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Architecture sketching

  • Testing a Microsoft Surface for digital art along with Krita. The latter is proving to be a very capable drawing/painting program. In some aspects equal to - if not better than - Photoshop! MS Surface is good but not as good as a wacom tablet.…

  • I quick illustration depicting a true story (or so I am told) of a tank crew rescuing an australia soldier in the Vietnam war. Rough sketchy styling but required some research and accuracy as vetaran's seeing it would be critical. Painted in…

  • A recent game interface job I completed for an Adelaide based iphone/mobile developer. Final graphics included animation on the handkerchief as the rope moves and animated icons on the menu screen. Graphics are all based on photos then heavily…

  • It's not really directly game related but I thought I'd post it anyway (Let's pretend it's a character study). This is where my recent illustration energies had been going rather than into concept art related topics. Created for a charity Auction…

  • Revisiting the first fleet of ships for Tsumea Team C project. One new design with the other 3 polished/modified small to moderate amounts. Whilst the details are still loose I'm satisfied with the overall designs. fingers crossed the rest of the…

  • More thumbnails for Team C game. These are my first round of ships for the opposing team. More angular and blocky in form with a relatively raw/industrial finish compaired to the other set.

  • More thumbnails. These ones are variations working a single design idea.

  • update of potential artillery/ planet attack ship.

  • A small update on concept art for Team C project.

  • Some initial sketches whilst I warm up for the task of producing some concepts for tsumea's team C project.

Submitted by Johnn on

Some new concept sketching. These ones are architecture related (as you can see.) I'm trying to cover a wide variety of subject matter with my sketching- Weed out weak spots in my skills.

I struggled a bit with colour on these, but i think they turned out not too bad on the whole [:)] They were good fun to do too so I might do a few more soon.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_architecture-1L.jpg[/img]

Submitted by bullet21 on Tue, 27/01/04 - 8:19 PM Permalink

Very nice. The perspective is looking excellant and best of all u had fun doing it.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Wed, 28/01/04 - 5:29 AM Permalink

awesome, absolutely awesome, im not much of an architectural critic but nothing stands out to me.

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 28/01/04 - 5:31 AM Permalink

if you cleaned up the line work and put some more detail in I'd be a big fan.

good work.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 29/01/04 - 8:14 AM Permalink

These make for a good start :)
Althoug the perspective one the left one, the building with the red appears to be clashing with that of blueish one in the middle.

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 30/01/04 - 1:28 AM Permalink

thanks guys.

Ah! the critical eye of Makk (now his the avitar makes sense)

I assume 'clashing' means that they sort of appear to occupy the same space? (and not 'damn city council approved a red building next to a blue building!')I think I see what you mean though. I suspect that it might be caused predominantily but the shadows on the blue buildings roof being too dark.. oh! i've just relised the the vertical lines on the blue roof are evenly spaced apart! They should be getting closer together as the roof receides into the distance, the lines of the roof aren't all converging onto a vanishing point either... hmmm, I might revisit that sketch and see if I can't remedy the situation. If anyone else has a theory on about that detail let me know.

I've also got 2 more sketches under way that I plan to post to this thread. One will be more refined (so Inglis, keep an eye out [:)])

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 30/01/04 - 2:48 AM Permalink

heh you allready know im a fan of sketchy line work. do what you do best :)

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 30/01/04 - 1:23 PM Permalink

okay Makk, i have addressed the building issues- neatened up the vanishing points, altered the lines on the roof, reduced the intensity of colours in the distance and softened some of the line work. I think the new version (right hand side below) does depict the space between the two buildings much better. You agree?

[img]http://home.iprimus.com.au/johnnewall/extras/architecture-1_1.jpg[/img]

Submitted by Makk on Sat, 31/01/04 - 6:56 AM Permalink

Yeah I think that looks better now. :)
The old one kinda looked like the actual building was built on an angle and was sloping downwards to one side.
Have you had a look at doing a sketch for the Sumea Draw Club activity? quick link for ya-
http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=28
Its interior architecture but you might still like it. Makes for good practive anyway :)

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 01/02/04 - 6:00 AM Permalink

funny enough I initially registered on this site to participate in that activity! but the thread seemed to die before I got around to posting anything[:(]

may be I should do a sketch that fulfills the criteria of that activity- see if I can get some enthusiasm going on that thread again?

