I should learn to sketch (properly)

Being able to sketch beautifully is an amazing skill. As with any other, it takes time to learn it. It is not something you are born with. Practice makes perfect.

And concerning sketching, I am far from perfect. Although, from time to time I do sketch. And also, quite often I do something that might be considered sketching. I communicate via sketches. Sketching is there to deliver a message. In architecture, it is a message about how the building should look like, how it should be put together, how people should see it or how it might be used. 

And many times a day, when I am asked about anything I eventually might know I reach for pen and paper in at least 60% of the time. It is usually much faster and easier to deliver the message by sketch, than by explaining in words. And even though my ‘sketches’ look bad, people usually understand what I try to tell them.

Basically, sketching is another language we might learn. The one big advantage is that even though not everybody speaks it, all understand. And that is why I see sketching as a very valuable tool and I would like to improve it. Not that I would like to do fancy watercolours or aquarelles. I would only like to take my pen, pencil or marker anytime and be able to tell anybody I meet what I intend to make or how I view the solution to a certain problem.

The sketches you see as illustrations to this article are at least three years old. Each of them hides a clever tip or interesting idea from the field of architecture. I sketched them as a reminder of an awesome book called ‘101 Things I Learned in Architecture School’. I recreated all 101 tips and interesting facts. And then eventually, from time to time I add my own. So now there are like 130 of them or something like that. 

So maybe when I reach 202 I might as well publish them. Who knows. Might it be interesting to somebody? I guess I will only find out if I try. I have many ideas, but the thing about ideas is, that if you have it, you are also the one responsible for executing it. And that takes time and persistence. Both of which I do not have much. So if I gather some willpower, maybe one day you may be able to read my book.

Would you be interested? And what do you think about my sketches? Can you guess what they might express?

Happy sketching

Ondrej