Silverpoint

The street with figures

The same doorway drawn without and with a small figure; the figure's head sits on the eye-level line, which fixes the scale of everythingNO FIGURE · ANY SIZEWITH A FIGURE · A CATHEDRAL DOOReye levelStanding on the same ground as you, every adult's head is on your eye level, near orfar. Only the feet move.Prout dropped two or three figures into every street. They are rulers, not people.
FigureFigures for scale
FoundationLine

The street with figures

Prout's Ulm: eye level, bays, broken line, and rulers that look like people

Draw a street scene that combines perspective, construction, the broken line and figures for scale.

Difficulty
Time
about 1.5 h
You draw with
2H, HB, 2B, 4B
Figures for scaleEye levelDividing bays in perspectiveThe broken lineNegative shapesRoof planes and slates

Why this one

  • Unit 5 of the program: Architecture.
  • A street that recedes correctly, whose buildings are old, and whose size is fixed by three small figures.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2H, HB, 2B, 4B 2H, HB for layout and line; 2B, 4B 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, 4B
  • Kneaded eraser

Watch first

All videos →

Applied to an old building with a tower.

YouTube
Sketch like an architect: techniques and tips from a real project30X40 Design Workshop · Line weight hierarchy and when to stop, from an architect.One-point perspective street drawing, narrated for beginnersCircle Line Art School · A street in one point from a blank page. The Old College Wynd set-up.

The plan

5 stages · ~81 min
  1. 1

    Read the square

    19 min

    Find the eye level through the heads of the figures. Find the two directions the buildings recede. Count the bays of the town hall. Find the sky shapes between the gables. Notice the figures are dots and strokes with no faces, placed beside the architecture whose size they explain.

    Rath Haus, Ulm, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, Prout, 1833
    Art Institute of Chicago

    Prout, Rath Haus, Ulm, from Facsimiles of Sketches made in Flanders and Germany, 1833. Lithograph in black on grayish-ivory chine, laid down on ivory wove paper.

    Prout, Rath Haus, Ulm, 1833.

    The Art Institute of Chicago · The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Structure

    19 min

    Eye level, envelope of the main building, two-point slopes sighted, bays divided by the diagonal. The side street's convergence. Twenty minutes.

    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Line and tone

    19 min

    Broken line on every edge of the old buildings. Roof planes light, slates at the eaves. Windows as voids. Shadow planes in two or three hatch layers. Thirty minutes.

    The same doorway drawn without and with a small figure; the figure's head sits on the eye-level line, which fixes the scale of everythingNO FIGURE · ANY SIZEWITH A FIGURE · A CATHEDRAL DOOReye levelStanding on the same ground as you, every adult's head is on your eye level, near orfar. Only the feet move.Prout dropped two or three figures into every street. They are rulers, not people.
    FigureHeads on the eye level; feet place them in depth.
    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Figures

    19 min

    Three figures: a dot for the head on the eye-level line, a stroke to the feet, a hint of shoulder. One near (feet low on the page), two further (feet higher). Beside the door, to give it a size. Never in the centre, never looking out. Stop.

    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 street that recedes correctly, whose buildings are old, and whose size is fixed by three small figures.

Where it goes wrong

  • Figures with faces and clothes. They became people. Dot, stroke, shoulder. Nothing more.
  • Figure heads at different heights. Forgot the eye-level rule. All heads on the line. Only the feet move.

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 ~90 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextA Village Street: Dardagny