Hey guys,
hope you're enjoying your Sunday! Here's a little early/conceptual content for you today! 😊
I've decided to continue my Singing Doors series lately. I made the first three artworks from this series around May/June 2022. Back then I had a little uninspired period, and wanted to try something a little different with my style. The result were these three artworks, based on architectural references I found in Brussels, Porto and Berlin.
Singing Doors is one of those series of mine that I both enjoyed working on, and that got some very positive feedback from my community and followers. Makes sense to add a couple more cities to the project, right? 😉
I'm right now in the very early stage of making new artworks. I put together a list of cities that I'd love to portray/take inspiration from. It felt fun to limit it to ones I've been to (even though it's not necessary as Google Street View provides enough impressions). Maybe I will change that and do a "Asian Season" or a "USA Season" some time..we'll see, no reason to not to a 100 of them 😄. Three of my favorites were Edinburgh, Barcelona and Napoli - after making a quick poll on Instagram, the first two were requested mostly which aligned with my own feeling. So let's do these, and a third one remains tbd. (I've been to Napoli last year though and I'd really love to catch that city's vibe, too)
How I start collecting ideas
Ok so now that I know a city, the fun can start. This series is based on working with references, and also means to include typical elements of the portrayed city. So I look for interesting and typical houses. For Edinburgh, "walking" down the Royal Mile on Street View is a great start.
I also look up photos on Pinterest, collections of beautiful houses from many cities are up for grabs there. And if I'm lucky, someone even put some info about the houses into the Pin, like the location or the architect.
I don't want to draw just a single house, but assemble multiple elements I like into a new scene that doesn't actually exist in reality. It would be fine to just pick a specific building, but I just enjoy the process of mashing up different elements.
Here's my sketchbook page for Edinburgh. There's a beautiful door from one house that I picked, and a cozy looking tavern front. I also looked up some window styles I liked. I always do a couple scribbles, to explore some shapes in a very rough way. And then put everything together in a really quick scribble. I don't need to play around intensely with the perspective here, as it's all based on a single point perspective. A nice trick to make my life easier on these 😉.
Trying to understand and visualize a city's vibe
I am by no means an architecture expert or something, I just really love buildings from around 1850-1920. I couldn't describe the architectural styles in an elaborate way, and there is no aim for my drawings making sense in a technical way. I'm rather looking to display and catch the essence of city's vibe, by drawing recognizable structures and typical elements.
Edinburgh is quite easy, the grey stone walls and typical windows and everything..beginner level vibe 😄. Barcelona is a little different - yes, you have Gaudi and other famous architects, but I'm more interested in typical buildings, not outstanding ones. So in addition to my mashup technique, I want to also add something that reflect's Barcelona's culture. Again, Street View helps a lot, and I decided to add a typical butcher shop (Xarcuteria), some scooters, and maybe a bit of those lovely tiled pavements. And maybe a little Barca logo?
The vibe topic will come up again when I start building the color palette, as the colors will as well define the mood a lot.
The building I took most inspiration from and that I'd like to have very visible in the artwork is Casa Ramon Servent by Emili Sala i Cortès, from 1910. The bowfront windows caught my attention and I'll enjoy drawing my own version of them.
That's where I am now, ready to scribble down more detailed compositions for these two artworks. I will start with Edinburgh next week, and also stream the process on YouTube. Come around and say hi, happy to also answer any questions as always.
CheersStefan