drawing in curved spaces #4: La Place du Ménage (Hobo Sketchers weekly meeting)

Saturday afternoon the Hobo Sketchers Commando had their weekly drink & draw meeting. Weather was just perfect, 23 º Celsius and a clear sky. We decided to shoot our pencils against an architecture location. So we choose la place du Ménage of Angoulême.

As if we were a secret command of the special forces, we occupy the square strategically. The square has a trapezoidal shape with a big fountain in the middle. We sat down and occupy the perimeter, three Hobo agents sat down on the terrace, at twelve o'clock, according to my position, another two at three o'clock. A beer supply chain was then established between the terrace agents and the perimeter. I decided to sat in the border of the fountain.

"Captain Sphericus! Captain Sphericus! -that´s my hobo surname -"Could you draw a panoramic view of the place?"-one of my commando mates asked.
-With pleasure! -I answered.

Step one: tasting the curvature

Fortunatly, I always have a geodesic spherical grid in my sketchbook. Until those amazing lines do not grab into my mind, I am obligated to have one with me. Time to time. As in the next days, I will publish lesson 3 of my Curved Drawing Lessons, my devote reader, you will have access at a deep step by step tutorial of this kind of drawing.

I take my time watching the top of the building, trying to understand the inner rhythm of the shapes. As a necessary visual transformation is required, I begin to follow the geodesic lines according to my grid which was printed in the back of my paper:

geodesic grid in spherical geometry
I like to use a 0.3 mm Staedler mechanical pen. It is incredibly soft and obedient.


building geometry
I make pause every ten minutes and try to have the big picture. Curved lines can give a lot of pleasure but the are extremely pickey.

step2: Inking

Once the geometry is drawn, next step is inking. For recall, take your time in building a correct geometry because it is not a good strategy to fix incorrect lines with the fountain pen or liner. As your mum or your dad may have advise to you: First things first! :)

Inking process

step3: balancing lights and shades

This is the most pleasant step of the process. Once the geometry is build, and the first ink layer rendered, you can take all your time to polish the details, keep in mind, always, the big picture, and trying to find the correct rhythm among every single feature. Remember, the Japanese proverb I read one time: The sum of us is greater than the individual parts.

The final outcome

Place du Ménage, FOV: 360º horizontal, 180º Vertical, surface: Sphere

Thank your for reading and have fun!

Other Curved drawing published:

• Sketching in a curved space #1
• Sketching in curved spaces #2 Rafael, the "Artisant chansonnier"
• drawing in curved spaces #3 360º sketch

Curved drawing lessons published so far:

• curved drawing lessons 1 # geometry beyond planar perspective
• curved drawing lessons 2 # The spherical geometry