lOMoARcPSD|46342985 lOMoARcPSD|46342985 BEST OF VOL. 01 #SketchLikeAnArchitect lOMoARcPSD|46342985 DEDICATION
To all fans of sketching, architecture, or both! Special thanks to
al of you sticking around the #SketchLikeAnArchitect project!
You’re a huge inspiration for me and I appreciate you more than you might think! - David Drazil - #SketchLikeAnArchitect www.SketchLikeAnArchitect.com
© 2018 by David Dražil. All rights reserved. lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Contents My Back Story p. 4 Why Sketching p. 6 Best of Sketches p. 7 Resources to Check Out p. 43 About the Author p. 44 Get in Touch p. 45 3
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 My Back Story
Back in summer 2016, I graduated from Aalborg University in Denmark as a
Master of Science in Architecture and Design. Together with my girlfriend
(now wife ;)), we moved to Copenhagen to look for jobs. I was a young
architect, unemployed expat, not speaking local language prop-erly, with
very little of working experience, and no contacts in the new city.
‘In Copenhagen, getting a job is easier than getting accommodation,’ they
said. Well, we were lucky enough to find an apartment, not jobs, though.
While sending job applications, calling (and sometimes even
visiting) many of architecture studios, I thought to myself that I could
use this un-employment time to my advantage somehow. But how?
During that job-seeking period, I was rejected by firms more than 100
times (yes, I numbered al my applications). It got me thinking whether
architecture is actual y something for me. Lots of self-reflection went in,
but after a while thinking about what makes me happy, I realized that I
always loved to school and correct other people -- ehm, I mean teach.
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil 4 lOMoARcPSD|46342985
With passion for both visual presentation of architecture and teaching, I
decided to create an online course on architectural sketching. At the
same, I took it as an opportunity to start sharing my sketches and works
in progress on Instagram, making it a little gal ery to show the process
behind it. This was at the beginning of 2017.
That’s how #SketchLikeAnArchitect was born and since then this little
venture of mine brought me a lot of joy, motivation, and purpose in life.
But don’t get me wrong, it’s not al rainbows and unicorns. It’s been also
lots of hours, evenings, weekends, and sometimes nights spent
sketching, learning al the hacks on Instagram or how to shoot and edit
video, and struggling with juggling al the bal s in the air.
Eventually in the summer of 2017, one year after my graduation, I got a full-
time job as an architect in which I continue to this day. On top of that, thanks
to sharing my sketches and tips on architectural sketching on Instagram and
in my online course, I’ve had the chance to meet some amazing people,
speak at conferences, collaborate as a featured artist for two sketching
apps, be interviewed, and featured in a magazine.
The unstable and bit difficult period of time wasn’t all bad, I guess. It gave
me an opportunity to take a shot at doing something I otherwise wouldn’t
have a chance to do. I’m grateful for all what happened and excited about
what’s coming next. Thanks for following and being part of this journey! 5 Bes t Shot o f f rom Sk
etches v ideo vol f ootage . 01| of #S ketchLikeAnArchitect S
ketchLikeanArchitect | online D avid c ourse D razil . lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Why Sketching
As an architect, I believe in power of effective visual communication.
For me, sketching is a communication tool, helping to make sure that
people I work with understand exactly what I mean.
With ability to sketch, you can quickly, easily, and natural y present and
communicate your ideas. However, it’s not only about presenting the
final result. Sketching serves extremely wel even during the process.
By sketching you can brainstorm new ideas, solve problems, shape
your design and make iterations to optimize it.
A free-hand sketch, with al its imperfections, often opens a dialogue,
invites viewers to participate in the process and suggests with wel-
coming arms that nothing’s set in stone. Good free-hand sketching
connects us on a very human level which people can relate to. Even in
today’s world focused on innovative technology, 5D BIM, and virtual
reality, I find hand-sketching with pen and paper irreplaceable.
