I recently had a conversation about the importance of sketching and my job. With the prevalence of computer 3D software, fewer and fewer graduates from the design profession are entering the “real” world with the ability to hold a pen, pencil, paintbrush – whatever – and work through their ideas, explore concepts, or sit across from a client and communicate through drawings. In my office, there are some interns that don’t even keep a roll of trace at their desks while I currently have 9 rolls at mine. I also have a pen drawer that has at least 10 pens in there with different tips and colors. I start every project by sketching.
After having this conversation, I thought it would be fun to pull out an old sketchbook of mine and see what things looked like. The sketches I have stuck in here are from a project I “moonlighted” back in 1995 – and I was surprised to see that my current sketches look pretty much like the ones I drew 15 years ago. I scanned in 9 consecutive pages from this sketchbook to show you what I was thinking about, what my sketches looked like in all their unedited glory. I should point out that at the time I did these sketches, I had never done any residential work and had no familiarity with wood frame construction. The entirety of my experience had been 3 years of custom interior retail finish out work. I didn’t even know how to keep water out of a building – yet.
This project was a master bedroom addition with a detached office/ carport; just the kind of project a young Bob could try to tackle between the hours of 8pm and 1am
You can see that I write notes like I am talking through the process with myself; I even ask myself questions. Can’t tell if that’s odd or not but I still do it all the time. I wrote a post just a bit ago that included some of my current sketches (here) and you can see that the process I went through 15 years ago when I knew absolutely nothing bears a striking resemblance to the sketches I make now. Maybe that’s because I still don’t know anything? Doubtful but I recognize a pattern here of thinking through a problem in a very practical manner. I point out some obvious problems, I can see that I am thinking about the structural layout and how that will line up with the architectural features on the house. You can even see in the sketch below that I was looking at the angle of the sun and how I needed to address the heat gain on the southern elevation of the addition (wouldn’t the USGBC be proud? So ahead of the curve…)
I found these details interesting (and a little amusing to be honest). These sketches don’t have the type of evaluative study process on display that the previous sketches show. Since I know I didn’t have any practical framing knowledge, I remember putting these together to try and marry some framing information with design objectives. Other than a few specific pieces, they look like I copied them out of the excellent Rob Thallon book “Graphic Guide to Frame Construction”, a book that I recommend to everyone just starting out with limited knowledge of wood frame construction.
Just for the record, I don’t detail projects with E.I.F.S. anymore – at least not like these sketches would lead you to believe. We still use an exterior insulation board like I have drawn here but we put it between the exterior sheathing and a 3/4″ three-part stucco and then we finish it off with an E.I.F.S. top coat so we can get that really clean, consistent stucco finish. Most of our projects lately have been modern and I don’t want any evidence of the different craftsmen who applied the stucco
Happy Sketching!
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Simple article & to the point; Couldn’tve said it better. I’m a Product Designer, but the general premise applies in my cas just as well.
I communicate best when I’m sketching, can’t bear the trauma of having to use words!
Could I ask which sketching tools you’d personaly recomment?
Thanks,
Madana
Thanks!
I’m not sure I would be the proper source for recommending sketching tools but what I personally use are sharpie brand pens (Fine and Ultra fine points) and PaperMate Flair M pens.
Cheers
And what about sketchbooks? which ones are your personal favorites?
Moleskin (for longevity)
Hi!
you make me remember my father! He was an architect and so am i. and just like what you said, he was always after me to keep sketching!! especially as i belong to the Google Sketchup generation. just two years into the profession makes me realize what an asset that could be. Architecture , for the love of it needs your mind and heart pour out on that blank sheet with a pen in your hand commanded by your head, just like driving or cooking, its real Art!
Bob ,
where’s the liquid membrane between the EFIS and the sheathing? That is common practice in our office for about three years now!
you still detail with EIFS?
Bob
we use polystyrene board insulation
I was actually trying to be humorous … I just didn’t stick the landing
Hey Bob,
Thanks for sharing this. I agree with what you say about sketching. However, I think the lack of students coming out of school with the ability to really sketch is more on the universities and professors. I am currently a Ball State University student and we only had to take one maybe two classes in regards to drawing. They were both first year. They never revisit those things. I think in school there is too much emphasis put on the final product. A lot of times it doesn’t matter how you got there as long as you did. Each project I am pushing to draw more and more. It has def. helped. I came into school with a lot of computer experience and very little pen experience. So my natural reaction was to run to the computer to do things. As my years progress in school I am learning the importance of sketching. It truly is a wonderful thing. Thanks again for all of your posts!
Bryan Baer
Hi Bob,
The lost art of sketching is an ongoing debate for us at Architectuul, we catalogue classic and contemporary architecture. We feel like sketches just don’t get as much attention as they deserve in the design process, particularly now with the glossy render taking centre stage. After scouring around the web we’ve found some amazing sketches by Gaudi, Archigram and Mies to name a few. Have a look if you’re interested – http://pinterest.com/architectuul/sketches/
Keep up the fantastic posts!
