Bryant Park during lunch break

I did this sketch some months ago while having my lunch break at Bryant Park. It was a very sunny day and I was sitting right next to the lawn looking towards the row of trees that stand along 42nd Street. I utilized a regular black ink pen on my Moleskine sketchbook.

I was interested in rendering how these tall trees define a shaded space underneath and the sense of layers of depth that they produce as well. The central area of the sketch tries to show these conditions. Although I put most of the graphic effort on this portion of the composition I thought it was important to suggest with very simple elements the areas that frame it. In the background, a group of small lines gives a hint of the top of the trees. In the foreground, several dots represent the lawn. All of these graphic elements plus the presence of a couple of pigeons and the little fence at the bottom add scale and depth to the image.

Whenever I am about to draw something I always keep in mind this aspect, that the areas that lack any graphic detail, the "not-drawn" ones, are as important as the "drawn" ones. Both are of equal importance to the composition as the define each other, like in a solid-void relationship.

Nice topic to be developed further in future posts...

Sometime ago while watching soccer

As a huge soccer fan, I could have never imagined myself ending up sketching anything while watching one of my team's games. But that is exactly what happened some time ago. The game was so boring that I grabbed a regular pen and tried to escape from what my eyes were seeing on the screen.

These two images are part of what I registered in the room I was in during that terrible second half.

Since that day on, I always keep my pens and sketchbook at hand while watching my team play.

Looking from the window

A couple of weeks ago I was a little bored, just looking out from my bedroom window when I realized the picture I was seeing was worth being documented. The materials I had at hand were regular black markers, a 0.5 tip for the structuring lines, and a fine point "Sharpie" for the finishing.

What I really like of the latter, is that they do not allow to develop any details, you just have to be straightforward, and capture in graphic terms the very essence of what you are looking at.

Also, one of the facts that attracts me the most of this technique (one which many people is afraid of) is the high contrasts you can get. Although among architects it is generally "taken for granted" (and I was taught this as well) that shadows should never be represented as completely black areas, I really like the expressiveness they give to the sketch when treated as such.

My advice, never be afraid of trying any graphic technique, even those that go "against the rule". You can get the most amazing and unexpected results.

More images from Cordoba

I decided to keep sharing with you images I did years ago, when still living in Cordoba, Argentina.

Today's two images were produced with two different techniques. In the first one I used a 2B pencil. The building represented is Colegio Nacional de Monserrat and the drawing was part of a graphic exercise for the "Architeture Representation" class I was taking at college. We had to document either works of architecture or urban spaces in the downtown area that called our attention. It was 1999.

The second image, is a quick sketch I did in 2002. At the moment I was in the last year of school, doing my undergraduate thesis. Together with my two teammates we rented an old property, demolished several years ago, that would be our studio for the two years the thesis work would last. The house responded typologically to what is known in Argentina as "Casa Chorizo" ("Sausage House") Its outdoor corridor/patio was the space that intriged me the most and one day I decided to document it on my sketchbook. I used a regular pen and with the very free/chaotic lines I attempted to represent the condition of the house. It was a very old construction, struggling against time, going through its last years of existence. Sadly, the plot in which it used to be is occupied today by a very ugly residential tower.

Images from Lisbon

Today I am sharig with you some of the sketches I did in one trip to Portugal, in March 2007. At the time, I was pursuing my graduate studies at Cornell (Architecture), and this was a visit to some potential sites on which we would develop our projects later, when back in Ithaca. These drawings were done mostly with a regular pen (to be continued)

First Post.

From today on I will make use of this fantastic communication platform that is a Blog. "Graphic Thoughts" will be the virtual space through which I will share with all of you my passion, sketching architecture. In this first post, I am including some of the drawings I produced when living in my beloved Cordoba, Argentina, some years ago. I hope you enjoy them. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome!



San Martin Theater

General Paz Ave. and San Juan Blvd.

Nueva Cordoba neighborhood typical skyline.