Monopoly Sketch 2: Whitechapel

 

Yes, the second property on the standard London Monopoly board is lowly Whitechapel. It is the cheapest property north of the River Thames. It's also the only one in the East End of London. The East End was, is the area East of the City of London and the city walls, and is traditionally associated with the docks from when London was one of the world's greatest commercial ports. The East Ed was traditionally associated with poverty, crime and political activism. Whitechapel took its name from a medieval chapel, St. Mary Matfelon which was whitewashed o give it an attractive appearance. 

The name Whitechapel might well make you think of the Whitechapel Murders, the atrocities committed in the area by the individual known as Jack the Ripper. However Whitechapel was also home to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, one of the oldest commercial businesses in the UK until its 2017 closure. Arguably the 2 most famous bells in the world, Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, and London's Big Ben were both cast in Whitechapel.

I've had an idea for a challenge -

 So, after I made the old Holborn sketch, I was on holiday with the family in West Wales until the weekend. What, sketches? Yes, I did make a few, since you ask. I haven't scanned these yet but here are the photographs of them -

Thanks, I don' think they're at all bad either. But that's not really germane to the issue. Since returning I've made a couple of drawings. First there was this one -

Then yesterday I made one based on an old photograph of the Old Kent Road -

Look, you know me, I love drawing in ink, I love drawing old London and I also love. . . Monopoly. Well, the original London version of it anyway. So it occurred to me that Old Kent Road is of course the first and cheapest of properties on the London board, and also the only one which is South of the River Thames. The challenge which has since occurred to me is to make drawings of every property on the board.

Now, there's no point giving yourself a challenge unless you give yourself a set of rules and guidelines. No doubt I shall add more as they occur to me, but for now -

The challenge is to provide a drawing for each of the properties, stations and utilities on the standard London Monopoly Board. 

The drawings can show the property at any time in its History but must be based on genuine photographic references. 

If I have already drawn the property in the past, then I may use the earlier drawing if I wish, or may draw a completely new picture.

The pictures must be posted in the order in which they appear around the board from Go. But they don't have to be drawn in that order.

Not bad eh? So, without further ado :-

Monopoly Sketch 1: The Old Kent Road

As I said, it's the only property south of the River Thames. It goes through many changes of name, but if you follow it, then it will take you all the way to Canterbury - I know because I cycled it in a day once. It was home to the venerable Thomas a Becket pub, which was on the site where Chaucer and his pilgrims made their first stop on their pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales. 

Finished the sketchbook (and started the next)

 Yes, gentle reader, I have filled the sketchbook Pip and Ollie bought me for Christmas. Pip is my oldest child, while her sister, Jess, is the youngest of the five. She and her husband, my son in law Dan, took a week off from work last week. They decided to visit Castell Coch, Caerphilly Castle and St. Fagan's Open Air Museum of Welsh Life last Monday. Being as I was 1) off on the sick from work, ad 2) at a loose end they invited me. I've made sketches in St. Fagan's before, but never sketched the reconstructed Gwalia general store before. So here it is.

So that's the book complete. If you'd like to look at all of the fifty sketches in the one place there's a link to them in my links section - it's Christmas 2023 Sketchbook. Look, I'll make it easier for you - here's the link - Christmas 2023 Sketchbook 

The sketchbook itself is a hardbacked book, by Mont Marte, landscape format, consisting of fifty pages. I've thoroughly enjoyed drawing in it, although I will say that the paper is a wee bit absorbent, and the lines you make do come out a wee bit thicker than in other books I've used. It's meant that I really have avoided sketching in anything thicker than a 0.1mm fineliner.