Aleesha
Architectuul
Hi again, thank you. Seeing your sketches made me remember why I wanted to be an architect in the first place. That freedom to create whatever is in your mind’s eye, and the fluidity that comes from using a pen and paper to depict that really cant be replaced by even the most sophisticated design software.
I can totally see my self coming back here every time to find something new. God bless you, Bob! 🙂
Thanks! There is definitely a fluidity of thought that happens when you are manually drawing. Maybe the younger kids coming out of the schools now see it differently, I just know what works for me.
Cheers
Hi Bob
First of all, nice sketches there!
I just feel confused about one thing – all the sketches are done with a pen (un-erasable) and they are all done right in the first go and look perfect, like you knew from the moment you put down the pen what you wanted to make, and you just drew it all out there. Is that so?
If yes, how do the sketches look like when you are actually ‘thinking’ of a design or trying to come up with a concept?
My sketches are such scribbles (while I’m trying to build an idea), they are not really presentable..
Please reply 🙂
thanks for the compliment!
I work out a lot of stuff in my head so a lot of my sketches are either completely undecipherable to anyone but me or they are a representation of how things come together. In the case of this post, those sketches were cleaned up so that someone else could create CAD details from them. If you want to see what some of my uncleaned up sketches look like, read this:
http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/what-your-sketches-say-about-you-and-how-you-think/
beautiful sketches!
i cant be more agree that nowadays computer has taken over pens…a few times i look back at my old sketch books, i am grateful that we learnt how to skecth back in school…ermms…years ago!
Is that a fish in the window?
I think you are seeing something I’m not – pretty sure I don’t have a fish in any windows.
This is MHuff right? I’m not sure that there are that many architect/razorbacks in Oklahoma so I think my odds are good. If it is, I had a great time walking Arlington National Cemetery with you. Our conversations added a great deal to the experience.
I know this is an older post, but it’s very relevant to me this week after contributing to a discussion on LinkedIn about sketches. http://linkd.in/xlK3fB I love the sketches and believe they are truly part of what makes an architect.
thanks Lee – I’ll swing over and check out the thread you shared.
Cheers
Fantastic sketches! Sketching is should be an integral part of being an architect. During my studies, I’ve never really sketched. I thought it was too ‘old fashioned’ and I’ve always believed in 3d modelling and other technology related stuff. Luckily my perception on sketching changed when I saw the architectural sketches of my work colleague – Narinder Sagoo. His sketches really inspired me and I’ve since taken on sketching.
Hi Doug – normally my spam filter wouldn’t let through a comment that ended with “his stuff is stiff” but apparently my filter is smart and realized that you had something of value to add to the conversation.
Needless to say, I hope you stick around and add your insight and comments to other posts that show up here. I could use the help.
Cheers,
Bob
Thanks Brinn,
I don’t know when it happens but at some point, you fall out of love with your own ability (or inability) to sketch. As a result, they become what they were meant to be – just a single moment in time as you explore an idea or resolution. As a working professional, I don’t save most of my sketches – what would I do with them? So get saved when I feel they represent some significant development, the rest are just thoughts with no value to anyone other than myself.
A contractor came into my office the other day and the floor was covered in drawings. He started to try and pick his way through to get to my desk. I asked “what are you doing?” He told me that he didn’t want to step on my drawings. My response was – “they aren’t precious, I don’t care if you step on them”.
I wouldn’t have said that 10 years ago.
I don’t understand how my friends at school used to get their ideas out without drawing, I always do it, and I’m also writing specifications and asking me cuestions or notes about everything coming to my mind in that part of the process.
It’s kinda sad that as always work on computers now, but there are not to many teachers worried about incentivate the students to draw, at least this was the case on my college.
You are probably correct that with the proliferation of computers that less emphasis is placed on sketching. While I don’t feel that I am an artist, I am able to communicate in real time in front of the client with a piece of paper and a pen.
It makes a difference and certainly leaves an impression.
I think sketches are the PUREST form of creativity! Quick, dirty and utterly truthful. Questions and all! They are the visual poems, if you will, of the complex novels that are your buildings. If someone doesn't sketch (or have rough drafts, etc) it makes me wonder about their ideas…
Thanks for sharing your lovely sketches!
Nice post and sketches Bob!
I believe that you can’t effectively work through a problem without sketching it out by hand, or at least printing the problem if it exists in CAD and sketching over it.
There is a natural connection between mind-hand-pen-paper that becomes severed by the mind-hand-mouse-screen relationship since the mouse wants to make everything perfect.
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for swinging by, reading my blog, and giving me such a nice complment – I appreciate it. There is a whole generation that sketch via computer software and I think that’s great – actually wish I was better at it to be honest. The thing that I think people lose out on when they rely on computer renderings is the immediacy of the process and how that impacts the process. I do enough computer modeling and designing to know that you can really flesh out an idea with great detail on the computer, but I still generate the main idea and concept with pen and paper. Only then do I go and explore the possiblities that the computer as a tool can provide.
