Quick Complex Sketches

It is possible to successfully sketch a complex view in a few minutes. Some views can be overwhelmed with enormous details, and often you do not have time to frame your view. The trick is to draw the focus of your story in the centre of your composition. Frame it within the “middle-ground” layer of your sketch, and avoid details on adjacent objects.

This sketch of the Dubai Raffles Pyramid Hotel was done in a few minutes from the window of an upper floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. I could have easily taken a photograph, but the peculiar building would be lost among the details of the cityscape. I used the cascading roofs of the Hyatt Hotel, in the fore-ground, to add identity and depth to the sketch and yet being careful not to compete with the prominence of the Raffles Hotel.