So on Friday I prepared the car for a trip away with the family. I was pleased with this burst of industry and so decided to buy myself a new sketchbook as a reward. I might well have gone for Mont Marte again, but none of my usual suppliers could supply me. So instead I bought a forty six page hardback sketchbook by Seawhite of Brighton, portrait format. I made three sketches over the weekend but have only scanned the third of them so far. Here it is:-

Yes, it's back to my perennial favourite, 19th century London. This is Holborn (pronounced Ho'burn). Some of these timber framed buildings are still standing, although it's fair to say that they have been tidied up a bit. Old Holborn, the title, is a reference to a brand of tobacco available in the UK. My father was a dedicated smoker all of his life - which is one of the reasons why this life was a short one- and he rolled his own. (Dirty sod.) Old Holborn was his tobacco of choice, and many was the time he would send me across the road to Mr. East's corner shop to ask for half an ounce of Old Holborn and a packet of green rizlas. What can I say? I was pretty young - under 10 IIRC - and the authorities were a lot less fussy about kids buying smoking paraphernalia than they are now. I can reassure you that I have never smoked a cigarette in my life - Dad's example was more than enough to put me off. The packet of Old Holborn had a picture of the same buildings on it, although not as detailed or aesthetically pleasing as my one, I'd like to think. 

As for the Seawhite sketchbook, I do find that the paper is a little bit less absorbent than the Mont Marte. I've been able to achieve some fine lines and shading with mostly a 0.03mm fineliner. 

Nearly done

 Yes, gentle reader, I have very nearly finished filling up the sketchbook I was bought for Christmas. I'm up to forty nine sketches with just one clean page left. Here's numbers forty six to forty nine.

This is Kent's Hever Castle. Last week I joined a new art group. I had my book and pens, but nothing to sketch. So I checked my phone and looked at the photos. Last July for my daughter Jess' birthday her husband Dan and I took her on a trip to the castle. Jess is very interested in the Tudors and this is where Anne Boleyn grew up. And yes, Jess has claimed this sketch when I finish the sketchbook.

I love transport and it struck me last week that despite the number of times I've crossed the English Channel I have never ridden on a hovercraft. This is the huge SRN4.It's the largest civil hovercraft ever used commercially and as well as passengers it also carried vehicles. They were used from 1968 until 2000, carrying over 200 passengers and 30 vehicles. Only 1 still remains.

This combines a couple of things I love. The location is Ealing Broadway. Ealing is the part of West London in which I grew up. It also has a tram in it. This particular type of tram is called a Feltham Tram, which was in service in London from the 1930s. 

Where I grew up in Ealing we were not so very far from Heathrow Airport. We were on the flight path and I grew up used to the sight and sounds of planes flying over the house. I really liked the idea of drawing a picture showing how Heathrow has changed . Propeller planes like this were still flying out of Heathrow when I used to cycle to the airport and watch the planes from the Southern Perimeter road - British Airways still had some Vickers Viscounts on some short haul destinations. 

It's Been A While

 It's been over a month since I last posted. Sorry about that. I've been off work with mental health issues, then back in work, then off again with he same issues. Add to that a week in Bucharest. The good news is that I've kept going with the sketches even though I haven't been posting them. Here's the latest 

A significant number of drawings in this sketchbook relate to my personal family history. I started working on researching it over 20 years ago and have found out a decent amount about all sides of my family. The drawing above related to my father's mother's father. Edgar George Bennett was killed on the first day of the 3rd battle of Ypres in 1917. This one shows the utter devastation visited on the city.

My mother's mother's family owned a prosperous tailors in Windsor for a lot of the 19th century. The premises are still there, but they are now a Lloyd's Bank.

My mother's father's great grandfather John Joycewas the village blacksmith in the charming village of Chilton Foliat near Hungerford, Berks. 

John's son, my 2x great grandfather, did rather well for himself. He picked up an education somewhere, and became a clerk. At one time he ran the village school in Fernhurst in Sussex before returning to London and clerking, eventually settling in Ealing, where I grew up. 

Away from Family History for a bit. This was one of a small number of sketches that I made during a city break in Bucharest. I love metros and trams and whenever I go to a city with either, or both, I always try to make a sketch of them.

