Architectural Renderings

Many of my students are coming to school with the feeling that they failed out of art in middle school. Students stepping into the studio for the first time assume that their inability to draw a stick figure makes it inappropriate for them to be there. That’s why I’ve made it my priority in the first month of drawing class to inspire confidence.

My Foundational Drawing class, attended by a mix of ninth-graders through post-graduates, is designed to cover a few key technical and structural skills as well as five to six different types of subject matter. My goal is to introduce students to new ideas and concepts, and to show them just how creative and capable they truly are.

I design projects based on line and contour, then move to value through gradation, stippling, line density, and mark-making. Providing a few techniques for achieving realistic value is the tried-and-true hook, since so many young people are convinced that “looking real” is “real artwork.” I also add the use of color in small parts, monochromatic renderings, and references for animal or object mashups.

Architectural Renderings
The project that really convinces my students they are artists and designers who are truly thinking in two and three dimensions is the architectural rendering. The final result changes over the years, but the application of precise lines, use of geometrical terms, and the project’s flexibility to be inclusive in skill level and comprehension are topped off with a pinch of fantasy and surrealism.

Lines and Space
We start by looking at the Renaissance use of perspective and rendering of space by watching a video about Brunelleschi’s Dome in Florence, Italy. After covering basic terminology, I print out photographs of street corners and city scenes with modern and historic buildings and have students use a ruler and colored pencils to identify horizon lines (often hidden), vanishing points (often off-page), and orthogonal lines (using balconies, ridges, roofs, and glass panes) in each scene.

Two-Point Perspective
We spend a few classes practicing two-point linear perspective, with students having to pass a quiz before moving on to the final project. The quiz changes, but will include additive and reductive sculpting of space (e.g., adding internal versus external stairs) as well as elements suspended in space with parameters on where (above or below the horizon line) and how far apart they are (students demonstrate how to make buildings align or how to find the middle of a trapezoid to create rounded structures). We spend time using rulers correctly (two points to make a line), internalizing parallel and perpendicular lines, and refining spatial judgment with pencil and paper.

Surreal Structures
The final drawing requires students to use twoor three-point perspective to create an optional floating surreal structure that incorporates all of their previously learned skills. The images are drawn in pencil first, followed by a pen outline of the final construction. I use toned paper to give students the option of adding value or texture. The addition of a hand or other narrative visual language allows for more flexibility in the students’ skills, choices, creative vision, and personalization of the final imagery.

Reflections
This project not only gives the most analytical, hard-wired students the opportunity to carve away at a design in a very detailed, objective manner, but it also builds conf idence in students who dislike rules and seek openended prompts.

The payoffs from this project are some of the most tangible for my Foundational Drawing students: increase in spatial skills, the manipulation and use of multiple tools, and conf idence in vision and design. This project is magical in the hands of budding designers/architects and is often the springboard for serious inquiries for college portfolio development for my juniors and seniors.