✏️ Less Is More (More or Less)
Minimalist drawing or what's essential in a sketch
📖 The Quote
‘We need the mark. We also know how just a few lines on a piece of paper can suggest almost anything. That’s why economy of means is such a valuable quality in drawing. It is a virtue.’ - David Hockney, A History of Pictures
✏️ The Sketch
Step 1. Pick a sketch or drawing you have previously done.
Step 2. Read this post.
Step 3. Review your drawing.
Think about the lines you drew and what you just read: is there anything redundant that could be omitted? Can you re-draw it in a more ‘economical’, minimalist way?
Step 4. Redo your drawing using some of the tips below.
💡 Some Thoughts
A few lines on a piece of paper have the power to depict ideas and tell a story. The ability of the audience (or the client) in understanding what’s being visually communicated to them will determine how successful the drawing (and the project) is.
Mies van der Rohe’s famous ‘Less is More’ mantra refers to the quality of bringing design and creative practices to their essence and minimal expression. To make things simple (please, do not confuse simple with simplistic! That requires another post).
Memorable architecture drawings rely most of the time on the capacity to depict and transform complex systems into simple, readable outcomes - marks. I am thinking here about Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower sketch or Utzon’s Opera House in Sydney.
🤓 Some Tips
When drawing to visually communicate design ideas, ask yourself whether the lines you are making are necessary or whether they are redundant noise in your drawing.
There’s a chapter in the book ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser called ‘Clutter’ and a quote that summarises it very well: Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that doesn’t serve any purpose. The same applies to drawing (especially an architectural one): examine every line you put on a drawing and get rid of the ones that don’t serve any purpose.
Paul Robbrecht's sketch of the Bordeaux Archives is a good example of using lines in an efficient way.
Use empty, blank space in your composition.
Creating emptiness in your drawing helps attract attention to the important areas, strengthen a visual message, and create space to pause when reading the composition.
This approach has been practiced in many Chinese and Japanese pictures across history: Shitao’s drawings are good examples of this (I could spend all day looking at them).
Take the tips above as helpful suggestions and tools, not as creeds.
Robert Venturi coined the counterargument ‘Less is a bore’ to Mies’s ‘Less is more’ and as a response to the Modernist Movement. He was one of the defensors of bringing the ornament back to the practice of architecture.
As I always say, drawing and creative practices are entirely personal! And each type of drawing will suit different purposes and will address different audiences. Just make sure you continue experimenting and testing different ways of drawing, even if you feel settled in your own style.
💫✏️
Happy sketching!
Ana
Have you tried this week’s sketch? It would be great to hear about it! Please, leave a comment and share your thoughts down below :)