My hope is to share all my knowledge about sketching with creative,
like-minded people so they can use it to their advantage - in their
de-sign process, in communicating their ideas better, and more
convincing presentations of the results, whatever they are creating. 6
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Best of Sketches
These sketches on the right hand side are not here to
represent the ‘Best of...’. These are the sketches which my
journey started with - I brought these to my artistic entrance
exams at architecture school in Prague, Czech Republic.
On the following pages, you can find more recent (and hopefully
bet-ter) sketches! I hope they will serve you as an inspiration or
references for your own work, and will offer some handy tips &
tricks you might find useful. Hope you enjoy and happy sketching!
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil 7 lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Family House Concept 01
These sketches are from a family
house project for a private client in the Czech Republic.
Perspective section, showing how
the house works, its orientation to-
wards views, connection with the
garden, and accessibility to both floors from the terrain. Axonometry of the whole plot
shows the ful volume of the house,
its position on the plot and relation
to the slightly sloping terrain.
Sketches are based on a very sim-
ple Sketchup model, al the details
are added directly in the sketches. 8
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Family House Concept 01
Photoshopped version of the ax-
onometry with added colours and textures. 9
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Family House Concept 02 Another solution for the same
brief on the family house project.
In these examples, hand-sketches
real y helped to create an impres-
sion of flexbility of the design. Cli-
ent was more open to talk about
adjustments and changes, coming
up with new ideas to the topic. High level perspective sketch shows important relation to the existing buildings around the plot, comparing volumetry and typology of the houses. 10
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Imagination Exercise
This image was a real y good exer-
cise for perspective and composi-
tion. To add a sense of depth, I was
working with the 3 depth planes
- foreground, middle ground, and
background. At the end I empha-
sized the focal point with a colour
accent. This time I also tried a bit
more creative approach to the sky which supports the flow of the
building and the landscape. (Ex-
cerpt from my PDF Handbook
‘Sketch Like an Architect’.) 11
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Batman You might think ‘Wait a min-
ute, that’s not architecture!’, - and
you’re right! However, architecture
isn’t the only thing and I’m a huge fan of! ;) 12
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985
Tree House Hotel, Bengo Studio
In this image, there is an interest-
ing play between the two comple-
menting major elements - stacked
architectural structure and natu-
ral surroundings. The central part
of the image is most detailed and
therefore it draws the most at-
tention. The focus is on the ho-tel
itself, its role within the nature,
and the contact with the clos-est
vegetation. (Excerpt from my PDF
Handbook ‘Sketch Like an Architect’.)
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil 13 lOMoARcPSD|46342985
Tree House Hotel, Bengo Studio
Photoshopped version with added
colours and texture, using watercol- our brushes. 14
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Expandable House Sketch of the Expandable House by Urban Rural Systems. This
was my contribution to Envisage Brand’s Diary campaign.
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil 15 lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Expandable House
Photoshopped version with added
colours and texture, using watercol- our brushes. 16
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985
You have to love this sport!
It wasn’t intentional, but one of
these guys turned out to look a lot like Carles Puyol!
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil 17 lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Guggenheim Museum, NYC Architectural masterpiece by Frank Lloyd Wright in New York
City! Sketch from our visit in NYC
last Christmas - I absolutely loved
the city. Definitely planning on coming back!
Simple framing of the sketch, tree
in the foreground, and couple of people for the sense of scale. 18
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Guggenheim Museum, NYC
Photoshopped version with added
colours, reflections, and texture, us- ing watercolour brushes. 19
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil lOMoARcPSD|46342985 Hoomans Bunch of hand-sketched architec-tural hooman figures. Populating your sketch adds liveliness, sug-gests a story, and adds sense of scale!
Don’t forget that you can get ex-
actly these for free as Photoshop
brushes and raster and vector files! 20
Best of Sketches vol. 01 | #SketchLikeAnArchitect | David Drazil