London Diagrams

[bolognium]

I'm planning to draw the London Life building eventually, but I know it's going to be very time consuming if I want to do it well. I also can't decide which direction do draw it from. If I drew the classic Victoria Park facade, then I'd miss out on the cool modernist facade along Queens. And then there's the rear of the building with the huge 8 story portion.

Also, I just submitted my other London Towers diagram and noticed your pending drawings, Fazdeh. You did an awesome job on the Dominion Public Building.

[FazDeH]

I completely understand your concerns about London Life.. I assume the most effective angle would be from Wellington and Dufferin, best of both worlds? That being said.. its just such a massive building.. to get all the great details, would be frustrating.
As for Dominion? Thanks! I actually had my browser open and was constantly using your Huron and Erie building for inspiration, angled shading was daunting, but I've since been trying to get into the swing of it.
My next attempts will be UWO buildings I think, Social sci is brutalist, but interesting, and U.H.. well.. that will be a challenge.

[haljackey]

Awesome new drawings FazDeH! The Dominion Public Building is only 8 floors? Looks a lot taller than that.

Originally Posted by FazDeH

As for switching two London Place? I have no clue how that would be done...

Not sure either. After looking at SSP's database, it also shows that the Library Tower (a tower sticking out of the old central library like the Delta hotel does to the armories) is shown as canceled.

As far as I am aware, there are still plans to build it based on what I was told by a city planner. Funding and demand are the main issues right now... With the second Renaissance tower going up London's housing development downtown may be a little bloated at the present time.

There just needs to be more downtown to support more residents like a grocery store.

[bolognium]

I get the feeling we'll need some concrete info before Two London Place can be changed to proposed. Sure the tower could start quickly rising since the foundation's already poured, but it might be years until Sifton feels comfortable building it. I personally feel like 2LP is still a stale proposal at best.

Here's one of the Gartshore towers about a third done. So far it's all been drawn in MS Paint. Once it's done I'll post a slightly more comprehensive step by step if you guys are still interested.



Not long until we crack 50 buildings, Fazdeh!

[FazDeH]

Originally Posted by bolognium

Not long until we crack 50 buildings, Fazdeh!

Building looks great, I'm excited to see your process. - and yes I know, we'll be hitting 50 in no time, though I think now that I'm feeling more confident with shadowing etc, I might go back and redo some of my previous submissions.

Also - Thanks Haljackey, I was surprised by the height as well.

[bolognium]

I do the majority of my work in Paint, and hop into Photoshop to do shadows.



So up until that black line I was drawing exclusively in Paint. Once the shadows were done in PS I went back to Paint and added little touches like window highlights, rooftop antennae, etc. If you compare the drawing before the black line to the final one, you can see how the shadow gradient makes the building seem more realistic and a little less 2D.

Here's a peak of what I do in PS, from the top down it shows the grey wall's shadow gradient and a dark blue gradient over the windows:

clickclick

[FazDeH]

looks great, I think I'm going to have to give it a try. I guess I'm going to have to get photoshop haha

[bolognium]

Yeah, doing the shadowing in Photoshop is just so much easier because of the layers and opacity settings. Changing the opacity allows you to adjust the transparency of the layer so that you can just add shadow above your drawing.

The alternative to Photoshop is a free program called GIMP. It has many of the same options as PS, and is more than equipped for doing this kind of work. Layers, Opacity, better magnification, Brightness/Contrast, multiple Undo/Redo, ability to save in Indexed Colour, etc. The main reason I use the Paint/Photoshop combo is because I've been drawing pixel art for almost a decade with these programs, and I've become very comfortable with them. If I were you, I'd absolutely give GIMP a shot since it's free and capable.

Edit: Kickass University Hospital!

[Symz]

Originally Posted by bolognium

I do the majority of my work in Paint, and hop into Photoshop to do shadows.



So up until that black line I was drawing exclusively in Paint. Once the shadows were done in PS I went back to Paint and added little touches like window highlights, rooftop antennae, etc. If you compare the drawing before the black line to the final one, you can see how the shadow gradient makes the building seem more realistic and a little less 2D.

Here's a peak of what I do in PS, from the top down it shows the grey wall's shadow gradient and a dark blue gradient over the windows:

clickclick

Thanks for posting that. This I can follow and seem pretty straight forward but it leads me to my next question and probably the one I'm most concerned about which is scale. Are you just drawing these diagrams and then scaling them afterwards? (ala free transform in photoshop or something?) Or are you drawing them to some sort of scale from the start?

