Perspective Drawing for Beginners: Welcome to My Perspective Series

Welcome to the culmination of our 3-Day Perspective Drawing Series, where we've delved deep into the art of creating depth and dimension on a two-dimensional surface. Over the past three days, we've explored fundamental concepts, practical techniques, and creative applications of perspective drawing.

Let's take a moment to recap the highlights from each day of this journey.

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Day 1: Perspective Drawing Basics

On Day 1, we laid the foundation for our exploration by diving into Perspective Drawing Basics. We introduced the concept of perspective, the visual illusion that allows us to represent three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. Two crucial types of perspective were unveiled: the frontal view (1-point perspective) and the oblique view (2-point perspective). Through step-by-step demonstrations, we learned how to draw boxes in both 1-point and 2-point perspective, mastering the art of creating depth in our sketches.

Day 2: Mastering Circles in Perspective

Building upon our understanding from Day 1, Day 2 challenged us to tackle the intricate task of drawing circles in perspective. We learned how to overcome common challenges and avoid major mistakes when sketching ellipses, crucial elements for rendering cylindrical objects realistically. Through detailed instructions and hands-on practice, we honed our skills in drawing circles and ellipses, unlocking new possibilities for adding depth and realism to our artwork.

Day 3: Drawing Cylinders in 1-Point Perspective for Interior Design

In our final installment, we ventured into the realm of interior design, exploring how perspective drawing principles can be applied to create immersive spaces. Focusing on drawing cylinders in a 1-point perspective, we discovered techniques for rendering cylindrical objects within architectural contexts. From furniture to decorative elements, we learned how mastering perspective drawing enhances our ability to design and visualize interior spaces with precision and creativity.

Unlock Your Potential with Perspective Drawing

As we conclude our journey, I invite you to continue exploring the endless possibilities of perspective drawing. Whether you're a beginner seeking to master the basics or an experienced artist looking to refine your skills, the principles of perspective offer a gateway to boundless creativity and expression.

Elevate Your Skills with "Perspective Drawing for Interior Design" Course

Ready to take your perspective drawing skills to the next level? Dive deeper into the world of interior design sketching with my online course, "Perspective Drawing for Interior Design." Learn in the most efficient way from someone who has actually done it – me!

In this comprehensive course, I'll guide you through easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions that fit your schedule. Whether you're a seasoned designer or just starting out, you'll gain the skills and confidence to win better projects, charge more than your competitors, and elevate your interior design game.

Don't just take my word for it – check out the rave reviews from students who have already enrolled in this course. Join us and unlock your potential with "Perspective Drawing for Interior Design" today!

One of the sketches from the course “Perspective Drawing for Interior Design“

Happy sketching!

P.S. Please share this article with your creative friend who might be interested in perspective drawing.

© Olga Sorokina, 2024

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Shadows and Light: The Interior Artist's Guide to Mastering Value Study Techniques

In this article, I'd like to underscore the significance of incorporating a value study into your interior drawings.

It's quite common to observe beginners using a pleasing colour palette for their sketches. However, a key aspect often overlooked is the variation in tones. Without a thoughtful value study, the sketch tends to appear flat and lacks the dynamic contrast that brings it to life.

The secret to enhancing your interior sketches lies in mastering the art of value study.

“Sketching teaches us to become very observant, to see nuances.”

— Olga Sorokina

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A “value study" in drawing refers to the exploration and representation of different shades of light and dark within an artwork. 

When it comes to interior drawing, understanding and effectively depicting values are crucial for creating a sense of depth, lighting, and atmosphere.

Here is a quick guide on how to approach a value study for interior drawing:

• Identify Light Sources:

• Determine the primary light sources within the interior space. This could be sunlight streaming through windows, artificial lighting from lamps, or a combination of both.

• Note how the direction and intensity of light affect different surfaces and objects in the room.

• Define Major Forms:

• Identify the major forms and shapes within the interior, such as furniture, architectural elements, and decorative items.

• Use values to accentuate the three-dimensional qualities of these forms. Consider how light and shadow play across surfaces.

• Establish a Focal Point:

• Decide on a focal point within the interior. This could be a specific area, object, or piece of furniture that you want to draw attention to.

• Use a higher contrast around the focal points or key elements in the foreground, making it stand out within the composition. This not only directs attention but also adds to the perception of depth by making those elements visually prominent.

• Consider Material and Texture:

• Different materials and textures within an interior space will reflect light differently. Pay attention to how values can convey the characteristics of materials, such as the shine of polished surfaces or the softness of fabrics.

• Experiment with variations in shading to depict a variety of textures realistically.

• Balance Light and Shadow:

• Achieve a balance between light and shadow to create a visually appealing composition. Avoid overly bright or dark areas unless intentional for artistic purposes.

• Use mid-tones to connect light and shadow, allowing for smooth transitions and a cohesive overall look.

• Utilize Reflections:

• If there are reflective surfaces like mirrors or glossy furniture, consider how they interact with light sources and surrounding elements. Reflections can enrich your value study.

• Experiment with Different Times of Day:

• If possible, explore how the lighting changes throughout the day. Different times of day can significantly impact the mood and atmosphere of an interior space (think here “Haystacks” by Claude Monet).

• Morning and evening light, for example, may create long shadows and warm tones, while midday light can be brighter and more direct.

• Create Atmosphere:

• Use values to establish the overall atmosphere of the interior. A well-executed value study can convey the mood of the space, whether it's cozy and intimate or spacious and airy.

• Practice Depth and Perspective:

• Use values to emphasize the sense of depth and perspective in the room. As objects or surfaces recede into the background, gradually decrease the intensity of values. Darker values in the foreground will contrast with lighter values in the distance, creating a sense of depth. Emphasize the contrast between light and shadow in the foreground. Remember that objects in the distance often have softer, less defined edges due to atmospheric effects.

• Refine Details:

• Pay attention to details in your interior drawing. Use values to highlight intricate details in furniture, patterns on surfaces, and other elements that contribute to the overall realism of the scene.

Remember that achieving depth and perspective in a value study requires a balance between accurate observation and artistic interpretation. Experimenting with these techniques will help you create interior drawings that not only capture the spatial relationships but also convey a convincing sense of depth through the effective use of values. Observe real interior spaces, study how light interacts with various elements, and practice consistently to enhance your skills in depicting values in interior drawings.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed this article, please share it on your social media so more Creatives can learn about the importance of value study and interior sketching.

© Olga Sorokina, 2024

Drawings from my online course on watercolour techniques in interior sketching. Learn more here

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Transform your interior drawings with depth and perspective in my online course “Interior Sketching in Watercolour“

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See my blog archive: click here

Perspective Drawing Explained: 7 Types of Perspective in Interior Sketching

In this article, I'll introduce you to seven exciting perspective techniques that I employ in my interior drawings. From the fundamentals of 1-point and 2-point perspectives to the fusion of 1+2, "distorted" perspectives, and more, discover how each technique can bring depth and uniqueness to your sketches. Join me on this creative journey to the art of perspective drawing.

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In the world of interior sketching, perspective is the key to bringing your designs to life on paper. Whether you're a budding artist or an experienced designer, mastering different perspective techniques is essential. In this article, we'll explore seven intriguing types of perspective that can add depth, dynamism, and uniqueness to your interior sketches.

(1) One-Point Perspective (Frontal Perspective):

The fundamental technique for interior sketching, that forms the backbone of interior sketching. Here, we have only one vanishing point on the horizon line, but it forms everything. 

Read also related article on my blog for a more in-depth exploration of 1-point perspective:
“The 9 principles of one-point perspective in interior sketching”

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(2) Two-Point Perspective (Oblique View):

Here we can see two vanishing points on the horizon line, adding an extra dimension of dynamism to your drawings compared to the more static nature of 1-point perspective.

Read also related article on my blog:
“The 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching”.