A church in the centre of Bucharest Old Town. There was a massive line of people around the front and so I found a wall to sit on around the back and made this. It wasn't very cold, but I was frozen and my arthritis was aching when I got up. 

The older style of Bucharest tram - I prefer this sort. 

Another Family History picture. My great, great grandfather Peter Clark was a stoker in the early days of steamships. When he met my soon to be great great grandmother he came ashore and spent the rest of his working life as a stoker in a steelworks in the Dundee area. 

Old London Town. Apart from growing up in West London, one arm of my family lived and worked in the Covent Garden area and would surely have been familiar with this particular view of Fleet Street looking towards Ludgate Hill and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Not family history this time. This is he Mumbles tramway, which was the first ever passenger railway in the whole wide world, when it opened in 1807. Then the wagons were horse drawn. This is from the fifties, when the largest trams ever used in the UK were used. Sadly the tramway was bought up by the bus operators. The trams were scrapped and the tracks pulled up. The building in the picture that housed Blackpill tram station still exists and is one of very few tangible reminders of the tramway. 

Hanwell Broadway, Ealing. I grew up specifically in Hanwell, and this shows the Broadway as it looked just a few years before I was born. 

This particular one relates to a 3x great uncle, Jabez Rainbow. Jabez was in the army, and he got so off his face on laudanum that he cut the throat of his mistress in a pub in St. Albans. He was sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen's Land for fourteen years, although he ended up spending the rest of his life there. His descendants live in Tasmania to this day. The Edwin Fox is, I believe, the last surviving convict ship in the world.

My father, George Clark, joined the Army immediately on leaving school, and he was still in the army several years later when he met my Mum. In the army he learned his trade as a motor mechanic. He was a good one too when he was taking time and trouble, concentrating, and sober. Sadly the days when he was like this became fewer and farther between. Still, I remember him working in a succession of garages just like this one when I was young. 

The earliest Clark ancestors I have yet managed to trace were my 3x great grandfather James and his father, my four x great grandfather George Clark. George owned a boat in the small coastal town of Panbride. I don't know for certain that they were fishermen, but it was very much a fishing community at the time, so I think it's a fair bet. 

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I have five more pages to fill in the sketchbook I was given on Christmas Day. I want to try to finish it off so that I can say that all of the sketches are pretty detailed, and representative of the best that I can do. Not far to go now.

Demonstration 2 - Dundee 1920.

 Why Dundee? Family, gentle reader, the best reason for doing anything. My grandfather Thomas Clark was born in Dundee and grew up there, until moving to London to look for work during the Great Depression of the 1930s. So, here's my reference photo:-

Have a good look at it. Don't let yourself be scared by the amount of detail there. Remember, I'm not going to try to sketch the big picture. See the scene as a collection of SMALL pictures because that's what I'm going to draw. Then they will make the big picture if I get it right.

So, where do you think I started? There's no large figure in a prominent position. Well, for me the focal point is the foregrounded tram below the centre of the picture. There's other places I might have chosen to start, but I go with what I feel that I really want to draw and in this picture I'm drawn to the tram. The tram is made up of mostly straight lines and angles. So which do you think will I start with?

It's mid afternoon and the light is streaming through the living room window. That's why there's that shadow across the top of the page. It doesn't both me because there's not much we will eventually draw in that corner, and even if there were it's going to be some time before we get there.

In the photo above I've started with the upper deck of the tram. The first line that I made was the top one, the roof line. Drawing diagonals and getting the angle right is harder than drawing vertical or horizontal lines so that's where I started. Second line was the line below the windows which was easier having the roof line to guide me. I didn't close off the ends yet, because I wanted to put the right umber of windows in and thought that I might have to extend the diagonals slightly. This wasn't necessary in the end.

