7 Free Tutorials to Get Started in Architectural Drawing

From urban sketching to 3D modeling, discover the world of architectural drawing with our experts

The job of an architectural illustrator is to create a visual representation of an architect’s plans for a structure or space. It has been a prominent discipline throughout history: humans have created sketches, diagrams, and drafts for thousands of years, with the earliest known example of an architectural plan dating back to 2200 BC.

So, how do you get started portraying the atmosphere and uniqueness of buildings? These seven tutorials for getting started in architectural drawing cover everything from urban sketching to 3D modeling, so whether you work in pencils or with CGI, you can create visualizations that wow your audience and capture the experience of a building in imagery.

1. Urban Sketching Tutorial: Learn Techniques for Drawing Perspective

You might start your architectural drawing journey by grabbing a sketchbook and depicting the spaces around you. Urban sketcher Lapin (@lapinbarcelona) does just this in his course!

In this tutorial, Lapin explains different techniques for drawing perspective and how each one will shape your illustration. He will push you to go beyond using just one or two vanishing points and dare to show a much wider view. He will also talk about the importance of observing how things really look rather than drawing them how we think they should look.

2. Architectural Sketching Tutorial: Why and How to Create a Sketch Thumbnail

Creating a small, quick, simple preliminary sketch before setting to work on your final illustration is a crucial step that will help you to work out shapes, lines, light, and shade.

In this tutorial, storyboard artist and illustrator Alex Hillkurtz (@alexhillkurtzart), who specializes in watercolor, shares his simple architectural sketching techniques for achieving efficient results that will guide you through the rest of your creative process.

3. Architectural Drawing Tutorial: How to Make a Good Composition

For the next step of the process, Alex Hillkurtz shares two techniques for creating a composition with depth: 1) using the rule of thirds to create an asymmetrical sketch and 2) using contrast to direct the viewer’s attention to concrete points to make your piece more interesting.

4. SketchUp Tutorial: How to Import a CAD File to SketchUp

Presenting an architectural project in three dimensions allows potential clients to visualize key details such as the distribution and proportion of the spaces, as well as the forms and textures of the materials. Knowing how to import a 2D design from AutoCAD to SketchUp—a 3D modeling program most often used in architecture and interior design—will help your projects to stand out.

In this tutorial, architect, illustrator, and educator Fernando Neyra Moreta (@fn23grafica) guides us through her process, and shares top tips, such as how to create layers and master useful SketchUp commands.

5. SketchUp Tutorial: How to Draw From a Reference Image

Professor and designer Guilherme Coblinski Tavares (@guilhermecoblinski) shows you how to use a reference image in SketchUp in this tutorial. You’ll start in 2D, refine your object, then add 3-dimensionality.

Guilherme is a professor of Architecture and Design with a postgraduate degree in product design and years of experience in computer graphics software. He has been teaching courses on SketchUp, V-Ray, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, 3DS Max, and AutoCAD for more than 10 years.

6. V-Ray Tutorial: Introduction to Lighting Tools

When creating a 3D architectural model, we not only have to focus our attention on the physical structure but also on achieving realistic lighting. This enables us to visualize what the project would look like in the real world.

V-Ray Next is a rendering engine that completes the modeling capabilities of SketchUp, with lighting tools that can help to achieve an accurate result. In this tutorial, architect María Alarcón (@mariaalarcon_) teaches us how to use lighting tools in V-Ray for realistic results.

7. Architectural Illustration Tutorial: How to Add Shadows in Photoshop

The way light hits a city transforms the way it looks. Each place can look radically different depending on the time of year and time of day. Adding shadows to your architectural illustration not only makes your image look three-dimensional, says award-winning Italian illustrator Carlo Stanga (@carlo_stanga), it helps to define the elements, materials, and shapes that compose a scene, adding personality and a sense of completion to a façade.

In this tutorial, Carlo demonstrates how to use Adobe Photoshop to create shadows in an architectural illustration—both realistic and whimsical—to create an atmosphere.

Bring buildings to life with these architectural sketching resources

1. Learn top tips to take your ideas from imagination to conceptualization in Pavel Fomenko’s architectural drawing course.

2. Bring realistic building visualizations to life with María Alarcón in this course on V-Ray for SketchUp.

3. Explore the history of architectural drawing and sketching in this explainer. Learn about the origins of the ancient artform, and how it’s evolved up to the present day.

Updated by @lauren_duplessis.