FOR STUDENTS ONLY

Drawing techniques

Theo Crosby

Above : a drawing by Philip Hepworth, one of the last practitioners of the academic method . This is a careful drawing, simply
·coloured, using the tones to show the modulation of the fac;ade-in fact to show the form. The textures used in the drawing sug-
gest qualities of stonework and of intricate detail which is right for this kind of building, but which is ludicrously out of place in
.describing modern architecture

The tradition of academic architectural drawing has

worn pretty thin by now. It has become vitiated
because the techniques involved don't really apply
to the sort of architect use that has to be drawn
to-day-the vision (romantic, neo-Gothic) that
originally produced the techniques has changed.
The academic ' rendering ' was developed from the
English water-colour school of the early nineteenth
century, and reached a peak, perhaps, in the works
of the late William Walcot, examples of which
can be seen in the R.l.B.A. members' room. The
method is generally to make a very light, but care-
ful drawing in a hard pencil and then to colour
it with flat washes of transparent water-colour.
With practice (and some natural talent) a variety
of effects can be produced. Walcot experi-
mented constantly with additional media-gum,
oxgall, etc. which produce remarkable textural
effects. Apart from one or two such practitioners,
the last forty years has seen the architectural ---~
rendering decline into a lifeless convention-viz., ·'
the architectural room at the Academy every year.
The technique is still the coloured pencil drawing,
but with each element-tree, man, cloud-so
conventionalized as to be quite meaningless.
The fact is that water-colour technique is no longer
taught, or is so debased, in the schools, that the
method has become a barrier to communication .
And this is really the whole point. A perspective

Above: the traditional pencil technique, developed from

19th century drawings , is shown in this excellent sketch
by Sydney R. Jones (How to draw Houses). The woolly
effect of the pencil accords perfectly with the architecture
Mr. Jones chooses to draw- the arts and crafts world of
drawing should communicate; it must tell a client
(or even the architect) what the building is like, and
the more honest it is the better. A water-colour
method which is ideal for the intricacy of a Gothic
window is unsuited to the character of modern
building, and it is no coincidence that in the
r1-
.t
'-\.. '1... ...... ,·*. . ,'
plain tiles, good red brick and plain oak furniture revolutionary beginnings of the modern movement
one of the first things to be thrown over was the
Beaux Arts rendering technique . The aim was to
see the building clear. As modern architecture
1
Above: this early drawing by Frank Lloyd Wright is a
has always been a cause that has been written splendid example of the Art Noveau style of drawing
about and argued in the press, it was essential that which formed a natural transition to the techniques of the
drawings (and of course buildings) should be easily modern movement . Notice the extreme perspective and
the exquisitely observed flower in the foreground-a
reproducible. The line block with its clear black trick of Japanese painting. Notice also that the building
and white was ideal for this purpose . is drawn very cl early, with no tone or texture to confuse
its very exact form, except for a nominal shadow under
Since then, during the last twenty years, there projections
have been few developments, mostly towards
another kind of obscurity-a preoccupation with
textures.
(continued overleaf)

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Above: one of Le Corbusier's most famous drawings-villa at

Carthage project 1928-which contains a number of interesting
features. The building is drawn with a ruling pen , the land-
scape with a free thin pen . The tone shows form only
Below: interior of an artists' house project, 1922, in the same
technique, also by Le Corbusier

Above: a drawing of the chapel on the 1.1.T. Campus by Mies van der Rohe. A pencil drawing on rough paper (which helps
enormously in creating texture without effort) which, while showing the building clearly, yet manages to convey Mies' neo-
classic affinities

(continued from previoLJs page)

It is not the purpose of these articles to put forward
any particular method or technique, but only to
point out that the purpose of an architectural draw-
ing is to reveal a truth about a building. For a
beginner the best way is to use the simplest means
-an accurate perspective from an eye level view-
point drawn in black ink line using a ruling pen.
(And what a revolution it would be in a school if
someone actually did this.) If a tone is added it
should be to show the form, not to 'add interest. '
In perspectives the give-aways are usually inci-
dentals-trees, people. The only way out is to go
outside and draw them particularly in relation to
buildings. Your own shorthand methods will
develop naturally.
The drawings on these pages show the great change
in vision and ideas that the modern movement
brought in, and are examples of certain techniques. Above: a drawing by Richard Neutra, a master of the free pencil technique. Some of his drawings are in soft pencil , with
Next month some methods will be discussed and sparing use of washes. Notice the way in which tree forms are formalised to a texture, and how the drawing is expert ly
' placed ' on the page
illustrated, and the final article will deal with As a method of reproduction, this is a deep etched half-tone; the pale tint which is usually present in a photograph o r half.
drawing for reproduction . tone is etched away by a further acid bath, leaving only the darker portions of the image

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