Silverpoint

Canongate Tolbooth

Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh, Forrest, c. 1908 to 1934
edinphoto.org.uk

Forrest, Canongate Tolbooth, Edinburgh, c. 1908 to 1934. etching.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

edinphoto.org.uk · Scan reproduced with acknowledgement to Linda Smiles via edinphoto.org.uk (Peter Stubbs). The etching is in the public domain (artist d. 1943).

Master studyLineThe Castle and the Canongate · c. 1908 to 1934

Canongate Tolbooth

A steeple, a clock, a forestair, a street

The Canongate Tolbooth of 1591, with its conical-roofed steeple, projecting clock and outside forestair, seen along the Canongate with carts and figures. Forrest's plate is a street in one-point perspective with a tower rising out of it: the hardest Forrest subject, combining the close lesson with a silhouette that must be exactly right.

Difficulty
Time
about 3.5 h
You draw with
2H, H, HB, 2B graphite, fine pen optional
One-point perspectiveNegative shapesCast shadows on buildingsConvergence without the vanishing pointFigures for scaleTone from line

Why this one

  • A tower in a street: one-point perspective for the street, plumb construction for the steeple.
  • The clock and forestair are projections with cast shadows, which anchor the tower to the facade.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2H, H, HB, 2B 2H, H, HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Grafwood H for the lay-in; a fine pen if you have bought one, else a needle-pointed Grafwood F the pen studies are about the broken line, not the ink.
  3. 3Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  4. 4Alpha 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 or smooth cartridge
  • 2H and H with long points
  • HB for accents
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Sandpaper block

Watch first

All videos →

A street in one point from a blank page. The Old College Wynd set-up.

YouTube
How to draw architecture using two-point perspective, narratedCircle Line Art School · Applied to an old building with a tower.Architectural pencil drawing tutorialMinty Sainsbury · Structure first, then tone, on a real stone building. The method of the Architecture studies in a modern hand.

The plan

4 stages · ~190 min
  1. 1

    Silhouette first

    25 min

    Draw the sky shapes around the steeple and the facade. The tower's outline is the drawing; get it before anything else.

    Negative shapes: the sky gaps between branches are drawn as shapes, which places the branches more accurately than drawing the branches themselvesTHE BRANCHES (POSITIVE)THE SKY BETWEEN (NEGATIVE)Your brain has a symbol for "branch" and it will draw the symbol. It has no symbolfor the gap. So it looks.Prout and Cotman placed every pinnacle by the shape of sky beside it. Draw the holes.
    FigureThe sky between places the spire.
    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Street and eye level

    25 min

    Eye level from the figures. The street's two sides converge to a point at the right. The Tolbooth's facade is near-frontal; its side returns to the point.

    Checklist0 / 2
  3. 3

    Clock, stair, openings

    60 min

    Clock as a projecting box with a cast shadow below. Forestair as receding steps with shadow under the flight. Windows as voids with reveals.

    A buttress under sunlight from the upper left casts a shadow onto the wall; the shadow's edge follows the buttress profile and steps where the wall plane changesshadow follows the buttressprofileand jogs at the string courseCast shadows are the cheapest way to show that a wall has depth and the sun has adirection. Keep them one consistent angle.If two shadows on one building disagree about where the sun is, the building collapses.
    FigureOne sun, one angle, everywhere.
    Checklist0 / 2
  4. 4

    Tone and traffic

    80 min

    Lit stone near paper. Shadow faces two layers, under projections three, the pend and doorway four. Carts and figures as dark marks. Squint for the silhouette. Box.

    Checklist0 / 2

What it should look like

  • A street that recedes, a tower that stands plumb in it, and a steeple whose shape you would recognise from across Edinburgh.

Where it goes wrong

  • Steeple leaning. Drawn after the receding street lines and pulled toward them. Verticals are plumb regardless of the street. Check against the paper's edge.

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 ~210 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextEdinburgh Castle from West Princes Street Gardens

Before this, ideally

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