As this next photo shows, I reigned myself in and imposed a little self discipline to finish the tram before starting anything else. One of the reasons why I chose to start with this tram was that I love trams, and I've sketched old double decker trams like this on many occasions. So I have confidence that I understand the anatomy of this kind of vehicle that I can render it well enough without having to take an age over it. I's position on the page now means I have a free choice whether to sketch the buildings above, to the left or to the right of the tram. Which way do you think I'll go?

I decided on the large building immediately behind the tram. It really dominates the middle of the picture. At the risk of sounding too up myself, I could feel that all the other buildings to the right and left would be defined by the way that they each related to this one in the centre.

A small tip - apologies if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here - with a building like this I ted to do one floor/stage at a time. I outline the frame, then put in the windows. If you get the spacing between the windows right it will be a huge help to you. So if you look at the three windows behind the tram, then look back to the original photo you'll see that the gap between windows in the photograph is wider than the gap in my sketch. However, the gaps between all three widows in the sketch are consistent with each other so that they LOOK right, even though they're not a perfectly accurate rendition of what it shows in the photo. These windows then will also be a useful guide to help sketch in the two courses of windows above. 

You might also notice that I've put in some of the lamppost to the right. Large verticals like this give a handy reference point for sketching details of the buildings behind.

So you can see that I added the two sets of windows above. If you took a ruler to their horizontal and vertical edges you'd see that they don't quite line up perfectly. Well, this is because I was making a sketch and not a perfect architectural drawing. I've come close enough and that's all I need to do, because if I get close enough the the viewer's eye will do the rest. 

In simple terms our eyes are bombarded with thousands of images every day. It's really important for us to make sense of the majority of what we see - in some situations this could be a matter of life or death for us. So at a subconscious levels our brains are constantly processing what our eyes see. We recognise things our memory has told us we have see before. Sometimes our eyes only give us a partial picture and our brains have to 'fill in the dots' to make sense. And our brains are really good at doing this. So I don't have to have my windows perfectly squared off, or perfectly aligned with each other. If I make my best effort freehand, the eye of the beholder will do the rest.

With the windows in I have enough information to draw the roofline and the chimney. At this point I'd often move away from this building now, but I was trying to be a bit more disciplined than I had been with the previous sketch. I decided to finish the small picture of the side of the building which is why I also applied the brickwork and shading at this point. After I posted the completed dustman sketch on Facebook one of the comments was, and I quote "Holy cow! How long did that brickwork take, David?" Well, not long at all. I sketch in the horizontals without worrying too much about making them perfectly straight as long as they're roughly perpendicular to each other. Then I literally dash in the verticals between bricks - they didn't have to be anything like perfect because they were going to be shaded with hatching anyway. Remember - if you suggest, their eye will do the rest.

I decided I was going to draw the small pictures that would fill in the big picture on the left. I've put in the large chimney stack to the left. This in turn has enabled me to judge the roofline and guttering below. In turn this enabled me to judge where to place the windows beneath and to extend the left hand edge of the building to meet the roof of the tram. If you look at the chimney stack again you can see I've already drawn the horizontal lines of the brickwork. Look closely and you'll see that the spacing between them isn't perfect but it's good enough to fool the eye. Also I've added the spire rising just behind the chimney pots and the outline of the roof just to the left of it. his is the tallest point of any of the buildings in the original photo.

I have to apologise. I got so into the drawing at this point that I forgot to take another photograph for ages. So the next small picture was extending the outline of the side of the building behind and to the left of the huge chimney stack. Then it was the building underneath. Same process as before - roofline and guttering first. Top line of windows following the guttering next. Then next line of windows beneath. Then the details underneath that, down as far as the roof of the tram. Then the outline of the left hand side of the building. Next I followed the same process for the taller building immediately left, working downwards to the same point. Then the building to the left of that. 

At this point I started to sketch and shade in the details of the shop front level to the left of the back of the tram. The awnings were a really helpful reference for this. As for the figures behind the tram, if you make just a couple of outlines of legs and leave a little negative space between bodies then your dark blobs really do begin to look like figures at a distance.