...oh! beated to the punch- Sumeatown

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 02/02/04 - 3:03 AM Permalink

Wow, these are awesome, I love the colouring

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 05/02/04 - 1:57 AM Permalink

I definitely like the last one the most. Nice and clean :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 05/02/04 - 5:54 AM Permalink

there both great man!

im guessing the temple was done with 1pt perspective? if i were to offer some crit it all looks maybe a bit to much... perhaps if you moved the pt further away

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 05/02/04 - 7:08 AM Permalink

The second ones good but i love the first one looks very greek.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 05/02/04 - 10:41 AM Permalink

Youre getting better and better man :)
Was that first one a one or two point perspective? Its a bit hard to tell. Is that grass a photo or what?!?! (thats a good sign!) Like the cool blue shadows though.
Second is really good, your best, but like you said its a bit sterile. I reckon that technique/style would work well for a car design.

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 06/02/04 - 12:34 AM Permalink

All except the sterile park are sort of 2 point perspective. I say sort of be cause they are all rough sketches (about A5) in size > hence the dodgy vanishing points. Moonunit, if you draw a line along the tops of the pillars down the right that is one point, and do the same with the top of the building on the left hand side for the other. the front of the building is a bit wonky > those lines should be going to the right hand Vanishing point.

The grass Unfortunately is just a preset brush that came with photoshop, so not really much skill involved. Just made the grass bigger in the foreground, and increased the colour contrast for the foreground too. So I guess there was a little skill required :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Sun, 08/02/04 - 1:17 AM Permalink

yeah ur VP dots are all right just they seem a bit close to the object to me giving it a sort of overly slanted look, but that could just be my personal preference.

if your curious to what i mean do a cube like this:
VP.---------.---------VP
and like this
VP.--------.VP

and have a look at the difference

edit: dosent like long spaces... fixed :P

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 08/02/04 - 4:37 AM Permalink

Yeah I know what you mean with the V.points being too close. If I were to do a more finished version I would be addressing details like that more closely.

On a related point, I know an industrial designer who used slightly exaggarated 3 point perspective to give his product sketches some extra 'pop' value. The result sort of mimicked a wide angle lens photo with exaggerated depth. A technique that I think would work best on isolated objects rather than cityscapes though.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Sun, 08/02/04 - 8:09 AM Permalink

yeah im not saying its wrong its just a something i noticed :)

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 13/02/04 - 3:37 AM Permalink

Yet another painting in my Architecture series, possibly the last one for this batch. Definitely the most finished one so far, although technically still a WIP (I've glossed over the ocean for starters.)

Probably needless to say, but I am pretty happy with this one!

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_ocean_platformL.jpg[/img]

Submitted by jwalduck on Fri, 13/02/04 - 4:31 AM Permalink

Not that its a fault in the rendering per se, but what is the scale of the platform. When I look at the "rocket launcher" and the simplicity of the forms it suggests the whole thing is the size of a truck, but when I look at the building perched on the edge the whole thing has to be the size of a city block.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 13/02/04 - 6:17 AM Permalink

yeah that kinda gets me, like compared to that multi story base on the side there, i mean the missles for that thing must be like.... the size of some buildings themselves :P

other then that nice work, a well acheived glossy metal look too

Submitted by Aven on Fri, 13/02/04 - 7:07 AM Permalink

I pity the Mothership that comes to invade us :D

Nicely rendered John.

Submitted by Makk on Fri, 13/02/04 - 8:52 AM Permalink

Excellent :D
I agree, the propertions between the rocket launcher and the building is a little extreme. Also, you should have continued the ocean ripples towards the right, but that is pretty minor ;)
I have to say that each one is an improvement on the other, good job, you should very happy :)
What are you planning to do next?

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 26/02/04 - 2:16 PM Permalink

thanks for the feedback on the last one. I suspect the uncertainty of scale might be due to the lack of smaller details. I added a few smaller detail to the version on my website, could do with some major detailing though.

