Drawing Architecture for Intermediate Concept Artists

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Elevate Your Architectural Artwork: A Comprehensive Guide to Drawing Houses, Buildings, Towns, and Cityscapes

Introduction & Encouragement
Congratulations on reaching an exciting new phase in your artistic journey! As an intermediate concept artist, you’ve already established fundamental drawing skills and an understanding of perspective. Now, you’re aiming to take your work to the next level—creating convincingly detailed houses, buildings, towns, and entire cityscapes. This guide will help you hone your abilities by breaking down the basics of architectural forms, introducing key vocabulary, and demonstrating how to “carve out” details to bring your structures to life. Let’s get started!

1. Laying the Foundations with Simple Shapes

1.1 Houses and Small Buildings

  • Start with Basic Forms: Most structures begin as rectangular prisms or cubes. If you’re drawing a house, visualize a simple box (or two intersecting boxes) for the main body.
  • Add a Roof Shape: Roofs can be triangular (pitched) or flat. Depending on the style, add the triangular prism for a pitched roof or another rectangular form for a flat roof.
  • Refine the Silhouette: Once you have your initial shape, adjust the height or width, add smaller boxes for extensions like garages or porches, and tilt your roof lines for dynamic angles.

1.2 Town Layout and Streets

  • Use Overlapping Forms: Towns are made of multiple small buildings grouped together, often around a central point like a town square or main street. Start by mapping out a rough aerial layout—rectangles and squares for the building footprints—then extrude them upward.
  • Simplify Perspective: Keep a consistent vanishing point (or two if you’re using two-point perspective) to ensure your buildings line up correctly.

1.3 Larger Buildings and Skyscrapers

  • Stretch Those Boxes: For tall buildings and skyscrapers, begin with a slim rectangle in perspective. Extend it vertically until you achieve the desired height.
  • Reinforce Structural Lines: Tall structures require crisp perspective to look convincing. Use a ruler or digital guides to ensure lines converge smoothly at the vanishing points.

2. Adding Details & “Carving Out” Your Buildings

2.1 Establishing a Strong Silhouette

Once you have the basic 3D mass of your building, begin “carving away” sections to create balconies, recesses for windows, and unique building shapes.

  1. Identify Key Segments: Look at each face (the front, sides, and roof) of your structure. Where do you want the main entrance, windows, or decorative elements to be?
  2. Carve with Confidence: Lightly sketch in the areas you want to remove or inset. For instance, if you have a tower-like building, carve out a vertical shaft for a glass elevator or a stylized recess for a balcony.

2.2 Layering Architectural Details

  • Windows and Doors: Draw them consistently in perspective. For a row of windows, maintain the same vertical spacing, and ensure lines recede to the same vanishing point.
  • Beams and Columns: Indicate structural elements like columns at regular intervals. Keep them evenly spaced to suggest solidity and balance.
  • Ornamental Features: Add personality with arches, carvings, decorative cornices, or spires. Keep in mind the overall style—whether classical, modern, futuristic, or fantasy.

3. A Taste of Architectural Vocabulary

Understanding basic architectural terms will give you a stronger sense of what to include and how to describe (and draw) your structures more accurately. Here’s a short list:

  1. Facade: The front or “face” of a building.
  2. Cornice: A decorative molding that crowns a building, often just below the roofline.
  3. Column: A structural post that can be decorative or load-bearing.
  4. Arch: A curved opening, common in doorways and windows, distributing weight more evenly.
  5. Balcony: A platform projecting from the wall of a building, enclosed by a balustrade or railing.
  6. Eaves: The part of a roof that overhangs the wall.
  7. Dormer: A window set vertically in a projecting structure on a sloping roof.
  8. Mullion: A vertical or horizontal element that divides sections of a window.
  9. Atrium: A large open space or courtyard within a building, often used in modern architecture for light.
  10. Plaza/Square: An open public space, commonly found in the center of a town or city.
  11. Skyscraper: A very tall, continuously habitable building having multiple floors.
  12. Elevator Shaft: The vertical passage housing an elevator. A glass elevator might be placed externally for dramatic effect.