Nice post and sketches Bob!
I believe that you can’t effectively work through a problem without sketching it out by hand, or at least printing the problem if it exists in CAD and sketching over it.
There is a natural connection between mind-hand-pen-paper that becomes severed by the mind-hand-mouse-screen relationship since the mouse wants to make everything perfect.
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for swinging by, reading my blog, and giving me such a nice complment – I appreciate it. There is a whole generation that sketch via computer software and I think that’s great – actually wish I was better at it to be honest. The thing that I think people lose out on when they rely on computer renderings is the immediacy of the process and how that impacts the process. I do enough computer modeling and designing to know that you can really flesh out an idea with great detail on the computer, but I still generate the main idea and concept with pen and paper. Only then do I go and explore the possiblities that the computer as a tool can provide.
Great sketches Bob! Glad to see there some of us out here still using a pen and paper. I had someone ask me recently if my sketches were done in photoshop. I told “no, they’re 3d revit models”. I think they believed me… J
Great sketches Bob! Glad to see there some of us out here still using a pen and paper. I had someone ask me recently if my sketches were done in photoshop. I told “no, they’re 3d revit models”. I think they believed me… J
Bob, this is such a great post and I want to thank you for sharing your sketches. Before I was an architecture student I loved to sketch, especially as a child. I feel that being able to communicate ideas through the medium of drawing and sketching are just as important as utilizing hand crafted 3D models and computer software. The moleskine sketchbook I have from my study abroad quarter in Italy will be something I will be able to refer to and cherish for the rest of my life, and I sometimes find myself thinking that it says more about me as a designer than many of my studio projects. I hate to believe that sketching could ever become a dying art. Ill end with one of my favorite quotes…
“to me, the drawn language is a very revealing language, one can see in a few lines whether a man is really an architect.”
-eero saarinen
Morgan,
What a great quote! I am going to print that one out, I’ve never read it before. Here is one of my favorites, it is from the book 1978 book “Sketches”, by Alvar Aalto:
“God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper.”
Bob, this is such a great post and I want to thank you for sharing your sketches. Before I was an architecture student I loved to sketch, especially as a child. I feel that being able to communicate ideas through the medium of drawing and sketching are just as important as utilizing hand crafted 3D models and computer software. The moleskine sketchbook I have from my study abroad quarter in Italy will be something I will be able to refer to and cherish for the rest of my life, and I sometimes find myself thinking that it says more about me as a designer than many of my studio projects. I hate to believe that sketching could ever become a dying art. Ill end with one of my favorite quotes…
“to me, the drawn language is a very revealing language, one can see in a few lines whether a man is really an architect.”
-eero saarinen
Morgan,
What a great quote! I am going to print that one out, I’ve never read it before. Here is one of my favorites, it is from the book 1978 book “Sketches”, by Alvar Aalto:
“God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper.”
I am so glad to see that someone out there still sketches. As an interior design student I prefer to sketch and draft by hand rather than the computer. Great post!
Marilyn,
Thanks for reading. I went by your website and saw that you were previously a defect construction claims adjuster – what a career shift! I think that’s awesome and I am glad you like sketching, it will definitely be a skill you can take advantage of in your new career.
I am so glad to see that someone out there still sketches. As an interior design student I prefer to sketch and draft by hand rather than the computer. Great post!
Marilyn,
Thanks for reading. I went by your website and saw that you were previously a defect construction claims adjuster – what a career shift! I think that’s awesome and I am glad you like sketching, it will definitely be a skill you can take advantage of in your new career.
I too “talk through” my sketches with notes and questions to myself. It may have something to do with first leaning how to draft on the boards as opposed to hand being glued to the mouse the way most graduates are today. Glad to see I am not the only one that does this.
Brian,
I too am reassured that someone else asks themselves questions in their sketching. I try and tell people that they don’t have to be artists to be good at communicating through sketches, you only have to look at my drawings to know that! Thanks for reading and posting a comment.
I too “talk through” my sketches with notes and questions to myself. It may have something to do with first leaning how to draft on the boards as opposed to hand being glued to the mouse the way most graduates are today. Glad to see I am not the only one that does this.
Brian,
I too am reassured that someone else asks themselves questions in their sketching. I try and tell people that they don’t have to be artists to be good at communicating through sketches, you only have to look at my drawings to know that! Thanks for reading and posting a comment.
Hi Bob, I’ll second “talking through” my sketches with notes and conversations. I don’t know how else I could spill out my ideas and process without doing so!!? how else would I develop and refine ideas.
To reassure you not all grads are glued to computers!! I started very eager on the 3d/cad routes in my degree but find such a process only holds you back to your own knowledge of that program. Having now been qualified for a few years the first week or so on new smaller projects are purely sketch and pen based! and yes the roll of trace is in the office! 🙂
Very nice. Happy Birthday.
Thanks Raul, you only turn 42 once (however, I plan on turning 49 several times)
Very nice. Happy Birthday.
Thanks Raul, you only turn 42 once (however, I plan on turning 49 several times)