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(3) Combined Perspective (1+2):

A fusion of 1-point and 2-point perspectives, with some furniture objects having their own 2-point perspective. In this sketch, you can see a blend of 1-point perspective for the room and 2-point perspective for the objects, in this case, two classic bergere armchairs. What makes this perspective truly captivating is that each chair has its own set of 2 vanishing points. Here, things get intriguing with a total of 5 vanishing points! 

In my online course BASE, I'll guide you step-by-step in drawing this French interior.

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(4) "Distorted" Perspective:

Some love it for the dynamism it brings, while others find it challenging. It's a unique fusion of one-point and two-point perspective. I find it really profound as it brings a lot of dynamic to the sketch. With "Distorted" Perspective, the back wall (also referred to as the frontal wall at times) takes on a trapezium shape, in contrast to the rectangular form of the back wall in our 1-point perspective (please take a look at my drawing below). This transformation adds an intriguing element of dynamism to your sketches, making it a captivating technique to explore. 

You can learn how to create this captivating effect in my online course PRO.

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(5) "Elevated" Perspective with Two Vanishing Points:

Ideal for small spaces like bathrooms and home offices, this technique can add a new dimension to your designs. 

Join me in THE CLUB and explore how to create interiors with this perspective.

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(6) "Elevated" Perspective with Three Vanishing Points:

Take your perspective skills to the next level with three vanishing points, offering even more depth and complexity to your sketches.

Let’s draw this interior together in my online course PRO.

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(7) Four-Point Perspective:

Think about it as two sets of 2-point perspective.

You can draw this classic oval bench with me in my online course “FURNITURE“.

In my practice, I most often utilise the fundamental 1-point and 2-point perspectives, which form the backbone of interior sketching. Remember, the best way to make good interior sketches by hand is to make a lot of them, quickly and spontaneously, until it becomes natural for you.

To further dive into the art of interior sketching and discover the nuances of these perspective techniques, be sure to check out my 35-minute Instagram live stream where I explore this topic in greater detail: watch here.

Do you want to master interior drawing from scratch?

Welcome to my online course

“Perspective Drawing for Interior Design“

Read also related articles on my blog:

“What is perspective in drawing“

“Perspective Drawing Explained: 7 Types of Perspective in Interior Sketching”

“The 9 principles of one-point perspective in interior sketching”

“The 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching”

P.S. Hope you enjoyed this article, please share it on your social media so more people can learn about perspective drawing and interior sketching.

© Olga Sorokina, 2023

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See my blog archive: click here

Top 5 books on perspective drawing: my personal choice

In this article, I will share with you my absolute favourite books on such a hot topic as perspective drawing for interior designers, architects, and urban sketchers.

Please note, links I provided here are affiliate; if you buy, I make a commission (at no extra cost for you!). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

P.S. Find your special gift at the end of the article.

“The artist’s business is to be able to draw an object so that it will look solid and not flat like the surface of the paper on which it is drawn. In so doing that artist employs a method that we call perspective.”

— From "Perspective Made Easy" book by E. Norling

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"The SKETCH. Interior Design Drawing"

Olga Sorokina (click for a direct link on Amazon)

I'm happy to include my book on this list. I wrote it specifically for interior designers as well as interior design students who want to master perspective drawing and interior sketching with markers from scratch.

This is a very actionable and quick-read book that, if you would work with, will change your interior design project presentation and, possibly, even your whole creative life. I share my story in the book and how sketching transformed my life. I designed "The SKETCH "particularly for beginners in freehand sketching and for those who want to master a fantastic skill of hand rendering for better performance on the interior design scene. In case you want to make drawing commissions your new job (often called "sketch artist"), you will find inspiration here.

Here you will find a lot of tools, tips, and tricks for freehand sketching, examples of some of the masters of the craft, recommendations for materials. Students need to practice from the book with the step-by-step exercises. Richly illustrated, this little black and white book can serve as a source of great inspiration, and for some of you, it is going to become an excellent small table book.

My book is available in PDF version here

Paper-based from Amazon here.

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“Drawing Perspective. How to See It and How to Apply It”

Matthew Brehm (click for a direct link on Amazon)

One of the recent coloured books on perspective, your hands-on guide to this tricky topic (big bonus: it's excellent polygraphy quality). It will be particularly valuable for urban sketchers and artists who love to do outdoor sketching since the majority of the examples featured are those drawn from location. No dry theory, but it does explain in a playful way how perspective works. Probably, one of the most straightforward books to read as it explains every type of perspective drawing so clearly.

I believe it will also be essential for beginners in general, actually, all levels will benefit from this book with its fun image quizzes (yes, you can draw right inside the book!), step-by-step schemes and diagrams, not to mention its «Perspective Chambers», which is really something special that I haven't seen in any other books on this topic. Definitely, those workbook exercises, in the end, are such a practical bonus for the reader (these worksheets for each task can be done in the book or downloaded).

This book gives you heaps of fun, practical exercises, and encourages you to play with them while demystifying such a complex topic for the majority of artists as perspective. The book will help you develop a working knowledge of how perspective appears in the world, why it seems the way it does, and how to apply these understandings in your sketches, accordingly, the perspective concept is broken down into "seeing it", "understanding it" and "applying it», a great explanation! After reading it, you will see the world around differently, and you will actually understand perspective so that learning how to draw it becomes effortless and fun.

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“Perspective Made Easy”

Ernest R. Norling (click for a direct link on Amazon)

This tiny black and white print is a perspective classic, a great introduction quick-read book and foundation to perspective for beginners. Just look at its stats from Amazon Best Sellers Rank (for the day of publishing this article): 

#4 in Architectural Materials

#46 in Pencil Drawing

#22 in Arts & Photography Study & Teaching

This book is simple, short, quite easy to understand, and really helpful. A concept of perspective that confuses almost every interior design/architecture student is demystified here, it starts very basic and builds on each idea. In my opinion, it is one of the best books I have found for teaching perspective, but, if you are hoping for something advanced, «heavy», with innovative ideas for teaching, clear instructions and step-by-step drawings with good quality coloured images then this book is probably NOT for you, plus there's not that much in terms of interior design.

This small-format book is a light reading, even though some parts of it may seem too advanced, but most of it is very simple and easy to understand. It covers so many essential topics: vanishing points, ellipses, cylinders and cones, shadows, and shades. Also, at the end of every chapter, there are highlights to note and assignments to apply the newly learned information. You can finish this book quite quickly, but the book is designed so that the concepts may stay with you as you read and practice the exercises. I believe for beginners studying from this lovely little book before going into something advanced can make learning perspective more enjoyable, and later it will be easier to learn the more complicated perspective concepts.

While I was reading Norling’s book, I had a feeling that a mature architect sits in front of me and explains perspective principles in simple words and with fun examples. I like the statement which opens the book: "The artist's business is to be able to draw an object so that it will look solid and not flat like the surface of the paper on which it is drawn. In so doing, that artist employs a method that we call perspective."

It was written originally in the 1940s, the language might seem outdated, but the rules of perspective don't change. Just to give you an antiquated example of wording from the book: "Imagine your wearing a diving helmet." What?! A diving helmet? Why it’s not a snorkel and mask? I see this old-fashioned language as an added entertainment feature, so have fun.

This book is a useful reference for drawing in perspective, and it's a good deskbook for anyone who has learned basic perspective techniques, most of this information has been taught in art classes, but it is a solid reference/reminder-book to go back to whenever someone needs to refresh on the concept. 

Finally, I will add that this is a timeless classic that I would recommend to anyone interested in learning perspective drawing. Definitely, this book is an excellent tool for learning the basic intricacies of perspective; small, clear, and concise, it will be an essential addition to any Creative’s bookshelf.

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“Perspective for Interior Designers: Simplified Techniques for Geometric and Freehand Drawing”

John Pile (click for a direct link on Amazon)

A prominent author of numerous books on interior design and such topics as the history of the interior, color in the interior (a list of John Pile’s books is here) did not leave behind such a hot topic as perspective in interior sketching. I believe that this book will benefit any interior designer who wants to master perspective and draw in front of their clients.