Anyway onwards- I had no plan for what to do next, so I have finally got around to doing more of the same- this time an interior! The concept for the room is a puzzle room. Remotely located levers control the ropes holding the lens. Manipulation of each rope is required to aim the lens on the pedestal and get the correct height to focus the beam of light, thus triggering... maybe a cup of cold coffee could be placed on the pedestal resulting in rewarding hot coffee [;)]

critical feedback welcome as I might do a more refined version.

[img]http://home.iprimus.com.au/johnnewall/extras/architecture_lens-roomL.jp…]

Submitted by Makk on Sat, 28/02/04 - 3:35 AM Permalink

Cool :)
Heh, Im actaully planning to do a few interior concepts as well, I got the idea from you architect series :)
How do they manipulate the ropes? by pulling or something else? If you want, you may want to give an indication on the drawing as to how this is achieved. Anyway, if you are going to go over it, you will probably straighten some of the lines, yes?
The barrier around the ledge area doesnt look the same length. The left side looks as if it is longer in width.
Also the angle of the right one seems abit off.
Heh, I hope you understand what I mean, a pic would probably have been easier to understand, :D
Looking forward to seeing more.

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 29/02/04 - 3:28 AM Permalink

[Sorry for not keeping the previous sketch posted - was easier for me to replace it as it was linked to my website.]

The first thing that i did was to break out the ruler and do the basic perspective properly. Comments make sense, thanks Makk. I think the barrier is still an issue in the latest version- I will address it in due course.

Was thinking of a ratchet and handle that rotates for winding the ropes in/out, each one located in a seperate room. I might do a side sketch of the device to go with the final conpect sketch- could make nice supporting material.

I look forward to seeing some architectural sketching from someone else. (I assume that you will be posting them)

Submitted by Johnn on Wed, 10/03/04 - 9:59 PM Permalink

For the few people following this thread, you will notice another update to the last image- removal of all the origional line work! and neating up of basic forms, colours etc. It's starting to look like a finished image me thinks... crits still welcome for the finishing stages.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 11/03/04 - 2:14 AM Permalink

Cool, I like the contrast of the blue and red in there.
Some noise/texture in the light from above might work. At the moment the air is very "clean" (if its an older place, the more dust, etc would be in the air) You could try something similiar with the fire, like fumes or something.
Looking really nice :)

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 11/03/04 - 12:23 PM Permalink

Thanks for the suggestion, I was wondering what sort of finishing touches to do. I will attempt to banish that clean finish- I think lots of the surfaces in the image look too clean/textureless now you mention it... seems to be a side effect of my digital painting technique.

Posted by Johnn on

Some new concept sketching. These ones are architecture related (as you can see.) I'm trying to cover a wide variety of subject matter with my sketching- Weed out weak spots in my skills.

I struggled a bit with colour on these, but i think they turned out not too bad on the whole [:)] They were good fun to do too so I might do a few more soon.

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_architecture-1L.jpg[/img]


Submitted by bullet21 on Tue, 27/01/04 - 8:19 PM Permalink

Very nice. The perspective is looking excellant and best of all u had fun doing it.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Wed, 28/01/04 - 5:29 AM Permalink

awesome, absolutely awesome, im not much of an architectural critic but nothing stands out to me.

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 28/01/04 - 5:31 AM Permalink

if you cleaned up the line work and put some more detail in I'd be a big fan.

good work.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 29/01/04 - 8:14 AM Permalink

These make for a good start :)
Althoug the perspective one the left one, the building with the red appears to be clashing with that of blueish one in the middle.

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 30/01/04 - 1:28 AM Permalink

thanks guys.

Ah! the critical eye of Makk (now his the avitar makes sense)

I assume 'clashing' means that they sort of appear to occupy the same space? (and not 'damn city council approved a red building next to a blue building!')I think I see what you mean though. I suspect that it might be caused predominantily but the shadows on the blue buildings roof being too dark.. oh! i've just relised the the vertical lines on the blue roof are evenly spaced apart! They should be getting closer together as the roof receides into the distance, the lines of the roof aren't all converging onto a vanishing point either... hmmm, I might revisit that sketch and see if I can't remedy the situation. If anyone else has a theory on about that detail let me know.

