Why am i never happy with my architecture concepts?

[ArtZealot]

I've been working as a concept artist for about a year, fairly fresh to the industry and consider myself a pretty well rounded artist. I draw decent characters, but mostly environments, and am better at natural landscapes than most else. I have a firm understanding of perspective, form, etc. but i am never happy with my archtectural concepts, i feel like theyre missing something; like a figure drawn with no knowledge of anatomy. can anyone who is decent at architecture concepts or someone who has an understanding of it point me in the right direction? i really dont know why i always hate my architecture concepts.

Like is there some books or websites with the findamentals of architecture to make it look believable or anything of that nature in existance, that is easy for an artist to understand?

[_Mario]

You could look for some books on structural engineering. My guess is that you have no idea how these things really are held together.

This does not mean that you need a degree in engineering. Just ask some students at a college/university that has related courses if there is some book they could recommend (or try amazon.com).

You don't even need to know the formulas and all the detail stuff, just a general overview why things work is that way.

Books on architecture are probably not that much about the engineering aspect but more about the design and use of space, spatial relationships, and related issues.

Both could be useful.

[ArmoredGorilla]

Seems like its a matter of putting in the hours till you gain some mastery of the subject, just like any other branch of concept design.

I can't think of a specific website, but I'm sure they're out there if you search. You should maybe try the mentoring area here on CA too.

Get yourself some architectural reference to start. Every once in a while, I'll go to a big book store with a few bucks to spare and clear out the picture books in the bargain bin. You get really lucky sometimes and find books of historical costumes, vehicles, weapons, castles, animals, and other relevant stuff...all on the cheap.

There was this awesome little book in Borders once, full of hundreds of quality reproductions of classical and renaissance paintings for only 8 bucks. So yeah, you're sure to find some good architecture books at minimal cost if you keep checking.

Where do you work by the way?

[Jason Manley]

do you know all the intricacies of the history of architecture?

does your understanding of building materials and construction need to improve?

[Blue]

do you know all the intricacies of the history of architecture?

does your understanding of building materials and construction need to improve?

Jason you're just proving that all of us still suck. :scribble:

[ArtZealot]

I just kind of needed a push in the right direction. I don't know what the study is called, if it's a book on the basics of structural engineering i need then i'll get it, and if i need to understand building materials, then i'll do that too. But yeah i just really didn't know where to look or what to look for.

[tensai]

i think what really helps is realizing that architecture is mostly about space and what goes on inside it.
when i started studying to be an architect it always came back to the shapes of spaces, the movements through it, their relation to each other, what kind of feeling it gave to people, what went on etc.

other than that i think what you often find missing in environmental concepts or illustrations is how organic a city or a street scene often is.
i.e. a city is most often not planned or designed by one architect or in one period in time either. so; their styles will differ. their condition and amount of decay will differ. their functions will differ and so often also the way they look will differ. even for a single house/interior; not everybody lives in designer houses/interiors. things don't fit together, extensions are built, etc. it's these oddities that often add charm or identity to a place.

a common mistake i think is also to put everything on the perspective grid. not all cities are on a kyoto/manhattan/barcelona grid.

but mostly i think if you can make your designs interesting by showing that a city or street scene is alive without showing the people - and only then add the people - to make sure you keep the viewer interested and that he will imagine what is going on over here, what people would be doing over there. then the viewer is more likely to come back for more.

so built up your mental library, with architecture, construction methods, but also cities and streets, and what makes them work or not.

just my two yen.
have fun..

[Farvus]

I'm architecture student but I see there is completely different approach for environment design and designing real architecture. For real architecture just like tensai mentioned, it's more about designing how it all changes "between walls". The relationship of scale for different spaces, how they overlap, how are functions placed in relation to each other. It all naturally creates the whole complexity of architecture. Even if it's outside, the streets are such spaces with imaginary floor and ceiling.
Also large percent of what shapes the final look of the architecture is non-artistic knowledge. When you go through the whole design process, it's almost like easthetic look is just cherry on top of cake :P. It wouldn't make sense to learn that as an artist so like everybody said, just look at stuff in real life and photos and try to mimic that to some extent to achieve realism.