The book starts with a section on the fundamental technique of a 2-point perspective, which is presented through 14 sequential steps. This black and white, quite small, and straight forward edition offers the most important types of perspective for interior designers (1- and 2-point) in a simplified, clear, and concise way. The book is quite extensive in content with clear visual instructions, and you can read it in just a couple of days, yay! 

The author covers special situations like reflections, views from above, case studies, furniture. You will learn how to draw to scale, how to place floor plan in relation to drawing, how to draw circles in perspective, as well as ellipses and stairs (oooh, a tricky topic, right?) from Pile’s book as well. Perspective for Interior Designers offers an easily accessible and quickly learned method that will serve every interior designer’s drawing needs.

Also, here you will find some specific techniques for drawing interiors, step-by-step demonstrations, analysis of floor plans, and a simple and accurate method to make perspective drawings from them. I can say that this volume is a complete and specific guidebook, which is easy to understand. I wish I would have it when I was a student at the St Petersburg Art Academy.

By reading it, you will get the joy of being able to make accurate, technical, and professional-looking perspective interior drawings to scale. This book will help you stop struggling with perspective, so I highly recommend John Pile’s work for all interior designers, interior design students as well as architects (for others, it might seem to be very comprehensive or too technical).

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“Sketching for Architecture + Interior Design” 

Stephanie Travis (click for a direct link on Amazon)

This beautifully done book is broken up into three chapters (furniture + lighting, interiors, architecture) with multiple drawing techniques in each section that emphasize the process. Each chapter provides in-depth steps and examples to follow. Forty-five step-by-step drawing exercises take you from the simple forms of furniture to interiors, to more sophisticated building exteriors and cityscapes. Stephanie provides excellent "how-to" steps, which makes it easy to follow and try out yourself. With its simple approach, easy to follow instructions and plenty of drawing examples, I believe this book should be available in all the Art Schools and Design Universities’ libraries. Interestingly enough, this book explains and outlines sketching in a way that works both for non-professional and industry professionals like architects and designers.

Having grown up with computers, today's interior design and architecture students are extremely adept at creating computer imagery, but often lack confidence in their freehand sketching skills, or even do not know how to sketch at all. Sketching has almost become a "lost art”, and this book is perfect not only for students but also for design professionals, as well as for those who just want to learn to sketch and see things in a new light. Sketching, and the careful observation that it entails is essential for the successful development of the next generation of designers. We can’t underestimate the importance of being able to sketch out an idea on the fly and learning to see in a new way, especially for a visual industry.

You can perceive this book as an excellent masterclass in free sketching. The instructions are insightful and pointed, and the freehand sketching adds so much texture and intimacy to the book, its compactness is beneficial for travel and is comfortable to review. This book might potentially give you “new eyes” and to draw what you see instead of what you think you see. The playful exploration of line, form, shadow, pattern, perspective, and composition is broken into manageable steps that build upon each other without a lot of overwhelming technical jargon. Through simple, beautifully hand-drawn examples, you will learn how to capture and portray the unique qualities of a subject rather than just reproduce a copy.

Technical topics covered include tools, line weights, perspective, proportion, composition, shading, serial views, and context. Exercises are illustrated with beautiful sketches, specially created by the author. Sketching for Architecture and Interior Design is the number one practical guide for design students wishing to master the art of looking and drawing. Interior designers and architects might find themselves using this book on studio projects, especially in the schematic design stage, since the book helps with diagramming and processing conceptual ideas, which then translate into the architectural concept.

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In terms of proportions and standard dimensions for interior design and architecture, check out classic Peter Neufurt book: https://amzn.to/31CUGZC

Links here are Amazon Affiliates, so if you buy any of these books, I get a commission at no extra cost to you.

What are your favourite books on perspective, and have you already read any of these books?

Let me know in the comments below.

P.S. Please share this article on your social media so more people can learn about perspective drawing and freehand sketching. Thanks in advance, and good luck with your sketches!

© Olga Sorokina

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Master 1- and 2-point perspective in 7 days or less:

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Subscribe to my channel for weekly educational videos on interior drawing:

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Top 11 struggles in interior sketching beginners usually have

Here are the most common struggles I’ve noticed throughout my teaching practice:

+ Perspective basics is definitely high on your "struggles list”, perspective drawing seems to look very complicated

+ You are totally new to sketching and need to learn about it to be comfortable where to begin with; you really just need some helping hand

+ Your biggest issue is the proportion of the furniture to the size of the room

+ Just getting started and know what to draw when you finally sit to draw

+ Scared of hand rendering textures and reflective surfaces, like glass, mirror, metal, etc.

+ Not sure if you are using the right materials for sketching

+ Struggle mostly with shading, highlights, and cast shadows in particular

+ Wish you are being able to use the right materials to highlight the differences in tonal variation

+ Feel very rigid while sketching structure and resistance while approaching 2-point perspective, despite practicing and following along the lessons

Maybe you are more experienced and have made rendered drawings you are proud of, but they were very time-consuming, so:

+ Getting in the habit of sketching project ideas quickly is your biggest weakness, and you feel the need to jump to Revit/AutoCAD/3DSMAX to get yourself started on ideating a plan, and you wish you could just grab a sketchbook to do the same (probably you even think it is a purely psychological issue :-)

+ Biggest issue is that you don’t know how to put multiple drawings on an A4/A3 page to present an idea. When using markers, it can be hard to plan out where everything will go and how the overall look of the page/s might be. Single drawings are easier, but when combining floor plans and a 2-point perspective interior and exterior plus a 1-point interior on the same page, you want to make it all look aesthetically similar

Let me know if you resonate with any of these or have your own struggles in the comments below this video on my YouTube, please.

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Resources:

Check my free perspective course  and blog articles archive, it can really help.

© Olga Sorokina

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If you want to dive deep into interior sketching and address those struggles, I welcome you to join my online course

"BASE": a Course Which Teaches All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice:

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Top 10 factors that affect the cost of an interior sketch

I often got asked by novice sketch artists how much to charge for a sketch, what affects the cost of the sketch, and so on?

In this article, I will share with you ten factors that I see as important when pricing your interior drawing.

Happy reading!

My 5-hour long interior drawing. If you want to learn more about the drawing process, watch this video on my YouTube.

I have highlighted for you the top ten factors that I think about before starting on a new commission:

1. If a client orders a series of sketches VS only one sketch (I usually offer a 30% discount if there are more than 3 sketches in one order)

2. Format (most popular are A4 and A3 if you draw analog), the bigger — the more expensive.

3. Sketch in pencil or sketch in colour (to me, colouring part is the easiest since the perspective is done in the drawing part)

4. Drawing from a reference photo/3D model image or the need to build perspective from using furniture layouts/sections/any drafts with dimensions (as it takes quite a while!)

5. More than 3 major edits (that's why it is very important to correctly discuss brief so in a hand rendering nothing will be missed)

6. Interior style: it depends if we’re talking about minimalism/high-tech or Italian classics as the latest consumes more time due to profound details.

7. Urgency, if your customer needs the sketch «yesterday» or in 24 hours then you can add 30-50% to the cost of your sketch

8. Drawing of a fragment of an interior (for ex: a free-standing piece of furniture, curtains design) or a sketch of an entire interior in perspective

9. If your customer does not allow the publication of the final sketch on your social media or portfolio

10. Commercial use of the sketch: whether the designer will use the drawing for commercial purposes (for ex, booklets, magazine cover, etc); this is usually negotiated with each client individually.

Plus, I highly recommend jumping on a zoom/Skype call with your client (even a quick 15 min call will work!) to make sure you understand each other correctly, plus it builds beautiful personal relationships.

Please keep in mind these factors next time you do a sketch commission, Clients differ, with some the work is a piece of cake and with some, it might take too much of your time and energy. Know your hourly rate and never under-charge your services!

I dive deeper on the topic and showing you some examples of my analog and digital sketch commissions in my latest Instagram live stream, worth checking out: here

P.S. I hope these tips were of help to you, my dear creatives. May I ask you to share this blog article on your social media, please? Thanks in advance and good luck with your sketch commissions!