I've also got 2 more sketches under way that I plan to post to this thread. One will be more refined (so Inglis, keep an eye out [:)])

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 30/01/04 - 2:48 AM Permalink

heh you allready know im a fan of sketchy line work. do what you do best :)

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 30/01/04 - 1:23 PM Permalink

okay Makk, i have addressed the building issues- neatened up the vanishing points, altered the lines on the roof, reduced the intensity of colours in the distance and softened some of the line work. I think the new version (right hand side below) does depict the space between the two buildings much better. You agree?

[img]http://home.iprimus.com.au/johnnewall/extras/architecture-1_1.jpg[/img]

Submitted by Makk on Sat, 31/01/04 - 6:56 AM Permalink

Yeah I think that looks better now. :)
The old one kinda looked like the actual building was built on an angle and was sloping downwards to one side.
Have you had a look at doing a sketch for the Sumea Draw Club activity? quick link for ya-
http://www.sumea.com.au/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=28
Its interior architecture but you might still like it. Makes for good practive anyway :)

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 01/02/04 - 6:00 AM Permalink

funny enough I initially registered on this site to participate in that activity! but the thread seemed to die before I got around to posting anything[:(]

may be I should do a sketch that fulfills the criteria of that activity- see if I can get some enthusiasm going on that thread again?

...oh! beated to the punch- Sumeatown

Submitted by redwyre on Mon, 02/02/04 - 3:03 AM Permalink

Wow, these are awesome, I love the colouring

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 05/02/04 - 1:57 AM Permalink

I definitely like the last one the most. Nice and clean :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 05/02/04 - 5:54 AM Permalink

there both great man!

im guessing the temple was done with 1pt perspective? if i were to offer some crit it all looks maybe a bit to much... perhaps if you moved the pt further away

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 05/02/04 - 7:08 AM Permalink

The second ones good but i love the first one looks very greek.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 05/02/04 - 10:41 AM Permalink

Youre getting better and better man :)
Was that first one a one or two point perspective? Its a bit hard to tell. Is that grass a photo or what?!?! (thats a good sign!) Like the cool blue shadows though.
Second is really good, your best, but like you said its a bit sterile. I reckon that technique/style would work well for a car design.

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 06/02/04 - 12:34 AM Permalink

All except the sterile park are sort of 2 point perspective. I say sort of be cause they are all rough sketches (about A5) in size > hence the dodgy vanishing points. Moonunit, if you draw a line along the tops of the pillars down the right that is one point, and do the same with the top of the building on the left hand side for the other. the front of the building is a bit wonky > those lines should be going to the right hand Vanishing point.

The grass Unfortunately is just a preset brush that came with photoshop, so not really much skill involved. Just made the grass bigger in the foreground, and increased the colour contrast for the foreground too. So I guess there was a little skill required :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Sun, 08/02/04 - 1:17 AM Permalink

yeah ur VP dots are all right just they seem a bit close to the object to me giving it a sort of overly slanted look, but that could just be my personal preference.

if your curious to what i mean do a cube like this:
VP.---------.---------VP
and like this
VP.--------.VP

and have a look at the difference

edit: dosent like long spaces... fixed :P

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 08/02/04 - 4:37 AM Permalink

Yeah I know what you mean with the V.points being too close. If I were to do a more finished version I would be addressing details like that more closely.

On a related point, I know an industrial designer who used slightly exaggarated 3 point perspective to give his product sketches some extra 'pop' value. The result sort of mimicked a wide angle lens photo with exaggerated depth. A technique that I think would work best on isolated objects rather than cityscapes though.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Sun, 08/02/04 - 8:09 AM Permalink

yeah im not saying its wrong its just a something i noticed :)

Submitted by Johnn on Fri, 13/02/04 - 3:37 AM Permalink

Yet another painting in my Architecture series, possibly the last one for this batch. Definitely the most finished one so far, although technically still a WIP (I've glossed over the ocean for starters.)

