
Layout the broad strokes of the four corners of your view: top edges and bottom edges, left and right sides. converging on vanishing point (or points). Incorporate your mistakes right into your drawing – make them look intentional.
Use your fingers to measure how big something is compared to something else already in your drawing – ex. the far corner of the room is twice the height of the bookcase.
Curves are difficult. I show them as a series of ovals or ellipses. They are more squished when they’re closer to your eye level and get fuller as they move away from your eye level. They’re full circles when they’re all the way above or below you.
I like to use a series of closely spaced vertical lines for my shadows. If I spread them out, it suggests a lighter shadow and if I tighten them up, it suggests a darker, more intense shadow.
When drawing trees, I draw the canopy, first, and I try to follow the outline of the canopy with my eyes and keep and looking down at my page to a minimum – I want the canopy to have a ‘randomness’ to its appearance that comes from not looking at the drawing. Then I add a tree trunk and stipple in shadows on the underside of the canopy.
Fill in detail: Distant people can be shown as a head and a torso and legs. You can use scribbles to depict distant detailing or shadows or plants and landscaping. Let the viewer fill in the detail – make them do the work.
Reflections on floors or walls obey the same perspective rules and converge on the same vanishing points as everything else in your scene.
When you sketch a scene, break complex forms down into a series of simpler shapes, and draw the shapes that you’re seeing. Don’t draw the ‘objects.’
A Couple of Tricks
To create a convincing rendered perspective, trace over a photo of a study model you’ve constructed. Then trace in landscaping, vehicles, people, etc.
To create a glowing night scene, trace over your sketch using the complimentary colors (opposite colors) of those you want to show. Then scan your image, and ‘invert’ it. The opposite of blue is orange, the opposite of red is green, and the opposite of yellow is purple.