© Olga Sorokina

Want to become a professional sketch artist?

Check out my “BASE+PRO“ Bundle

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In this video, I share with you the steps of how I created that yellow interior drawing:

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Read other articles on my blog:

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check my podcast episodes

(MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH ARCHITECTS, ARTISTS, AND DESIGNERs)

How to create a great interior design portfolio: 4 cases, top tips, and inspiration

Watch my interior drawing tutorials and tips on id portfolios on YouTube:

Check my latest interior sketches and behind the scenes on Instagram Stories:

Whether you are a beginner in the design world or a mature interior designer, this article can help you with some basic steps in creating your first portfolio; also, you may find here some fresh and exciting ideas for an existing one. Some paragraphs here I took from my best-selling book “The SKETCH“. Enjoy!

P.S. Special “perspective sketh“ gift is waiting for you at the end of the article.

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In this article, I will cover:

• Interior design student’s portfolio

• Interior designer’s portfolio

• Interior decorator’s portfolio

• Portfolio for you to apply for interior design school/college/university

• Portfolio formats

• Importance of hand rendering for interior designers

• Resources (books, examples)

You need a portfolio to show people so that they can see what your design skills are and what your expertise is. It should be professional looking and attractive from a design perspective, yes, but the content is king, never forget about this. That’s why I’m going to be covering here necessary things to include in your interior design portfolio.

To begin with, let’s define your «target audience» as that will affect the content. Who will see your portfolio? Is it an employer, a potential client, or maybe people from interior design college you want to apply? Think about it, and then you can create a killer portfolio that will blow their minds! Remember, your interior design portfolio can actually prove you are a professional without you saying a word! Your portfolio can also set you apart from other designers and present your work in the best possible light. Visuals speak loud, design speaks even louder.

“Visuals speak loud, design speaks even louder.”

1 case: Interior design student’s portfolio

Are you a beginner in the design world? Do you lack experiences? Then in your portfolio, you can show off your school/university assignments that you like, select your best projects that you are most proud of, show your best work. Five to seven projects are usually enough.

Now decide who is your «target audience»? Design School, potential employer, or are you preparing your work for online resources like Behance? Let’s assume that your «target audience» is an employer, here is how the layout and the flow of your portfolio may look like:

• On the first page of your portfolio, it’s a good idea to include your photo with a resume, and this is a great way to start your portfolio as it gives a great overview of your skills. Make sure to keep your resume to the point and relatively short. Plus, your resume should be visually attractive, take your time and check some design resume templates online (like this one) or create one yourself.

• Next, continue with your projects (commercial design, hospitality industry, residential projects), then you can include paid projects you did on the side if you have ones. Make sure you have the correct categories displayed. The important thing is to keep everything clean and crisp as it will make your portfolio look professional. You should prove with your beautiful presentation that you are a skillful interior designer.

• Include pictures of some design boards you have had created because it’s a lot easier to carry around pictures as it shows the work well enough, plus it gives your future employer an excellent overview of your skills.

• Be sure to demonstrate your technical skills, include your CAD drawings, show that you can draw out and design a plan, add a couple of electrical drawings, and any other special drawings or special skills you may have.

• Another great idea is to demonstrate the progression of a project from the initial concept to the final design. Here you can show your very first sketches, mood boards, AutoCAD floor plans, and any other mechanical plans, elevations, and 3D renderings. At the very end of the portfolio, you can have your references.

• If you can sketch and make perspective drawings and hand renderings, include them as well. Clients love hand drafts as this ability to draw makes them think that you’re an Artist. Show your wide range of talents.

“Remember, 5 to 7 projects are usually enough for your portfolio, focus on the quantity over quality.”

TIP 1: If you struggle with hand rendering and want to master interior sketching and perspective drawing, check out my online courses for beginners and for pros.

TIP 2: You might also want to download the list of my favourite marker sets for interior drawing at my Resources page here.

Check my 5-min tutorial to enrich your portfolio with hand rendered furniture plans:

You can get each step of this sketch plan in PDF directly to your email now, simply complete the form below:

“Interior sketches dramatically enrich your portfolio. Hand drawings are what attract instant attention and sell to your client. Why? Because they appeal to the emotional intellect of your customer.”

— Olga Sorokina

Drawing in 1-point perspective from my online course

“BASE": a Course Which Teaches All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice

(For Interior Designers & Architects)

2 case: Interior designer’s portfolio

Please remember that interior design is not the same as interior decorating, that is the one big mistake people make all the time. Some customers really think that we just select pillow cushions, and blankets, and picking wall colours all day long. To be true, that is about 10% of what we actually do. Interior design is essentially like architecture, in some countries, it’s even called «interior architecture». You can get your diploma in interior decorating in 2-3 years, whereas interior design typically is a four to six-year degree program.

In interior design, you learn about constructions, floor plans, history of interior design, styles, functionality, ergonomics, lighting, colour theory, client communication, building codes, mechanical systems. It’s a lot more than just designing a room. In this article, I will cover the decorator’s portfolio as well, so keep reading.

Well, here, in an interior designer’s portfolio, your «target audience» can be both a potential employer or a client.

First, let’s talk if it is an employer:

Looking for a position in interior design or architecture firm? Your resume, in that case, should cover your educational background, experience, and qualifications. My recommendation is to focus on your professional skills in this type of portfolio.

For example, you can list your skills, such as:

• AutoCAD/ArchiCAD/Revit/Google SketchUp drafting and rendering

• 3DS MAX rendering + Vray

• Sketching and hand rendering

• Construction management, etc

It’s also a good idea to demonstrate a progression of a project from the concept to the final design, show your sketches, sample design boards, floor plans, and any other mechanical plans, elevations, and final 3D renderings.

Now, let’s talk if it is a client and if you already have some experience:

Your resume here can cover not only your experience, educational background, and qualifications but also your design philosophy. Remember to add contacts or your business card.

Include client recommendations if you have any, remember, that testimonials work better than anything.

Show what your customer wants, if he came to you for a residential project, show him your completed projects of apartments, studios, duplexes, houses, etc. I mean, at least 80% of your portfolio should be residential, the other 20% you can make commercial if you wish.

Try to include real photos, not only 3D renderings, layouts, mood boards, and drawings, as photos of completed projects will dramatically enrich your portfolio and gain the trust of the customer. Every time you finish a project, hire a photographer or a friend of yours who can take professional photos of your accomplished interior.

Focus on visuals: photos, 3D views, hand renderings, and sketches; clients love it. Try not to overwhelm your customer with technical drawings and AutoCAD layouts; the majority of them won’t understand all that stuff.

Include project location with its start and completion dates, describe the client’s directive. Keep it short and sweet. You can use here «before» and «after» photos.

If you have any publications in interior design magazines, design awards — wonderful, include them as well. Add certificates and any other documents that show your accomplishments.

“Focus on visuals: photos, 3D views, hand renderings, and sketches; clients love it.”

Here I used Chartpak and Copic markers. Learn about my online course

“TEXTURES“: a Beginner Course on Essentials of Sketching with Markers

(For Interior Design Students and Those New to Sketching)

You want to sell with your portfolio your creative services and your expertise. Remember that the best interior designer with the worst sales skills will never have as much business as the worst interior designer with the best sales skills. Think about what your client really wants and needs and how you are going to be able to deliver on those wants and needs. How will he benefit from you rather than the other interior designer? What value do you bring to the table?

Another important thing is to keep your portfolio up-to-date, so check it once a year or every other year and delete some outdated projects and include your new designs. If you don’t want to offer it, don’t show it, let it be your mantra for the portfolio creation process. I mean, if your goal is to work on restaurants and hotels in a contemporary style, don’t show your clients examples of residentials in classic.

“The best interior designer with the worst sales skills will never have as much business as the worst interior designer with the best sales skills.”

