Silverpoint

Roofs and windows

A pitched slate roof in perspective: rows converge toward the vanishing point, the near rows show individual slates and the far rows dissolve into tonenear eave: slatesdrawnridge: tone onlyA roof is a tilted plane: light if it faces the sky, with its texture fading as itrecedes.Count your drawn slates. More than two rows is a texture, more than four is a mistake.
FigureRoof slates
FoundationLine

Roofs and windows

A farmhouse: tilted planes and holes in thick walls

Draw a simple house whose roof is a light tilted plane with slates only at the eave, and whose windows are dark voids with reveals and lit sills.

Difficulty
Time
about 1 h
You draw with
2H, HB, 2B, 6B
Roof planes and slatesThe window as a voidThe order of values in daylightDividing bays in perspective

Why this one

  • Unit 5 of the program: Architecture.
  • A house in sunlight whose roof is light, whose windows are deep, and whose walls are thick.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2H, HB, 2B, 6B 2H, HB for layout and line; 2B, 6B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad
  • 2H, HB, 2B, 6B
  • Kneaded eraser and precision eraser
  • A photo of a farmhouse or cottage in sun

Watch first

All videos →

Applied to an old building with a tower.

YouTube
How to simplify your light and shadow shapesDrawing Tutorials Online · Shadow shapes as flat masses first. Shown on a portrait, but the principle is identical for a tree or a tower.The ultimate guide to two-point perspective drawingCircle Line Art School · Longer, covers dividing bays and off-page vanishing points.

The plan

5 stages · ~65 min
  1. 1

    Structure

    15 min

    Eye level, envelope, two-point faces, the roof's ridge and eaves converging with the walls. Windows placed by the dividing-bays method along each face. Fifteen minutes.

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    The roof

    15 min

    Value: lighter than the wall below it, however dark the slate, because it tilts to the sky. Rows of slates as faint converging lines. Draw individual slates in the two rows nearest the eave only; the rest is tone with a few broken lines. Compare with the Ulm roofs.

    A pitched slate roof in perspective: rows converge toward the vanishing point, the near rows show individual slates and the far rows dissolve into tonenear eave: slatesdrawnridge: tone onlyA roof is a tilted plane: light if it faces the sky, with its texture fading as itrecedes.Count your drawn slates. More than two rows is a texture, more than four is a mistake.
    FigureRows converge; near rows drawn, far rows tone.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    The windows

    15 min

    Each window: lay a 7 across the whole opening. Draw the reveal: one inner face lit, one in shadow, to show the wall's thickness. Lift one pane with the precision eraser to catch the sky. Sill: paper on top, a small cast shadow beneath. The lintel's underside dark. Compare with Pennell's stacked windows.

    A window drawn as a dark recess: the reveal shows depth, the glass reads as a dark value with one thin highlight, and the sill catches light and casts a small shadow belowWRONG · RECTANGLE AND CROSSRIGHT · HOLE IN A THICK WALLreveal: depthglass: dark, 8sill: paperits shadowGlass is dark because it shows the dark room behind it. Only one or two panes catchsky and go light.The thickness of the reveal is what makes a wall feel like stone and not cardboard.
    FigureA hole in a thick wall, not a rectangle with a cross.
    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Door and audit

    15 min

    The open door is the darkest thing on the page: 6B, 9. Then squint and check the daylight order: sky, roof, ground, lit wall, shadow wall, cast shadows, openings.

    Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Pennell, 1883
    Art Institute of Chicago

    Pennell, Ponte Vecchio, Florence, 1883. Etching on cream laid paper.

    Pennell, Ponte Vecchio. Every window a dark void with a lit sill.

    The Art Institute of Chicago · The Joseph Brooks Fair Collection

    Checklist0 / 1
  5. 5

    Self-check

    5 min

    Tick each item honestly. If one is a no, the session is not finished; go back to that step.

    Checklist0 / 4

What it should look like

  • A house in sunlight whose roof is light, whose windows are deep, and whose walls are thick.

Where it goes wrong

  • Windows left white. Glass seems light. Glass shows the dark room. Lay a 7, lift one pane.
  • Every slate drawn. Texture felt like finish. Two rows at the eave. Erase the rest to tone.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~60 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextPonte Vecchio, Florence