Arch-Inktober: 20 Mind-Blowing Ink Architectural Sketches

One of the interesting events for artists and architects happening this October, and happens actually every October, is Inktober; a month-long art challenge created by artist Jake Parker. During Inktober, everyone is invited to participate by creating an ink drawing for every day of the month, following a preplanned list of topics. The challenge aims to improve skills and help artists develop positive drawing habits—it has actually helped many artists get out of their art block.

Courtesy of Inktober

Architecture in Inktober

Whether using ink or pencils, hand-drawn or digital, drawings will remain the medium where an architect spills their thoughts. Architects are actually artists in heart—they would not miss such an inspiring challenge. Hence, architects created their own hashtag for Inktober: #Archinktober on Instagram and Twitter, where architects share their ink architectural sketches.

Arch2O Drawing Challenge

Syncing with Inktober, Arch2O created an architectural drawing challenge, the registration started just yesterday, the 10th of October, and will remain open till the 15th of November. Architects consider drawings as their official language; it is how they connect, communicate, and -most importantly- tell stories. Ranging from abstract to highly detailed, and from strictly engineered to highly illustrated, architectural drawings give different senses of their context. The Arch2O Drawing Challenge calls for architectural drawings that convey the notion of their location and culture and tell stories of how people connect with these buildings.

Courtesy of ARCH2O

To be part of Arch2O’s challenge, submit a single drawing that tells a significant story about architecture: how the built environment interacts with its context and inhabitants. The submitted drawing can be located anywhere in the world, be at any scale, and can represent an imagined architectural proposal or an existing work of architecture. The drawing should be categorized under the following: plan, section, elevation, perspective (1 or 2 points), parallel projection (axonometric, isometric, etc…), sketch, detail, or abstract.

As long as your drawing frames architecture as its main element of the story it is eligible. Prizes for top winners include a Graphic Drawing Tablet from XP-PEN for the Top 2 Winners and Publication in Arch2O’s Annual Feature “100 Drawings About Architecture”. Moreover, 100 finalists will be published in Special Annual Feature “100 Drawings About Architecture”, to be distributed to Arch2O’s community including 100,000 newsletter subscribers and 2.5+ million social media followers!

If by now, you are inspired to participate in Inktober, Archinktober, or ArchO Drawing Challenge—we have got your back. For the technical part, you can benefit from these 10 architectural sketching tips we curated for you, and for inspo, check these 20 brilliant perspective sketches.

courtesy of ARCH2O

Architecture in Inktober Inspo: 5 Brilliant Skewed Perspective Sketches

Architect Georgiana Tarlungeanu has always been passionate about sketching on the spot. She is inspired by buildings, architectural design, landscapes, and symbolic elements of our built world. Georgiana started her own drawing adventure eight years ago—she made some 500 sketches during her world travel trips.

Three years ago, the architect wanted to try something new, something other than conveying reality in its ‘real’ aspect with specific measurements and accurate proportions.

“A drawing idea popped into my head to start distorting and bending reality. I wanted to challenge the viewer’s mind with various types of perspectives in unique artworks while keeping a lot of realistic details. It makes you reanalyze what you see from a different angle and question the reality you live in.”
-Said Georgiana Tarlungeanu.

#1 This “stairway to heaven” view looked similarly fantastic from top and bottom, so I had to draw both.

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#2 One of my absolute favorite compositions depicting the city of Obidos, Portugal, with the castle walls surrounding the old town.

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#3 The old town of Lublin, Poland.

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#4 My dear lovely Erasmus city of Krakow, Poland will now be forever in my heart and sketchbook with this perimeter composition of its old town.

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#5 As I felt surrounded by vegetation from all sides, I had to make it the glue which keeps together the entire composition! The wooden church from Cluj county and these beautiful homesteads with workshops for pottery and processing amber are from 4 different counties of Romania.

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Architecture in Inktober Inspo: Architecture and Animals

A magical realism world is one where the world is still grounded in reality, but fantastical elements are considered normal. Solène Héry is an interior designer based in Paris. On her Instagram page, the artist shares extraordinary sketches of famous architectural landmarks accompanied by animals in a ‘magical realistic’ way.

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Courtesy of Solene Hery

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Courtesy of Solene Hery

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Courtesy of Solene Hery

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Courtesy of Solene Hery

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Courtesy of Solene Hery

Architecture in Inktober Inspo: 5 Ink Sketches with Color

Liz Steel calls herself an “obsessive sketcher”. Sydney-based architect enjoys sketching to share her life experiences and adventures. She created an online blog dedicated to architectural sketching, where she shares essential sketching concepts and techniques to help those who are interested to develop their skills.

Despite the digital age we are living in, Steel is still attached to hand-drawn sketches. The architect always stuck to technical perspective drawings or sketching to explore concepts and ideas for upcoming projects, but once she started sketching on spot, she explored a new set of skills and tools.

“But most of all I wanted to sketch buildings with the flow and excitement I had when doing my architectural design drawings. I didn’t want my sketches to be the accurate architect’s drawings I did in the office, I wanted them to be free and spontaneous. I wanted them to capture the thrill of discovery I had when I was designing.”
-Said Liz Steel

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Courtesy of Liz Steel

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Courtesy of Liz Steel

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Courtesy of Liz Steel

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Courtesy of Liz Steel

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Courtesy of Liz Steel

Pictures are Courtesy of Liz Steel

Architecture in Inktober Inspo: Abstracted Meanings within Famous Buildings

Neshwa Abdul Haq is an architecture student taking interest in calligraphy, sketching, and digital painting. In this Inktober challenge, Abdul Haq is sharing on Instagram ink sketches of famous architectural buildings that look like or give the feeling of the topic of Inktober’s prompt list.