3 case: Interior decorator’s portfolio

So you are a brand new interior decorator, and you don’t have a portfolio built up yet. Let’s assume that your «target audience» is a potential customer. If you have not yet been able to do your first real design project, my advice is to create an imaginary one, but following all the steps of a real project.

You can include some educational projects you’ve done, such as private, commercial, hospitality interiors. The simplest and fastest way to fill in your portfolio with projects is to create mood boards. It’s not the most sustainable option, but if you are on a deadline, it can be the most effective solution for you. Visuals speak loudly, they really do, people love to see visuals! Why do you think Instagram and Pinterest are so popular these days?

“If you don’t want to offer it, don’t show it.”

Spend a couple of days and create mood boards for imaginary clients; for example, dream up a studio apartment for a young couple, a living room for an architect, an apartment for fashion designer, and so on. Create all sorts of rooms and spaces for whoever you can dream up. Take it seriously, think about these people and what their lives are. What you envision their space to be? Create a bunch of mood boards and put those on your portfolio.

A great idea would be to accompany those mood boards with floor plans to show your technical skills and knowledge of ergonomics. A huge benefit to doing that is that you can nail down your process so you can know how much time it takes you, so in a situation with a real and not fake client, you know how to charge properly for your expertise.

Dream to draw interior sketches like a pro?

Watch sample tutorial from my online course “BASE“:

4 case: Portfolio for you to apply for interior design school/college/university

You need a good portfolio to get accepted into interior design school or university. Usually, you have to have good grades as well because it’s a competitive program.

In this case, your «target audience» is, as you can probably guess, the selection committee. First, I would recommend checking their website; most programs will have a list of requirements that they would like to see.

They want it clean and simple, just show your artistic abilities so that these people know that you do have some sort of design background. The main thing here is to practice your perspective drawing (especially one and two-point perspective), floor plan drafting. Check my free online challenge where I cover the basics of a one and two-point perspective.

My marker drawing on A4 format

Usually, you had to go for an interview and show them pieces of artwork, life drawings, classic still-life drawings, maybe Photoshop collages, you have to show your artistic abilities and that you could drop. Just collect your art pieces, take photos of them. You can simply create a digital portfolio in Word or PowerPoint by labelling your art pieces, add sizing and description, for example, 50x60 cm, oil on canvas, name, etc. When entering an interior design school, it is a great advantage that you have those drawing skills.

Remember that each design school’s committee wants the best possible students to study in that school because their successful graduates and their testimonials are their best ads and marketing tools.

Good luck to you if you are currently applying for colleges or universities!

Portfolio format

There are all sorts of portfolio formats:

• Wire-bound presentations

• Foam core/foamboard mounted prints

• Video presentations

• Digital version (link to iCloud or Google Drive doc, PDF version)

• Online portfolio on your website (check these examples)

If you choose a printed version, I would recommend horizontal A3 format (it is portfolio classic) as in square, A4, or vertically oriented format you will find that it’s harder to make a good composition and show your projects properly. Make sure you use high-quality images for your portfolio, so they look nice when printed. Use high-quality paper, the feeling even the texture, the feeling in the hands of your portfolio, fonts, and colour brightness matters.

Online or PDF format is so accessible now, it’s eco-friendly, and it’s most significant advantage is that colours look so much deeper and brighter in comparison with the printed version.

You can create your portfolio in Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, InDesign, Apple Pages, Keynote, PowerPoint. Select the program you love and feel familiar with it.

Check also Instagram @letsshowitbetter, where Steven shares his tips on presentation boards. Steven and I both were speakers at ArchiMentors Summit, which took place October-November, 2020.

Extra Resources & Inspiration

You might find these links helpful to create the best possible portfolio:

• Book «Design Portfolios»: link

• Portfolio examples on Pinterest: link

• Inspirational examples on issue.com: link

• Some examples from Behance: link

I believe we, as creatives, can find inspiration pretty much from any sources; it might be a well-design magazine, nice typography, a good book on graphic design, even old-school posters — just look around!

P.S. Well, my creative friend, I hope you enjoyed this article. May I ask you to share it on your social media, please. Thanks in advance and good luck with your portfolio! I’m sure it will look amazing!

© Olga Sorokina

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Top 10 mistakes in interior sketching that can make your drawing look unprofessional

After more than 6 years of teaching interior sketching, I can tell you that I notice the top 10 common mistakes that beginners make that can ruin their sketches, and I’d like to teach you how to avoid every single one of them.

Please take a look at the image below. This is a drawing that I created specifically for this article to illustrate all of the ideas I’m about to share. Sketch to the right is OK; sketch to the left contains all of those 10 mistakes. Surprised? Keep reading and learn more.

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I’ve been teaching interior sketching and perspective drawing since 2014, and I can tell you that I can see certain mistakes that not only beginners in sketching but also experienced interior designers make in theirs drawings. These mistakes compromise their professionalism, and I’d love to teach you how to avoid them in this article.

These are basic and very common mistakes that not only beginners in sketching but also interior designers make. Unfortunately, these mistakes can make your sketch look flat and unprofessional or even jeopardize your reputation as a designer.

As a bonus, at the end of this article, I will share my Top 5 free tips for detecting and fixing your mistakes and the biggest secret of interior sketching.

Olga Sorokina

Top 10 mistakes in interior sketching:

Mistake #1: "I like everything equally"

That is when you draw all the elements in your sketch equally detailed and with due diligence. You can thoroughly draw the things that are farther away just as carefully as the foreground objects. And this is a big mistake in interior sketching, as this approach neglects the aerial perspective, and, consequently, the sense of space and air in the sketch is missing. Such drawings can often look plain, "tortured", and overloaded.

Mistake #2: "Focusing on details"

It is especially typical for girls. We can depict, for instance, the texture of velvet with markers so perfectly that it seems realistic. Meanwhile, all the proportions in the drawing go wrong, the composition is far from perfect, and the perspective is completely distorted. But we stubbornly refuse to see the overall picture and continue to draw beautiful copper rivets on the back of our velvet chair.

Mistake #3: "I don't get along with Her Majesty Perspective"

I have already mentioned the critical importance of proper perspective in sketching in my "10 Rules of Sketching", where it even takes the first place.

Distorted perspective works well only for cubists, while in interior sketching, you must know its basics (at least frontal and angular ones) "like the back of your hand". Look here, the lines of the bed, closet, and walls in the "wrong" sketch now converge at some completely different vanishing points, while all the lines in the "right" sketch converge at the vanishing point either on the left (A1) or on the right (A2), or they are just vertical to the heights of the objects. 

In interior sketching, everything depends on the fidelity of construction, so if you were good at perspective and shadow projections at school, it is a great virtue. But if you did not like or study it, I invite you to my free challenge on the basics of perspective for interior designers available here: click.

Please, analyze how the ovals open towards the horizon line in the scene. You can compare the lampshade ovals in both sketches.

In addition, keep an eye out for perspective reduction, as shown in the sketch by the cushions and the middle of the cabinet: the farther the object is, the smaller or narrower it should be.

“Wrong“ sketch with all 10 mistakes in it

Mistake #4: "Drawing on the wrong side of the marker paper without realizing it"

It is a purely technical mistake that is very easy to avoid. Before you start drawing another sketch, try to draw a line with a light gray or any soft beige marker somewhere on the side of the sheet and immediately run your finger over it. If the paint gets smeared, this is the wrong side of the marker paper; if the color is absorbed instantly without being smeared, this is the right side. Why is it so? Manufacturers of marker paper put a special coating on one of the sides, which keeps the marker from seeping through that paper and, thus, saves the consumption of the markers themselves.

Mistake #5: "I'm so terrible at this, please, go easy on me, it's my first time”

This mistake lies in the person's approach to learning new things. And who managed to create something brilliant for the first time? Perhaps it could be Pushkin or Mozart. Oh, how often have I heard that phrase, particularly, by the way, when I held a marathon on the basics of perspective for designers (Instagram hashtag #marafon_olgaart888). Guys, but where is this coming from?! It is so great that you decided to learn something new and were not afraid to "take your first lumps". In such cases, you have to encourage yourself and realize that you'll certainly succeed in it, but not immediately. Far from “immediately”. Be persistent and keep learning.