Here are 3 pages from Neufert's book that could be interesting for you.
Building details - Functional use of materials (http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2987/neufert01ov0.jpg)
Form - The result of construction (http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9581/neufert02pl7.jpg)
Form - Modern Construction Techniques and Forms (http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2996/neufert03ph7.jpg)

Just don't stick to it too much beacause it might limit creative thinking about futuristic architecture and even in reality the technologies are quickly evolving so with every year there is less limitation. It's just for this type of stuff that would need thick layer of realism.

[ArtZealot]

This is all great advice. Thanks guys. Sounds like i need to do more architecture sketching from life which shouldn't be a problem.
Tensai, what you were saying makes a lot of sense to me. I've always liked the look of some cities which have all of those oddities you described. Cities that have been modified and added onto and which arent just following a grid. I've seen a lot of concepts of cities that are boring because they lack those modifications and realisitic inconsistencies. That is definately somehting i'm going to pay attention to as i study architecture, i agree 100% that it's those things which add life to a city.
Farvus, those pages you posted were extremely usefull ,they're exactly what i'm looking for. What book are they from? i'd like to hunt the book down on amazon. The pages are exactly the kind of stuff im looking for, which describes why something looks the way it does. I have a lot better luck drawing something when i have a little bit of understanding about why it looks the way it does.
If anyone else has some advice, i'm open to listen, all of this advice has been very usefull, i am just so dumb to architecture anything and everything is helping.
Cheers'

[AngryScientist]

Agree with everything that's said in here :) Building your visual library for architecture is not something only students and artists must do, but then we have to recreate it in some way, which is certainly tricky.
Another thing about this sort of design - sometimes the only way to approach it is to have a whole story in your head about WHY this is there and WTF it does. Even if it's useless shit that noone will know, it just gives you a story and makes it fun.
I'd like to point you in the direction of this guy - http://www.martiniere.com/. His understanding of architectural design is astounding (um, maybe because that's what he studied, DOH), and something I strive for myself.
Also here's the ISBN numbers for 2 books I got during my first year (LOTS OF PICTURES of buildings, urban spaces, floor plans, etc) - 954-516-397-6; 954-516-398-4, I think they can be of more use to you than Neufert at this time.

[Farvus]

ArtZealot - The book is Ernst Neufert Architects' Data (3rd Edition). It's commonly used by architecture students (Treated almost like a bible beacause there is everything :D). 636 pages packed with small diagrams, graphs, floorplans. I showed you few pages which are more digestible for artist. Could be too technical for you but you could take a look.

Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Architects-Data-3rd-Ernst-Neufert/dp/0632057718

EDIT: There is also one ebook about architectural composition in DjVu format free for download . I haven't read it yet. Very old so some information could be outdated.
http://www.archive.org/details/ArchitecturalComposition

[Duq]

I'll just dump some links

Archive of Architecture: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/
Castle Styles in Prague: http://old.hrad.cz/castle/architektura/index_uk.html
Nottingwood Caves: http://www.nottinghamhistory.co.uk/local/caves.htm

[RasselTassel]

My tip would be to not focus at specific architecture or construction at first. What would be great for you and this is something that would cover most areas within design, illustration.. and life; is to build up your critical and analytical mind.

Look around the world you have around you and constantly ask questions. Try to understand why things work like they do. Find a joy in understanding and you will be better prepared when it comes to visualizing specific areas or other challenges. With this training in the back you can easily break down photo references, styles, more complex geometries or mechanical functions. Understanding will also help you enhance your photographic memory and this will come in great hand when you are doing things on a whim with few or without photographic references for ex.

I know it sounds vague but it´s more of a general approach to learning and understanding of things. Sure getting books about architecture and collecting information is great.. but don´t hang yourself up too much about this specific collecting all the time. If you got a well trained mind you can find enough information through Google for example and filter all the unnecessary things out.

mnahmnah