SKETCHBOOK MONDAY: a technical drawing

A little drafted piece I've been working on; it incorporates lines, color and text to tell a story. From a distance it's pretty abstract, but the closer you get the more it reveals.
Ok, this is technically not a sketch. You got me.
Hope you had a lovely weekend sketching, or drawing!

SKETCHBOOK MONDAY

On Sunday my girlfriend Alyson and I joined a small group of artists, drawing enthusiasts and novices for an intensive figure drawing workshop at the MFA. We arrived at 10:00 armed with charcoal and paper and went till 2:00. It was intense.

We started with 5 second interval poses. The model moved and kept moving and the seconds, we quickly realized, went by much too quickly. We learned that a good drawing starts with a single line that captures the longest gesture of a figure. 

I had taken figure drawing classes before, but I learned so much during this intensive workshop. Below are my drawings in order from the start of class to the last drawing I did. You can see the progress as you scroll down the page. At first they don't look like much. As Patrick said when I arrived home and showed him the first page in my sketchbook, "I could do that."

He's right. I believe anyone can draw. Like anything you have to be taut and most importantly you have to practice. And boy is it clear just how much practice I need.

Learning the proportions of the human body.

I assure you the model has all her limbs...not that you would know that from the drawings below.

Hm, not bad. Less is sometimes better.

Crazy alien head woman below.

Starting to understand proportion a bit better here.

And these are the final drawings above. Not bad. What do you think? Have you taken a figure drawing class lately. Would you ever take one if you haven't?

Drawing by hand

Every semester there is always one well intentioned student that asks, "Do I have to draw by hand?".  I first gasp, then take a sip of water to calm myself and wonder where it is they are getting the memo that not knowing how to draw by hand is an option?
In my calmest possible voice, I explain that hand drawing is the most visceral way an architect accesses and communicates ideas. Drawing is like breathing to us. It's immediate and is a way for us to communicate with our brain, directly. Sounds like science fiction. You'd think that would get them.
Maybe (very likely) I'm becoming a dinausaur, extinct in my thinking that a line on paper is like poetry, or music. Hmm, maybe that's were I've really gone wrong. If only it were more like a thousand images speeding by very quickly. Alas, it is not. It's just slow and meditative.
That may be so, but my drafting table stays, and so does my belief that to be an architect you still have to learn how to draw...by hand, slowly and painfully like the rest of us did. Yep, I'll keep fighting extinction one class at a time.

Drawing in the evenings

My easel has stood dormant for some time. A few years back I painted, often. But lately with all that's been going on at M.G studio I'm left with no time for that. But lately I've been feeling the itch.  I still need to carve out a corner of space in the house that feels like it's just for working on paintings or drawings. But until then, here's what's in the works.
I had an abandoned piece of cardboard lying around and thought, well, I can draw on that. So I did, with charcoal. It's still a work in progress, but I'm loving how it's just a manifestation of whatever comes to mind, unplanned. No surprise it has it's roots in architectural drawing.
The plan is to, every night, after dinner head to the easel for a couple of hours of work. It feels so luxurious to be able to take that time just for myself. Starting is the hard part, and that parts done!

SKETCHBOOK MONDAY

My good friends Rebecca and Chris (recently named one of Boston's Power Couples!) have a beautiful home. I'm lucky enough to be invited over often for lovely dinners and gatherings with friends. So when they asked me to design their latest home improvement project I was thrilled. Look for a post on construction progress later this week, but for now here are some sketched that will give you a little peak into the project.

Hope you had a great weekend! I spent some time sitting outside at a cafe sketching. It was lovely.

SKETCHBOOK MONDAY: better late then never

Ok, it's Tuesday. You know it and I know it. Oops. Yesterday slipped away somehow and I had no time to get here to post. But, alas, I'm here now and Sketchbook Monday is in full effect. I dug through the archives for these sketches. I thought I would post a few that show what a sketch ultimately becomes...

What seem like scribbles in the sketch above left are actually the beginning thoughts for the Birds Clutch, above right. Can you see it? Squint, no?
And below is an idea I had for a mobile made from plywood cut into the iconic for of little houses. I did make a few little houses and a couple of mobiles. Those ended up being made of paper. I gave them as gifts and, of course, didn't get any good photos. But, there are a few bad ones here you can check out.
I think this is a project I need to pick up again and see where it goes! I'm inspired.

Sketchbook Monday

I've been wanting to try a series that documents the behind the scenes of the design process.
Ok, in truth, I want to sketch more... this is perhaps my way of getting back to the sketchbook.
So here goes, a little peak into my sketchbook. It's kind of scary putting it all out there, but hey, why not, right!
Look for Sketchbook Monday every other week. I hope you enjoy it and maybe it will motivate you to get a sketchbook of your own and start a place to doodle and document your own process...or anything at all.
Happy sketching!

I hope you enjoy Sketchbook Monday. Would you like more info on each sketch, would you like to know what ultimately the sketch became? I'd love to know your thoughts and feedback so drop me a line in the comments below!