Mistake #6: "Drawing with ragged lines"

It's a very common mistake. Because of insecurity, the hand trembles, the pencil barely touches the paper making the outline of objects broken, with one long line made up of dozens of shorter ones if you take a closer look. Such sketches just scream: "I'm not a confident sketch! I was drawn by a beginner with a fear of drawing!" What should you do? Develop your skills. This 10-minute video on hand placement exercises can be useful to you: watch.

Have you ever noticed how kids are drawing? They press down very hard on the pencil and draw confident, albeit curved, lines. They're the ones you can learn from for being fearless in learning new things!

Mistake #7: "Applying marker inappropriately"

For the interior sketch to look more realistic, the marker (or any other material, such as a pencil or crayon) should be applied "in shape". For example, in the "right" sketch, the green marker is applied to the walls as if each line tends to a vanishing point (A1 or A2). In the "wrong" sketch, the marker is "hit or miss" which immediately makes the sketch look cut-out, collage, and unnatural. This mistake of hatching "at sixes and sevens" or "in a straw-witted manner" is one of the most common ones made by beginners, many of whom have not yet learned the advantages of a wide marker tip and fail to use its strengths hatching large areas of the drawing with a thin tip.

“Right“ sketch without those mistakes

Mistake #8: "Oops, some problems with textures"

A common problem for beginners in sketching is having difficulty rendering textures (especially wood, glass, and stone): they either work too intensely in this case, ignoring the source and relying on their imagination or depict the texture pattern out of scale, usually by making it very large (see my "wrong" drawing for the parquet as an example: I have depicted a too large wood pattern for this room, in comparison to the "right" drawing). In addition, beginners often draw textures that look unrealistic. For example, a person wants to depict a tree, but it looks more like marble veins or even "ragged worms". In such cases, it's necessary to develop observation skills, do some research on the Internet, and get inspiration. It's essential to have a visual experience. So instead of taking textures from your head and drawing using your imagination at the beginning, use pictures (Pinterest is a good choice) as they can be really helpful. You can find the most popular textures in interior sketching here.

Mistake #9: "The view outside the window in the drawing seems more important than the drawing itself"

If there is a window in the sketch, newbies often start to draw actively the crown of trees using a bright grass color marker so that when someone looks at the drawing, they see nothing but "garish" trees. In such cases, we should remember that what's outside the window is in the far-far background, and in our sketch, we must focus on the foreground subjects. In addition, the thickness of the air outside the window softens all colors and makes them translucent, pale, with a cold grey shade.

Mistake #10: "Your tonality fades: everything is equally grey"

Here it is required to highlight the lightest, darkest, and most middle objects according to the tone in the sketch. It is called "tonal parsing" of the sketch. In this case, it is advisable to train on the monochrome sketches, for example, the ones which are drawn exclusively with grey markers (you can just use three of them: light gray, medium gray, and dark gray). Thus, you will get used to distinguishing the tonality of the scene, for example, a color drawing can turn out bright, all markers will have different colors but the same tone, and as a result, there will be no contrast in the drawing, as if everything is blended into a single spot.

What should you do? 

Here are my Top 5 free tips for detecting and fixing your mistakes:

1) A good idea is to print out your sketch in shades of grey using only a black cartridge and see if you have this problem. If yes, everything will be equally gray on the printout.

2) You can also take a photo of your sketch and judge the result, as this mistake is pretty visible in the pictures in a small format. 

3) You can stand in front of the mirror with your sketch, and the reflection always reveals mistakes better. 

4) Alternatively, you can turn the sketch upside down. The thing is to change the point or angle of view at the sketch since while you are drawing, your eyes "get blurry", and you become blind to your mistakes, repeating them from one sketch to another. 

5) You can squint and look at your sketch, and if everything looks like one single spot, equal in tone, then it's high time you fixed the situation.

By the way, these five tips will work for almost all mistakes since it's just easier to notice them using these techniques.

The biggest secret

Top secret of interior sketching revealed…

The moment you know about all those mistakes, guess what? You can break them!

Take a look at my sketch above. It took me about 5 min to make it; I was drawing almost unconsciously while knowing that I was breaking the rules of perspective. If you take a closer look, you might notice that the convergence lines do not meet in one vanishing point, which would be correct. This is more of a freestyle sketch to quickly express an idea.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

— Pablo Picasso

Finally, one more piece of advice: 

Try to gradually move away from the ruler and eraser and focus on drawing by hand. You should train your hand, while the ruler and eraser are like "crutches" you get used to very quickly and develop a habit of constantly drawing with the ruler. Hand sketches look incomparably more attractive, professional, and lively.

What was your biggest take-away from this blog?

Did you notice any of these mistakes in your sketches?

Let me know in the comments below.

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please share it, that would mean the world to me.

© Olga Sorokina

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Check this video, where I go over 7 of those mistakes which I mentioned here:

Free resources I mention in the video:

• MY FREE PERSPECTIVE CHALLENGE: here

• 10 EXERCISES TO TRAIN YOUR HAND: here

• MY 10 RULES OF SKETCHING: here

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If you wish to deepen your interior drawing practice, you might be interested in this online course:

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The 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching

In my previous blog article, I covered the principles of one-point perspective in interior sketching.

Today we will talk about the second most used and popular in architecture and interior drawing — the two-point perspective. It is also referred to as an oblique view since here we are viewing the object, interior, architecture from a corner, we literally see that corner.  

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So, these 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching are: 

1. All the diagonals in your drawing recede either to one or the other vanishing point.

2. All vertical lines are perpendicular to the horizon line

3. There are no horizontal lines except for the horizon line and the lines of the objects which are precisely at its high

4. The closer the pieces of furniture or decor elements to us, the more details we can see.

5. All objects decrease in size as they recede into the distance.

6. All furniture and other interior design elements along the converging lines (or the lines of convergence) become foreshortened.

“Perspective is the key to what you see in our 3D world. Mastering perspective will improve your sketching skills and make your drawings look professional. ”

— Olga Sorokina

My interior drawing in two-point perspective and oblique view grid from THE CLUB

Resources:

• I covered the basics of one, and two-point perspectives in my free course, learn more about it here.

• If you want to dive deeper and become a professional in interior drawing, join my online course BASE.

• In this lesson of my educational membership platform for interior designers THE CLUB, I cover one-point perspective: link

Read also related blog article: “What is perspective in drawing“.

P.S. My dear Creative, I hope you enjoyed this article, please share it on your social media so more people can learn about perspective drawing. Thanks in advance!

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"BASE": a Course Which Teaches All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice

(For Interior Designers & Architects)

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© Olga Sorokina, 2020

The 9 principles of one-point perspective in interior sketching

One-point perspective (also referred to as frontal view) appears when we look at the object, interior, building, or street straight on, we face it.

It is the simplest type of perspective since we have only one vanishing point and one of the most used in interior drawing.

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So, these nine principles of one-point perspective in interior sketching are: 

1. All the lines in your drawing are either horizontal, vertical, or recede to the vanishing point.

2. All horizontal lines are parallel to each other.

3. All vertical lines are parallel to each other.

4. The horizon line runs at your eye level, which is usually 1,5-1,7 m high.

5. All horizontal lines are parallel to the horizon line, and all vertical lines are perpendicular to the horizon line.

6. All diagonal lines to recede to the vanishing point, these are referred to as converging lines.

7. The closer the objects to us, the more details we can see.

8. All objects get smaller and smaller the farther away they are from us.

9. All objects along the converging lines (or the lines of convergence) become foreshortened, and their lines will reach the vanishing point if we prolong them.

“Perspective is the key to what you see in our 3D world. Mastering perspective will improve your sketching skills and make your drawings look professional. ”

— Olga Sorokina

With the last 3 principles, think about the railway: rails will recede to the vanishing point on the horizon line, and the space between sleepers will get smaller as they recede into the distance.