Can you have a look at the original photograph again? Did you notice the building which is face on to us to the left of what I've already drawn? If I was Mr. Self-Disciplined I would have sketched this building next. But I'm not, and I didn't. Constructing your drawing in this way as a series of small pictures means you can always leave one small picture, go and do another and then come back to it. I can't help following where the fancy takes me. What can I say, I'm doing this to have fun. So, the lamppost on the right kept catching my eye, and I thought it might be fun to complete it. This enticed me to draw in the roofline and guttering immediately to the right of the top of the lamp. Which led me to put in the top row of windows and that enabled me to work my way downwards, just as I had done on the left. 

So basically, by this point the centre of the picture was complete, and the part the eye should be immediately drawn to was pleasing - well, to me it was. Out of interest as well, on the roof of the building on the left is a sign for Yellow Label Whisky. This was produced by the Dundee firm of John Robertson and Sons. I have Dundee based Robertson ancestors. Any relations? Who knows?

Having extended the building to its right hand edge, I then returned to the left. If you could have another look at the photo you'll see another tram in front of the building that is face on to us. I drew a horizontal sight line marking the top of one floor and the bottom of another and also one window as an anchor point for when I was ready to draw the rest of the building. Then to the tram. I made it the same way I made the first. It really isn't the best tram I've ever drawn - to be honest it looks more like a trolleybus than a tram. But then it's not at all unusual to have one small picture not come off quite the way you would have liked without it having any real detrimental effect on the big picture.

When you're doing a detailed drawing like this one which is going to take a few hours it can be helpful to have a break or two. I decided that I was going to extend the picture to the left as far as where I wanted the edge to be and then take a break for a bite to eat. I used the second tram to help me line up the third tram - which actually looks like a tram this time. I used the helpful window I drew previously to line up the rest of the windows on the side of the building behind, then followed the same procedure for the side of the building receding into the background to the left. Roof- guttering - top row of windows - next line of windows down. Again, not wanting to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs, but another small tip - as your line of buildings recede further into the background you can make the marks for features of buildings far less distinct. Suggest, suggest, let their eye do the rest.

Isn't this the same photograph as the previous one? Have a closer look. I've added a small cluster of figures walking in the road on the right and more importantly, the curb stretching round. This marks where I plan for the right hand edge of the picture to be.

Nearly there now. So I've sketched in most of the buildings to the right. I worked from right to left, one building at a time. Just the same as before I would start with the roof line, then do the top row of windows and work my way downwards. Working outwards I did need to remember that the buildings move closer to the foreground as they approach the right hand edge of this picture, so windows and other details need to be more distinct the closer they come to the edge. 

And here's the finished picture. I finished the buildings on the right, but can you see what else I've done? The shadows on the road on the right. Also texture marks on the road surface. 

So, I finished the picture before going out to a quiz in the pub at 7pm. That's just over four hours, but part of this time I took a break for dinner. 

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So, I can summarise the useful things to remember from making this picture -

* Whatever the subject you're sketching, look at the big picture at the start and think about how much of it you're going to include, but then put it out of your mind. Try to see instead the small pictures its made up of. When you get a feeling for which small picture you want to begin with, then start.

*Certainly for the first small picture it's helpful to concentrate on finishing this one before you move on to another small picture. This gives you an anchor point, which helps you judge distances and angles for the other small pictures you're going to draw.

*Your viewers' eyes are going to be your accomplice. The marks you make on the page don't have to be perfect. They just have to be good enough for the eye to recognise and for the subconscious to join the dots.

* If you're drawing in perspective (oh no, perspective!) remember that as objects move away from the viewer the detail should be less distinct. Curiously the more indistinct you make the details, the more work the eye and the brain take on for you. Conversely, as objects move closer to the viewer the detail should be more distinct.

