Borders

I am always interested in how different sketchers treat borders. They may leave plenty of white space around a sketch, extend a drawing right to the edge of the page, or they may draw a freehand border, defining the edge of the sketched area.

I do all of these, sometimes predetermined and sometimes not. On some occasions I know exactly what I want to include; at other times I’m happy just to let the sketch extend out and meet the edge of the page. I quite like it when I miss the top of a tower—it demonstrates that I haven’t set the drawing up beforehand! Yet there are also times when, if I’ve missed out an important part of the composition, I regret not mapping out the basic blocks first. If you do create a border, you can also control the format of your sketch—landscape, portrait or even square.

A great tip that I picked up in a watercolor workshop a few years ago, is to use masking tape around the edges of paintings, which is then removed when the artwork is finished. I now always use tape for my more formal paintings for clean, crisp edges. I’ve not yet tried this on my architectural sketches, but I did see Tim Richardson doing just that at a recent sketching event. The crisp border works really well with looser, more abstract sketches as it imposes some order and calm.

TIA BOON SIM

Riverside, Paraty, Brazil

Drawing to the Edges

Tia Boon Sim conveys the architectural vernacular of Paraty (above), with the church giving more than a passing nod to its Portuguese colonial heritage. Tia’s deceptively loose style fills the space, and her squiggly lines, blotchy skies and heavy ink splashes capture the textures and details she sees, conveying them with such ease and personality.

JOSIAH HANCHETT

Ah-Nab-Awen Park, Grand Rapids, Missouri, USA

Using a Border

The border above has been drawn first and the content deliberately controlled to fit within it. It’s no coincidence that the top of the nearest tower touches it. I love the graphic quality of Josiah Hanchett’s drawing, and his very neat way of representing clouds—always difficult, and especially if drawing in pen.