Perspective is the key to what you see in our 3D world. Mastering perspective will improve your sketching skills and make your drawings look professional.

Resources:

• I covered the basics of one, and two-point perspectives in my free course, learn more about it here.

• If you want to dive deeper and become a professional in interior drawing, join my online course BASE.

• In this lesson of my educational membership platform for interior designers THE CLUB, I cover one-point perspective: link

My interior drawing in one-point perspective and frontal view grid from THE CLUB

Read also related articles on my blog:

“What is perspective in drawing“

“Perspective Drawing Explained: 7 Types of Perspective in Interior Sketching”

“The 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching”

P.S. My dear Creative, I hope you enjoyed this article, please share it on your social media so more people can learn about perspective drawing. Thanks in advance!

© Olga Sorokina

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Check this 1-min time-lapsed video of a one-point perspective drawing:

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Check my live stream on YouTube schoolofsketching:

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"BASE": a Course Which Teaches All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice

(For Interior Designers & Architects)

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What is sketching and the 4 most popular types of it

Your # 1 Online Course Which Teaches

All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice

In this blog post, I will explain what sketching is and what are its five most popular types.

P.S. I took this text from my book “The SKETCH“.

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You can listen to this article in audio format

(12 min)

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What is sketching?

Basically, it is about making a quick drawing, a study, which helps you to represent a design idea. And it has a plethora of applications:

Travel sketching (or sometimes city or urban sketching): expressive, energetic, and usually speedy drawings of architectural details, city views, restaurants, etc.

It can be made both in the open air (“pleinair” in French) and working from your memory – recollections of your trip when you are back at home, or using photos and creating compositions out of them. It includes “cafe sketching” as well.

Fashion sketching: people, fashion-looks, and accessories. It is used mainly for illustrations or magazines, e.g., for brand promotion. It helps designers during the first stages of the creation of their collections and helps to introduce changes.

Industrial Design sketching: probably the most known and popular branch of sketching. Obviously, it was created by industrial designers; a good example is car sketching. In this case, all sketches are made with great speed and confidence.

The type of sketching I teach my students via online courses, Instagram Lives, and YouTube tutorials is a little different, it’s an interior design sketching, and we usually start by creating a precise measured perspective with the help of scale rulers. This is followed by freehand rendering, which may take 1-2 hours, and for this stage, we will be using markers. Once you have mastered the construction technique, you will develop the ability to produce quick freehand sketches of interiors.

“Sketching is a fantastic skill that lets you transfer your design idea onto paper in the most fun, fast and effective way.”

Sketching is a fantastic skill that lets you transfer your design idea onto paper in the most fun, fast and effective way. In other words, sketching is a unique instrument for visualizing your concepts. Nowadays, it is associated mostly with such media as specialized professional markers, for example, Copic, Stylefile, Chartpak, Promarkers, ZIG, etc. Sketching “palette” is vast and versatile: you can start from scratch by using a pencil, charcoal, or black liner and end up by using different types of colouring techniques, for instance, watercolour, coloured ink and pastel or watercolour pencils. It is possible to mix various media, for example, markers + pastel or watercolour + coloured pencils. There are so many creative opportunities for you to test and explore! It is a good idea to try several and pick a couple of “favourites”.

Illustration from my book “The SKETCH. Interior Design Drawing“

A range of this kind of media in the art-shops can impress and confuse at the same time. But don’t worry, my friends, in this article on my blog I recommend you a nice and compact set of marker colours, which I use most of the time. But why do I recommend markers? In my opinion, markers are the most easy-to-learn-how-to-use and easy to implement technique for beginners (especially in comparison to watercolour) and, at the same time, sketches which are done with markers usually look more vibrant. As a matter of fact, in my interior design practice, I used to use watercolour and coloured pencils for my drawings, whereas now I opted for markers only because I simply see how much better they perform on paper for interior design purposes.

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The reason why sketching became so popular today among designers of all kinds not only in Russia, Europe, the USA, Asia, and the rest of the world is that artists nowadays tend to be overwhelmed by computer programs such as CAD, Revit, Sketchup, 3D Max, and Maya. In the old days, artists were earning their bread by, literally, their hands, and now they are desperately wishing to go back in time when ideas were transferred through hand drawing, which is far more natural and organic way of doing it.

Take a look at what is happening right now in our creative lives: we rarely, if ever, write with a pen, and mostly type on a computer, iPad or iPhone. We do not send handwritten letters and cards anymore – the epistolary genre is almost gone for good – and even our thoughts and ideas we capture in “Notes” on our iPhones. It seems that we have forgotten the meaning of “handmade”, handcrafted, which is precious because in creating it, you include a piece of your heart, love, and memories. Do you remember what we were told as children: “The best present is the one that is made by hands”. There is a profound meaning in that.

Just observe that we no longer “create” on paper but “work” on a computer, in Photoshop, Word, or AutoCAD. The words we use, especially verbs, bear deep meaning. With that in mind, ask yourself, is it better to render or to hand-render; to work or to create? They say that 3D Max was invented by those who can not draw. Clearly, there is a number of advantages in using 3D and computer-generated imagery, I used it myself a lot back in the days, but let us not lose the command of our hands and the link between the brain and the heart that hand drawing fosters.

4 main types of sketching 

As I mentioned before, there are different types of sketching, and here I would like to talk about each one in a little bit more depths. Let’s take a quick look at the main features of the most popular of them by splitting them into key concepts and keywords.

1. Interior sketching

For this kind of sketching, it is highly important to understand the laws of perspective and train your eye to judge scale and proportion. It is always good to be able to execute your drawings within different time frames because sometimes you will need to draw your idea quickly in front of your customer. As an interior designer, you should have an eye for beauty, a feeling for harmonious colours, and a perfect palette. And, as in other types of sketching, you should be able to render a variety of materials such as fabric, wood, stone, and glass. Check my video courses on interior design drawing.

Interior drawing from my ecourse PRO. Check other sketches here.

2. Fashion sketching

For this type of sketching, it is crucial to have a good understanding of human proportions (face and body). You should know how to stylize figures in your drawings. More often than not, body proportions are elongated in fashion sketching. For example, the total height of the human body in fashion sketching is 10, 11, or even 12 times the height of a human head as opposed to real-life proportions of only 7.5 to 8 heights of a human head. The most important aspect of fashion sketching is to be able to capture a design idea in the best possible light. Hence a facial-portrayal of a human figure is usually not significant. In this case, it is critical to be able to deliver the idea of the designed collection to the best advantage. In fashion sketching, it is essential to bring the clothing design into focus, and a life-like portrayal of the figure is usually unimportant. You will also need to know how to convey through hand-render the look and feel of such materials and textures as skin, hair, different types of fabric, metal, etc.

3. Industrial sketching

You will need the ability to draw objects in 3D, clearly showing their structural design and volume. To be able to render a professionally looking arrangement of component part on a piece of paper, you will need a firm grasp of the principles of composition. You will also need to perfect your technique and speed in order to develop an assured line and confident hand. The most common materials that need rendering in industrial sketching are metal, plastic, and glass.

4. Travel sketching

In this type of sketching, the most crucial skill is to manage to convey the feel, the ambience of a place, to capture the flitting moment and, at the same time, to deliver the correct scale and proportions of the object. More often than not, you will also need to be able to perform at high speed, as you will be sketching while travelling, while on the road, when you do not have several hours at your disposal the way it would have been the case with "plein air" sketching. In this type of sketching, it is important to grasp the intrinsic traits of the place you are observing and afterwards graphically stylize it in your drawing.

Check the process of creation of this sketch on my YouTube here.

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this article, let me know what is your favourite type of sketching in the comments below. Please share this article with your friends on social media. Thanks in advance!

© Olga Sorokina, 2021

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What is perspective in drawing, and 2 most important types of perspectives in interior design. (Perspective basics for interior designers)

Here, we will familiarize ourselves with the most extraordinary and most exciting field of descriptive geometry and will discover two main types of perspective – the most important skill in interior sketching.