* Being self-critical is most helpful when in comes after you've finished. It's quite common to be unhappy with one of the small pictures you've drawn. Yet this very often does not spoil the big picture it contributes towards. Have faith.

Another couple of questions -

What Should I Draw?

Whatever the hell you like! This is supposed to be fun, remember! Most of us who love drawing aren’t trying to make a living from it. Yes, alright, a lot of my art is for sale, but I’ve made a lot more money from selling things that I wanted to draw and paint than I’ve ever done through commissions. Bearing that in mind then, I would break it down into:-

Draw things that reflect your interests

There’s a reason why the majority of sketches I’ve made so far in my new sketch book are related to railways, Victoriana/Edwardiana, London, architecture, and some fulfil several of these criteria. That’s because I find these things interesting, and if you find something interesting then you’re not going to mind spending time looking and drawing it.

Draw other artists’ work that you admire and which inspires you

There’s a lot of benefit to be gained from copying others’ work. In the last couple of years I started copying some of Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. I love Victorian engravings I general and Tenniel’s work in particular. This developed into a challenge to copy all of his illustrations for the Alice books and that in its turn led me to copying some of other artists’ later illustrations for the books. I wouldn’t necessarily say that copying Tenniel has made me sketch more like he did. However I feel I’ve learned a great deal about how he constructed these wonderful pieces of work, and its hugely increased my appreciation and understanding of his work.

Use prompts

When I undertook to make a drawing every day for 365 consecutive days, I found using the prompts from a Facebook group that I joined to be very helpful. Even if you don’t want to join a group, you could use Inktober prompts. Every October since 2009 the public have been challenged to make an ink drawing every day, post it somewhere someone else may see it (from social media to just sticking it on your own fridges.) Every year there’s a series of prompts for each day. You can google these. The challenge of sketching something which fits the prompt is a good one and well worth taking on, as it will lead to you drawing things you would otherwise never thought of drawing.

How long should I spend on a drawing?

On the surface this appears to be a ’how long is a piece of string?’ question. Thinking about it, though, it’s a fair question. I think I all depends on the reason why you’re making the drawing.

If you’re drawing in response to a prompt because you’re trying to make a sketch every day for a specific amount of time, then you’re limited in the amount of time you want to spend on it. There’s quite a few quick exercises you can do in a practice session to help build your skills. For example – pick a subject, then . . .

* Try to draw it in no more than three minutes. This is a good warm up exercise

* Try to draw it in one continuous line without lifting your pen/pencil from the page.

* Look at the picture for five minutes then try to draw it with your eyes closed.

* If you’re right handed then try drawing it for five minutes with your left hand and vice versa if you’re left handed.

The purpose of this sort of exercise isn’t to produce instant masterpieces but to loosen you up and get you focusing on the bare essentials. It’s fun too.

Where and what you’re drawing can limit how long you have to spend on a drawing too. I do as much urban sketching as I can, and to date I’ve made urban sketches in about 20 different countries. Sketching from life  plein air is for me the ultimate challenge. It’s at the same time the most challenging and also the most rewarding kind of sketching. I don’t tend to spend more than an hour on an urban sketch and this is necessary for a number of reasons. You’re out in public and this means that people who are sooner or later going to get in your way. If you’re out in the open then the light conditions are going to change the longer you spend on the sketch. I suffer from arthritis and sitting, or worse, standing for long periods becomes painful. Also there are places, for example metro station platforms, where it’s not a good idea to stay sketching for long periods of time.

I do sketch from photographs as well. This is a different challenge to urban sketching. For one thing the camera has already done a lot of the hard graft for you. The camera has translated a 3 dimensional subject into a 2 dimensional representation. When you sketch from life you have to do that yourself. There’s no imperative to sketch particularly quickly when you’re sketching at home ad I’ve been know to leave a sketch and finish it off later. As a rough rule of thumb I can do a very detailed sketch in no more than four hours, which is about how long I spent on the dustman picture.