Probably needless to say, but I am pretty happy with this one!

[img]http://www.sumea.com.au/simages2/258_ocean_platformL.jpg[/img]

Submitted by jwalduck on Fri, 13/02/04 - 4:31 AM Permalink

Not that its a fault in the rendering per se, but what is the scale of the platform. When I look at the "rocket launcher" and the simplicity of the forms it suggests the whole thing is the size of a truck, but when I look at the building perched on the edge the whole thing has to be the size of a city block.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 13/02/04 - 6:17 AM Permalink

yeah that kinda gets me, like compared to that multi story base on the side there, i mean the missles for that thing must be like.... the size of some buildings themselves :P

other then that nice work, a well acheived glossy metal look too

Submitted by Aven on Fri, 13/02/04 - 7:07 AM Permalink

I pity the Mothership that comes to invade us :D

Nicely rendered John.

Submitted by Makk on Fri, 13/02/04 - 8:52 AM Permalink

Excellent :D
I agree, the propertions between the rocket launcher and the building is a little extreme. Also, you should have continued the ocean ripples towards the right, but that is pretty minor ;)
I have to say that each one is an improvement on the other, good job, you should very happy :)
What are you planning to do next?

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 26/02/04 - 2:16 PM Permalink

thanks for the feedback on the last one. I suspect the uncertainty of scale might be due to the lack of smaller details. I added a few smaller detail to the version on my website, could do with some major detailing though.

Anyway onwards- I had no plan for what to do next, so I have finally got around to doing more of the same- this time an interior! The concept for the room is a puzzle room. Remotely located levers control the ropes holding the lens. Manipulation of each rope is required to aim the lens on the pedestal and get the correct height to focus the beam of light, thus triggering... maybe a cup of cold coffee could be placed on the pedestal resulting in rewarding hot coffee [;)]

critical feedback welcome as I might do a more refined version.

[img]http://home.iprimus.com.au/johnnewall/extras/architecture_lens-roomL.jp…]

Submitted by Makk on Sat, 28/02/04 - 3:35 AM Permalink

Cool :)
Heh, Im actaully planning to do a few interior concepts as well, I got the idea from you architect series :)
How do they manipulate the ropes? by pulling or something else? If you want, you may want to give an indication on the drawing as to how this is achieved. Anyway, if you are going to go over it, you will probably straighten some of the lines, yes?
The barrier around the ledge area doesnt look the same length. The left side looks as if it is longer in width.
Also the angle of the right one seems abit off.
Heh, I hope you understand what I mean, a pic would probably have been easier to understand, :D
Looking forward to seeing more.

Submitted by Johnn on Sun, 29/02/04 - 3:28 AM Permalink

[Sorry for not keeping the previous sketch posted - was easier for me to replace it as it was linked to my website.]

The first thing that i did was to break out the ruler and do the basic perspective properly. Comments make sense, thanks Makk. I think the barrier is still an issue in the latest version- I will address it in due course.

Was thinking of a ratchet and handle that rotates for winding the ropes in/out, each one located in a seperate room. I might do a side sketch of the device to go with the final conpect sketch- could make nice supporting material.

I look forward to seeing some architectural sketching from someone else. (I assume that you will be posting them)

Submitted by Johnn on Wed, 10/03/04 - 9:59 PM Permalink

For the few people following this thread, you will notice another update to the last image- removal of all the origional line work! and neating up of basic forms, colours etc. It's starting to look like a finished image me thinks... crits still welcome for the finishing stages.

Submitted by Makk on Thu, 11/03/04 - 2:14 AM Permalink

Cool, I like the contrast of the blue and red in there.
Some noise/texture in the light from above might work. At the moment the air is very "clean" (if its an older place, the more dust, etc would be in the air) You could try something similiar with the fire, like fumes or something.
Looking really nice :)

Submitted by Johnn on Thu, 11/03/04 - 12:23 PM Permalink

Thanks for the suggestion, I was wondering what sort of finishing touches to do. I will attempt to banish that clean finish- I think lots of the surfaces in the image look too clean/textureless now you mention it... seems to be a side effect of my digital painting technique.