[FazDeH]

Originally Posted by Symz

Thanks for posting that. This I can follow and seem pretty straight forward but it leads me to my next question and probably the one I'm most concerned about which is scale. Are you just drawing these diagrams and then scaling them afterwards? (ala free transform in photoshop or something?) Or are you drawing them to some sort of scale from the start?

Rule of thumb 1 pixel = 1 meter. traditionally I've found residential floors to be 3 pixels, commercial 4.. but that is subject to change based upon the design of the structure.

[FazDeH]

Originally Posted by bolognium

Yeah, doing the shadowing in Photoshop is just so much easier because of the layers and opacity settings. Changing the opacity allows you to adjust the transparency of the layer so that you can just add shadow above your drawing.

The alternative to Photoshop is a free program called GIMP. It has many of the same options as PS, and is more than equipped for doing this kind of work. Layers, Opacity, better magnification, Brightness/Contrast, multiple Undo/Redo, ability to save in Indexed Colour, etc. The main reason I use the Paint/Photoshop combo is because I've been drawing pixel art for almost a decade with these programs, and I've become very comfortable with them. If I were you, I'd absolutely give GIMP a shot since it's free and capable.

Edit: Kickass University Hospital!

sorry - I didn't see your post until I did some scrolling up, I will definitely give GIMP a shot. And thanks! I just submitted Cherry Hill Village 1, and I feel it turned out well, based almost completely on your feedback and tutorials, so, Thanks for those!

[bolognium]

Symz, I draw mine to scale from the start (1pixel = 1metre) so the only diagram I submit is a 1:1 gif. So what you see in that first image with the 13 steps is exactly what I'm drawing, no scale change.

However, I'm pretty sure a lot of the diagram artists on this site usually draw the building at some mega-high resolution and then scale it down afterwards.

Edit: Damn you're pumping these out, Fazdeh! Cherryhill looks awesome too!

[Symz]

Hmm, ok. Well, so in my case if I wanted to try the Augustus tower for Windsor, from what I can find it's height is 111m @ 27 floors. I have no idea how wide the building is in terms of hard data.

Note: I'm messing around in paint and find I have to zoom to max to do this 1 pixel = 1 meter scale, this must be a bit of a long process to complete a diagram?

[bolognium]

You just have to eyeball the width of the building. I start by drawing a substantial feature of the building (upside-down L-shape on the 13 step), then begin adding the correct number of windows/balconies and adjust the width of the building accordingly. I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants when I draw my diagrams, I never really know what it'll look like until i'm mostly finished. And yeah, there's a lot of zooming if you choose to draw 1:1.

Maybe try drawing a smaller, more basic building from Windsor first and work your way up. If you post your works-in-progress I'd be happy to try and give helpful criticism. I feel bad for neglecting Windsor.

[Symz]

Originally Posted by bolognium

You just have to eyeball the width of the building. I start by drawing a substantial feature of the building (upside-down L-shape on the 13 step), then begin adding the correct number of windows/balconies and adjust the width of the building accordingly. I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants when I draw my diagrams, I never really know what it'll look like until i'm mostly finished. And yeah, there's a lot of zooming if you choose to draw 1:1.

Maybe try drawing a smaller, more basic building from Windsor first and work your way up. If you post your works-in-progress I'd be happy to try and give helpful criticism. I feel bad for neglecting Windsor.

It's ok, you have hometown pride for London and there's nothing wrong with you putting London first. I guess maybe I could try something smaller and see how it goes. I am pretty familiar with photoshop, but like I said, I've never done a building diagram and I think it's a bit of a different beast.

[FazDeH]

Originally Posted by Symz

It's ok, you have hometown pride for London and there's nothing wrong with you putting London first. I guess maybe I could try something smaller and see how it goes. I am pretty familiar with photoshop, but like I said, I've never done a building diagram and I think it's a bit of a different beast.

It is a different beast. BUT it's oddly addictive.
I just did a diagram of Metropolitan bldg to try and help the cause of the Windsor diagram section.

[Symz]

Originally Posted by FazDeH

It is a different beast. BUT it's oddly addictive.
I just did a diagram of Metropolitan bldg to try and help the cause of the Windsor diagram section.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I know which building that is! Thank you though!

[haljackey]

Geesh you two are following the Latest Additions page with all kinds of London Drawings!

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=100

Keep up the great work! Never knew University Hospital was that tall. Cherryhill Village I is also a brute.

[sparky212]

Do any of you fine artists want to tackle the delta and the new courthouse?

[FazDeH]

I'll take a crack at the courthouse- bologmium; wana give the delta a whirl?