How to Use These in Your Drawings:

  • Identify architectural features that match the theme or style you’re going for.
  • Sketch them into your structural design, maintaining perspective and proportion.
  • Use them to create visual interest and story (e.g., a rooftop garden on a modern building, or an ancient archway in a fantasy tower).

4. Tips on Unique Structures

4.1 Towers, Spires, and Turrets

  • Exaggerate Heights and Proportions: Even if you’re drawing something realistic, slightly emphasizing height can add drama.
  • Tapered vs. Straight: Some towers are broad at the base and narrow at the top. Keep proportions in mind so the structure looks balanced.
  • Decorative Elements: Play with railings, outcroppings, or turret designs. Spires can be topped with statues, antennas, or fantasy crystals for extra flair.

4.2 Skyscrapers and Modern City Features

  • Reflective Surfaces: Use vertical lines and lighter shading for glass. When coloring, show reflections of the sky and surrounding buildings.
  • Glass Elevators and External Stairwells: These can be drawn as transparent tubes or shafts hugging the exterior of a building. Add subtle diagonal lines and reflections to convey glass.
  • Rooftop Details: Mechanical equipment, gardens, helipads—these details enrich your cityscapes and make them feel more authentic.

5. Color and Materials

5.1 Towns vs. Cities

  • Towns: Often use warm, earthy palettes: browns, reds, greens, and soft neutrals. Materials might be wood, stone, or brick. Use more textural brushes and shading to convey rustic charm or historical contexts.
  • Cities: Typically feature cooler tones like grays, blues, and metallic shades for steel, glass, and concrete. Neon signs and bright lights can add energy. Reflective surfaces are key—use highlights and contrasting shadows.

5.2 Materials Overview

  1. Wood: Show subtle grain or texture with thin lines. Colors range from light tan to rich browns.
  2. Brick: Indicate bricks with horizontal lines; vary shading for depth. Brick colors can be red, brown, or beige.
  3. Stone: Less uniform than brick. Use irregular outlines for individual stones. Shading is chunkier and more organic.
  4. Concrete: Smooth and fairly monochromatic, but with a few subtle texture marks or cracks.
  5. Glass: Reflective; use high-contrast lines to show highlights. Lightly tint it with blues or greens, and incorporate shapes of sky or other buildings.

When rendering these materials, pay attention to how the light interacts with surfaces. Softer, diffused shading might suit wood or stone, while strong highlights and crisp reflections characterize metal and glass.

6. Putting It All Together

  1. Plan the Composition: Whether you’re drawing a single house or an entire city, start with a solid layout. Decide on your perspective and focal point.
  2. Build from Simple Shapes: Sketch out your forms using basic cubes and rectangular prisms in correct perspective.
  3. Carve Out Details: Add architectural features, carve out windows and doors, create interesting silhouettes.
  4. Refine with Architectural Vocab: Incorporate cornices, arches, balconies, etc., to give your piece authenticity.
  5. Color & Render: Choose materials and colors that fit your setting—rustic browns for a medieval town, sleek blues for a futuristic cityscape, etc.
  6. Final Highlights: Pay attention to lighting—where is the sun (or other light source)? Add details like shadows, reflections, and texture highlights.

7. Final Encouragement

You’ve taken a huge step forward by mastering the fundamentals and learning to add detail and nuance to your architectural drawings. Remember to keep exploring different styles and references—study real-world structures, watch how natural light interacts with buildings, and pay attention to unique design elements wherever you go. Don’t hesitate to experiment with fantastical concepts: add exaggerated turrets, incorporate floating platforms, or imagine futuristic glass monoliths. Every stroke you make and every shape you carve helps you grow closer to your goal of becoming a confident, versatile concept artist.

Keep pushing your limits. Keep learning new techniques, new materials, and new architectural vocab. Most importantly, keep drawing—and watch as your houses, buildings, towns, and cities become tangible worlds brimming with life, story, and creativity. You’ve got this!