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Fundamentals/Basics

Perspective is an area of descriptive geometry. Not many people are keen on learning descriptive geometry at school, and for many, it is synonymous with tedious technical tasks and dull routine. Perspective is an intriguing subject, full of surprising secrets, and is essential for interior designers. It is this knowledge that will let you work wonders on paper, allowing you to create impressive views of interiors and to reflect your ideas in the most effective way.

Perspective is the basic and most fundamental knowledge for sketching. It will help you deliver your projects expertly. Without it you will get nowhere – if you don’t know the laws of perspective, then you lack the foundations, which means you cannot move on, and no rendering technique or stylistic device will help you out if you don’t have a clear understanding of how to plot a space. The eye of a man has an admirable organization, and it is thanks to the laws of geometry that we can put down on paper or visualize the real world in the way our brain perceives it.

Types of perspective

What types of perspective are there, and which ones are of the most significant importance to interior sketching?

There are many types of perspective, to name but a few: aerial perspective, frontal perspective (or 1-point perspective), angular perspective (or 2-points perspective or oblique view), perspectives with three, four, five, and even six vanishing points. So, which ones are of the greatest value to interior designers?

First of all, it is the frontal perspective (it is sometimes called a perspective with one vanishing point). Secondly, there is an oblique view or angular perspective (with two vanishing points) and, finally, an aerial perspective (or tonal perspective). If the first two allow us to draw an interior correctly, the last one will enable you to fill your drawing with air and convey three-dimensionality of space. Once we master the basics, we can address more complex types of combined perspective – with three vanishing points and various three-dimensional effects. Latest are exciting perspective techniques that add more expression to a drawing.

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There is one artist that I want to point your attention to whose mastery of perspective I particularly admire. I am talking about Dutch graphic artist Maurits C. Escher. His work is simply mind-boggling! My favourite is his extraordinary self-portrait (check it here), where he is drawing himself while looking in the mirror sphere, which also reflects the interior. If you remove the ball, the room appears in a 1-point perspective; interestingly, the interior is reflected in the spherical mirror surface of the ball, it causes incredible effects and distortions of the space.

Escher’s art is one of the brightest examples of mathematical laws of perspective, coupled with the author’s imagination. Escher published a book, “Impossible Worlds”, where he plays with geometric rules, planes, creating inconceivable spaces. Scientists are well-versed in the beauty of mathematics, and Escher shows all of us that beauty.

“We adore chaos because we love to produce order.           ”

— Maurits Cornelis Escher

Once you grasp the rules of construction of geometry of a space, you can start experimenting with them. I call it ‘playing with perspective’. All sketching masters have an excellent command of this knowledge. So let’s get going and discover it for ourselves!

1-Point Perspective (Frontal View)

In this type of perspective, we have a vanishing point, which is always on the horizon line. This vanishing point is where all the lines converge to (that’s why it is called a 1-point perspective). When we draw an interior, we see three walls: one that is parallel to the picture plane (frontal wall) and two side walls.

It is a linear perspective, and it comes into play when your line of sight is parallel to the horizontal set of lines that converge upon a single point in the distance and perpendicular to the other set of lines in the view. It is the simplest type of perspective because we deal with only one vanishing point.

We are forever indebted for this knowledge to the Italian Renaissance. In the second half of the XVth century, Renaissance artists and mathematicians developed the linear perspective theory and brought precision and mathematics into mainstream art. Viva Italia!

Before that, artists drew ‘by eye’ or used Inverted Perspective (Byzantine Perspective), which is an art form unique to pre-renaissance religious art and is full of embedded meaning. As an example, look at Andrey Rublev’s “Trinity” and observe how the space appears flat and converges towards the viewer.

Thanks to Renaissance and its masters, who were not only prolific artists, sculptors, architects, but also prodigious mathematicians, the laws of perspective were discovered. Brunelleschi, Alberti, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Piero della Francesca introduced the use of perspective, and, in doing so, forever changed further development of art.

Renaissance masters were so fluent in the complexities of geometric construction that they were able to apply their knowledge of perspective to perform most complicated tasks and solve quite challenging problems. For example, painting of a ceiling of a dome has to take into account a variety of factors: first, people look at frescos from below, which significantly alters their perception. They also had to take into account the curved shape of the dome and correct for distortions that arise. Apart from that, there is a host of technical aspects such as the erection of scaffolding, working at a high altitude, temperature, humidity. In the case of frescos, the humidity levels are very high, as painting is performed over damp plaster). The frescos technique of mixing colours, a problem of lighting, and even the position of a painter’s body, all these are challenging factors for a painter. For instance, Michelangelo almost completely lost his sight while painting the Sistine Chapel.

My drawing for the book “The SKETCH“

When should we use a 1-point perspective?

1-point perspective is an ideal choice for depicting public spaces: bars, cafes, restaurants, hotel lobbies, as well as spacious residential interiors: sitting rooms, dining rooms, halls, and lounges, etc. This view lets you represent your idea on a drawing by showing the maximum amount of space. Suppose, we have a restaurant layout, with a rectangular shell: it would be sufficient to draw two 1-point perspective views – in one direction as you enter and one in the opposite. If we were to use a 2-point perspective view to demonstrate the design idea, we would have to draw all four corners of the space, plus a general view, a view from above, or even make a model (at least five sketches in total). In contrast, the 1-point perspective view allows you to show the idea with only two drawings.

We can change the position of the vanishing point in relation to the centre of the picture plane, placing it anywhere on the horizon line. It can be right in the centre, or it can be shifted to the right or to the left. This will make the picture asymmetric, which adds dynamism to the composition and allows you to reveal one of the walls to a greater extent. However, when the vanishing point is right in the centre, both walls are shown to the same degree, and, thus, appear balanced. It is this placement of the vanishing point that is often used in classical drawings of interiors. Classics loves symmetry.

“Classics loves symmetry.”

2-Point Perspective (Oblique View)

Another type of perspective important for designers is the perspective with two vanishing points. It is often called an «Oblique View». In this view, the horizon contains two vanishing points, and the picture reveals two walls of a space. You can move these points on the horizon line, but it is important that the distance between them should remain the same fixed value (usually this distance equals to the diagonal of the picture plane). When you have understood all the most critical basic laws of perspective, you will be able to experiment with them, creating drawings with the most effective angles.

2-point perspective is a linear perspective in which there are two vanishing points on the horizon line. This type of perspective appears when your line of sight is at an angle to the horizontal sets of lines that converge upon points in the distance. Simply said, you are at an angle to the wall. In a case with a 1-point perspective, you face the frontal wall. That is why its second name is "frontal view", remember?

2-point is usually visually more dynamic compare to 1-point because we can see the volumes of objects.

My drawing for the book “The SKETCH“

In which case 2-point perspective is the best choice?

It is indispensable when we want to show a space containing one main object, a dominant feature. Easy example: in the bedroom, it is a bed; in the study, it is a desk; in the nursery, it is a cot. And so on.

This perspective is ideal for small spaces, or when we want to draw in detail a specific corner of an interior. Also, it is the oblique view that allows us to show furnishings and other separate objects. I often use it to specify upholstery. A picture is worth a thousand words, and it is way easier to send an image along with an order for a piece of furniture depicting exactly what I had in mind.

My drawing for the book “The SKETCH“

Resources

Read also related articles on my blog:

• “Top books on perspective drawing: my personal choice“: here

• “The 6 principles of two-point perspective in interior sketching “: here

Learn more about perspective drawing in my book “The SKETCH“ (Amazon paper-based version or PDF).

Well, my creative friend, I hope you enjoyed this article, please let me know your thoughts on perspective drawing in the comments below. Is it a tricky subject for you?

P.S. Please help me grow my blog by sharing this article on your social media. Thank you in advance!

© Olga Sorokina

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A Course Which Teaches All the Basic Techniques You Need to Implement Sketching in Your Interior Design Practice:

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