Tuesday, February 03, 2009

San Francisco Victorian House




I have been looking a blog called Different Strokes for Different Folks. The site host puts up a photo and invites others to draw or paint it. She then places all the results on her blog. The variety of media and compositions are astonishing. Last month the photo was of this San Francisco Victorian house. It's quite beautiful and fell right in line with my year's intention to learn to draw buildings. I'm having difficulty with this intention, but I really want to learn to do it. I'm actually pleased with the way this drawing turned out. I learned a lot about following the lines and the way one line relates to the next one. The best piece of advice I got was to pick one vertical line and draw it with a ruler. Then place all other lines in relation to that original one. That works! Now if I could just speed up a bit. If I had been drawing this on site, I would have needed to pack a cooler and pitch a tent! I'm sure that those who draw swiftly and surely while standing on a street corner have been doing it for many years. I'm sure that they are so familiar with the structure of buildings and the rules of perspective that they don't need to consciously think about every line. Hopefully, with practice and patience, I can reach that goal. While I worked hard at getting the lines down correctly, I really had fun doing this and especially coloring in the windows.

This is micron pen and Pentel brush pens in the Moleskine journal.

9 comments:

Steve Emery said...

Lovely job (um, play), and a great first building sketch. They can be tough, especially these houses with all the round parts. The exact curve of the various lines going up the turrets matter so much, or it looks wrong. You did it!

I like the little touches of color (windows, the bush/tree on the left) - they make the whole thing inviting.

Pati Nanni said...

beautiful place and yours good words make me stop to ready your blog. i'm learning english but i can understend the message. sorry mistakes!
congratulation for your place and words
see u :)

Peachtreeart said...

What a calm, soothing rendition!

Margaret Ann said...

This is great...such a beautiful building! :) Like the ruler and single line idea...clever! :)

Anonymous said...

Lynn,
You did an amazing job! I can't believe that this is really just your initial attempts at architectural sketches. Bravo. I've been following the collection of paintings that are posted and love all of the wonderful variations.

Ann said...

This is fantastic! I can't believe this is your first attempt at drawing a building. You should be very pleased with this drawing. I'm going to remember the tip about using the ruler, too.

Anonymous said...

I enjoy that site too, and I think this is one of the nicest presentations of the building in the photo that I've seen. You made the old building look charming and distinguished!

EWian said...

You sure did not pick the easiest building to start with! If this is you first attempt them I'll applaud you, cos it is very a good job!

A little tip I use a paper underneath, this help me with the help-lines so I can draw them all the way out(until they meet) when I am drawing complex houses or if there is a lot of them.

EWian

Angela said...

I love the building you've done, I also want to learn to draw buildings, as I tend not to draw them very much, but I think they make the most beautiful drawings. I often struggle to draw people, they are my real nemesis!

I am also very slow with my drawing, definitely not swift and sure strokes from me! Good Luck with your drawing, and thanks so much for your comment and welcoming me to the Creative Every Day challenge!