Why do we draw? Why we draw is a fundamental theme of these pages. By contrast, these pages are really not about how we draw. That sort of thing has been covered by the Chings and the Lauseaus and the Nicolaides. Instead, these pages ask why we draw. They ask, what is our purpose? They […]
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19Oct
2017
ABSTRACTION AND REPRESENTATION
2017
Transparent Drawing is not abstract. Yet most people, when presented with Transparent Drawing, describe it as abstract. For most of us, the drawing either looks real or it does not. And if it does not look real, then we say, almost without thinking, well, that’s abstract. This leads to the question, what is between representation […]
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2Mar
2015
BETWEEN CONCEPTION AND REPRESENTATION
2015
I have shown my clients Transparent Drawings, and this has only increased their enthusiasm and excitement toward the design. There is a competitive advantage to the presentation of rational and explanatory hand drawings. And they get it. Part of the mission of Transparent Drawing is to inspire you to find drawing approaches that work for […]
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26Sep
2014
THINKING THRU THE BLOCKS
2014
I was amazed to learn that there are transparent building block sets. There seem to be two basic types. The first type is made of solid acrylic. These blocks have more of a translucency rather than a transparency. You are advised to let children play with them on a light table! A LIGHT TABLE! And […]
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15Sep
2014
DRAWING FROM PHOTOS
2014
Most architectural educators continue to tell students that you should not draw from photographs. The general line of thinking is that since a photo is a 2D image, it is too far removed from reality. Textures are not communicated. The light and shadows are diluted. The information on the photo is flat. All of this […]
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10Sep
2014
WHY. NOT HOW
2014
Paul Lauseau, author of Graphic Thinking for Architects and Designers, muses the following in the second edition of his excellent resource, “…it occurs to me that most of what I have written deals with how or what could be done and not so much with why.” Full disclosure; Mr. Lauseau was my architectural professor back […]
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25Aug
2014
VIEWPOINT
2014
Drawing representationally requires that a viewpoint be specified. In CAD systems, you have to pick a point in space from where the viewer’s eyes are. In the Renaissance, the viewer was given a single orientation point in the picture. When you construct a manual perspective drawing, establishing the viewer’s point is one of the first […]
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4Jun
2014
DRAWING WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
2014
Seriously. After you draw transparently for as long as I have, when you see a nice representational drawing, I am starting to cringe. I ask myself; what’s behind that? How is that working? What does it look like on the other side. Draw it like it really works. Make your drawing work harder than anybody […]
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11Apr
2014
LINE AND WORD
2014
The education for most of us has had a far more literary than artistic focus. When you write a story in grade school, it of course is rough. And you are given encouragement and suggestions on how to improve. You try again, and it is better. And you do get better over the years […]
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