The Real Deal.
What truth am I drawing?
Hello again!
I probably don’t talk about drawing enough, do I? So, today I thought I would talk a very specific type of drawing that I occasionally do, and in doing so, hopeful shine a light on how I draw/think in general.
Over the last few years I have created a series of prints for Dark City Gallery. The series features some of my favourite modernist buildings from around the world, drawn in an isometric viewpoint. The latest two are the iconic Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright and personal favourite of mine, Upper Lawn Pavilion, designed by Allison and Peter Smithson.
The difference between these drawings and pretty much all the others I create is that they are real places. As I have talked about before, a lot of the fun in drawing for me comes from creating the place and the image simultaneously. A lot of the elements might come from reality, and realism is part of what I want to achieve, (as detailed in my newsletter about creating ‘Believable Space’), but this print series requires drawing actual reality.
However, what is ‘reality’?
Let’s not get too existential though, in this instance, I'm talking about a constructed reality. These buildings have existed in the world for many years, so they are not in stasis. They have evolved and been modified, even if it's only in minor ways, and the landscape has changed around them too. The research that these drawings require is the interesting part for me. I pore over plans and photographs taken over the years, spotting when little elements have changed here and there, and choosing which to include.
At architecture school we were encouraged to sketch, not just as a means of being better at drawing, but as a way of understanding how things fit together. Taking a photo of a building doesn’t reveal the the same level of construction understanding that drawing it does. Even though you kid yourself that you can go back to the photo and study it at any point, you frequently don't, and it mentally becomes reduced to a flat image.
Working on these drawings, I get the the same feeling of actually building them in my mind. Examining details and cross referencing with plans to understand how it all goes together and takes the form we recognise.
Unlike the imagined scenes I normally create, I am kept in check by reality. I have frequently discounted certain buildings as choices for the project because, as beautiful as they are, they don't make good ‘images'. This could be because the strange isometric angle does not suit the design, or the landscape it sits within does not make for a pleasing balance of elements. Balance is the key word though, as the whole endeavour feels like an act of making sure each part doesn't comprise the other. It's not a drawing, or a building, it's both.
I do feel a responsibility to get it ‘right', but I'm very aware that it is still my interpretation. I do not seek out 3D models to work off, I am instead scouring the internet for archival photos and drawing, piecing it together, bit by bit. As I say, research is one of the funnest parts of my job, I love the rabbit holes it takes me down and the stories they inspire. A black and white photo of the the family in the garden with the house new and gleaming in the background. A photo during construction. How the architects dress as they wander about the site. It's all perfect. But perhaps that’s a newsletter in itself for another time.
An interesting observation when I release these images into the world, is that they suffer the same scrutiny and critique (and inexplicable ire) as the buildings I make up. This is somewhat reassuring for me and my made-up worlds, as it's quite funny to see the work of world renowned architects being trolled by the same anonymous internet users (‘I bet those doors leak’). I know this already, but it's always nice to have a reminder that they’re just petulant dicks. And, it seems, always will be.
But I digress. In short, I find it is a very different set of challenges creating these images to my normal work. It involves me tapping back into to something very familiar from my time as an architectural illustrator. The trick is not letting that quite dry and practical approach take over the image, but rather to serve it for the better.
Some restrictions push me to find different ways to make it better, others compromise it, but in any case, the process is the interesting part for me. It strangely makes we want to create drawings that are more interesting for the feat, rather than the final outcome. The internet trades a lot in ‘finished images' and the ones that were useful to the maker are less well received or completely unknown. I think this is another way the online can skew output.
My ‘best work’, and the ‘most important work in my development’, are two very separate lists. I recently updated my website (go check it out while it's lovely and tidy!), a big part of which was removing work that although I might have been proud of at the time, is no longer representative of the work you do currently, or want to do in the future. It can be a bit of wrench, when you reflect on how long it took or how it was the peak of your ability at the time. But it is also very cathartic and liberating to let it go.
I recently expunged from my website the last remnants of the black and white, architectural line style that had been my identity and trademark look for all the time I was an architectural illustrator. You can still see what it used to look like in this old Tumblr archive, which I'm happy to exist, but I'm glad to be able to let it go from my current website. The important thing is that the knowledge acquired during that time is the reason I am able to make drawings like the ones produced here. The important elements endure, within you, they are folded forward into the next thing you create.
Perhaps I am getting off topic again, and you only wanted an espresso and a Danish, right? So I'll let you go about your day.
All the images in the modernist architecture series are available (if they've not sold out!) from the lovely folk at Dark City Gallery.
It's also a good time to mention that all my own prints are available HERE. If you enjoy swinging by the KIOSK but can’t commit to a paid subscription, a great way to support me is to pick up a print or two. AND you get a nice print! It's literally win-win!
Have a lovely day of research, and I'll see you all again soon.
Owen D. Pomery.
These architectural illustrations are amazing. Thanks for posting them.
Genuinely blown away by your illustrations. My brain cannot fathom how you are even able to create this?! How! Incredible.