10 Architectural Illustrators to Follow And Get Inspired
With different styles and techniques, these illustrators capture the essence of buildings and spaces
Regardless if you prefer traditional or digital techniques, or if you enjoy drawing by hand or using software, architectural illustration is a creative discipline with endless possibilities.
We gathered a list of professionals that use this discipline in various ways: either to present an idea to a client, in close collaboration with an architecture studio or just to express themselves and their love of traveling and observing beautiful urban landscapes. Get to know them and get inspired to create your architectural illustration portfolio.
Alex Hillkurtz (@alexhillkurtzart)
Alex has extensive experience working as a storyboard artist with big studios in Hollywood. He has participated in films such as Argo and Almost Famous. However, after discovering the possibilities of watercolor painting, Alex has developed a method to sketch and depict buildings and cities. He uses the language of cinema to compose images that narrate stories about urban spaces and their people.
Alex teaches the Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink course, where you’ll learn how to combine loose ink sketching with watercolor to create beautiful buildings that leap off the page.
Héctor López (@_thearchitector)
Héctor López is an architect and draftsman. After some time working for architectural firms and studios, he discovered his true calling in the art of freehand drawing. Héctor experimented with several themes and mediums: from botanical to artistic illustration; from small sketchbooks to big murals. He now specializes in drawing for architecture projects.
Héctor teaches the Introduction to Freehand Architectural Design course, where you’ll learn how to illustrate a custom architectural space with layouts, perspectives, and human scale.
Carlo Stanga (@carlo_stanga)
Carlo Stanga is an architect and illustrator passionate about drawing and traveling. He has an international client portfolio from Europe and the U.S. Recently he published a series of books with Moleskine, featuring his illustrations of Milan, London, and New York City. He holds a large number of awards for his work and has held personal exhibitions in New York and Milan.
Carlo teaches the Architectural Illustration: Capture a City’s Personality course, where you’ll learn how to depict a cityscape using digital and analog techniques to find your illustration style.
Isabel Martínez (@isabelmabascal)
Isabel Martinez has an academic background in architecture that she acquired in prestigious universities in Spain, Germany, and India. Her work also has an international projection, with collaborations in projects and conferences in Brazil, Germany, Spain, and Japan. She is an expert using AutoCAD, one of the most popular software for architectural drawing.
Isabel teaches the Introduction to Architectural Drawing in AutoCAD course, where you’ll learn basic tools to draw with accuracy your architecture projects.
Lapin (@lapinbarcelona)
Lapin is an urban sketcher. As a child, he discovered his love for drawing and sketching when he accompanied his father (an airplane technician) to his workplace and started to draw planes. He is still passionate about aviation, as well as paleontology and drawing. During his many trips, he compiled over 200 sketchbooks. Some of his clients include Air France, The City of Barcelona, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, and F1.
Lapin teaches the Urban Sketching: Express Your World in a New Perspective course, where he’ll guide you to rediscover your surroundings by creating watercolor sketches of people, places, and fisheye perspectives.
Daniel “Pito” Campos (@danieldibujador)
Daniel “Pito” Campos is an illustrator and self-taught plastic artist. His biggest passion is the technique of watercolor painting, which he is almost fanatically dedicated to. With some academic background in architecture, he incorporates that knowledge into his sketches. His collaborations can be seen anywhere, from bars in cities to specialized magazines.
Daniel teaches the Urban Landscapes in Watercolor course, where you’ll learn professional processes to turn a real landscape into color, light, and transparency stains.
Gonzalo Ibáñez (@gibanez)
As an architect and watercolor painter, Gonzalo Ibanez expresses his creativity by painting architectural landscapes. He specializes in architectural design and graphic representation of spaces. His work has been published and exhibited in international media, and his work has been recognized in events such as the festival Mini Castra Slovenia or the IWS Chile 2020.
Gonzalo teaches the Architectural Illustration with Watercolor course, where you’ll discover perspective drawing techniques and learn how to capture light and shadow.
Maru Godas (@marugodas)
Maru Godas is a graphic designer and illustrator. She discovered her love for architectural drawing when she joined the Urban Sketchers Collective and she took the streets for inspiration and source of creativity. Her work has been featured in books and magazines, and she teaches urban sketching around the world.
Maru teaches the Pictorial Sketchbook with Gouache course, where you’ll explore new creative languages to work into your sketchbook and apply them to your illustrations and urban sketches.
PALMA (@palmamx)
PALMA is an architecture studio that provides solutions for a wide range of problems, with a vision based on analytic and design processes, and experimentation. They develop internal projects like a children0s space that won the Urban Toys contest, as well as the Pedregal Community Center of San Francisco, first place in an open call.
They teach the Architectural Visualization Using Digital Collage course, where you’ll learn to model and build spaces through digital collage-style renderings.
Fernando Neyra Moreta (@fn23grafica)
Fernando Neura is an architect and illustrator specialized in architectural graphics, a discipline focused on the attractive representation of projects. He works with studios and agencies from all over the world. He has developed a method by which he communicates the look and feel of a project combining both realism and imagination.
Fernando teaches the Digital Illustration of Architectural Projects course, where you’ll learn to portray spaces in a semi-realistic way and create a bridge between the technical and the artistic.
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