How to Sketch Dream Buildings That Widen Upward From Narrow Bases

Sketch these dream buildings by marking their narrow bases, comparing contour widths at several heights, and connecting the outer edges. Keep the widening shape readable before adding any remembered detail.

The task is to record a particular visual relationship: the buildings occupy less width near the bottom and more width higher up. The method below uses a sequence of paired edge marks to preserve that relationship. It is a drawing procedure developed for this scene from established concepts of contour, framing, and negative space.

Establish the Narrow Base and Broad Upper Outline

Begin with a pencil, an eraser, and plain paper. Write a short description beside the drawing: “Buildings widen upward from narrow bases.” This gives you a specific feature to check as the sketch develops. Keep any additional notes equally visual, describing only edges or relationships you actually remember.

Start with the building whose outline you remember most clearly. Mark the left and right limits of its base lightly. Then mark the left and right limits of its upper portion, leaving enough room on the page for the broader shape. These marks establish the essential difference between the lower and upper widths before you commit to either side.

Leave a little blank paper around the outline so you can see its full extent. Getty’s drawing lesson, “Framing the Landscape,” uses a viewfinder to isolate a subject and examine its lines. For this sketch, the useful adaptation is to choose a framing that keeps both the narrow base and the broad upper portion visible together. Framing the Landscape — Getty (https://www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/curricula/impressionism/lesson02.html)

Treat the outside boundary as the first complete record. The National Gallery of Art describes contour drawing as using continuous long lines to convey an object’s shape. Here, those lines carry the central information: where each building ends against the surrounding blank space. Lesson: Drawing Everyday Objects — National Gallery of Art (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/lesson-drawing-everyday-objects)

Compare Contour Widths at Several Heights

Before connecting the outline, place additional pairs of light marks between the base and the upper portion. Each pair identifies the left and right boundaries at one height. Read the pairs from bottom to top, comparing the space between them.

A useful initial sequence is the base, a lower section, a middle section, an upper section, and the top boundary. These are checking positions on the drawing, not features of the building. You do not need to turn them into horizontal lines across its surface.

At each position, ask three questions:

• Where is the left edge?

• Where is the right edge?

• How does the width between them compare with the section below?

Keep the two boundaries separate in your attention. A wider upper portion does not establish that both edges have identical shapes. Follow each remembered edge individually; avoid making one side a mirror copy simply because that is easier to draw.

Place more checking marks wherever the contour becomes distinctive. An uninterrupted straight edge may need few marks. A curve or a clearly remembered corner may need closer attention. Let the available visual information determine where you pause.

This produces a simple width record: a narrow lower pair, followed by the remembered distribution of wider pairs above it. Its value is that it preserves intermediate relationships. A broad top alone cannot show whether the widening was distributed along the whole outline or concentrated in one portion.

Connect the Marks Without Standardizing the Shape

Join adjacent marks lightly, working along one outer edge and then the other. Connect them according to the remembered line character. Use straight segments where an edge was straight, curves where it was curved, and distinct corners where you remember corners.

If the intermediate contour is unclear, avoid turning a convenient connection into a definite feature. You can keep that passage faint and add a nearby note such as “edge shape uncertain.” This records the limit of the available image while retaining the clear relationship between the narrow base and broader upper portion.

For an illustrative drawing example, suppose the remembered outline widens only slightly through its lower portion and becomes noticeably broader near the top. Place the lower pairs relatively close together, then place the upper pairs farther apart. Connect those marks using the remembered contour. This example demonstrates the procedure; it supplies no additional detail about the scene.

A different illustrative outline could widen steadily through most of its height. Its checking pairs would become progressively broader without a pronounced change between neighboring sections. Both examples satisfy the broad description, but they produce different silhouettes. Choose according to the image you are recording.

Once the contour is settled, strengthen the selected line enough to distinguish it from the checking marks. The National Gallery of Art advises avoiding repeated passes over a contour because they produce a scratchy effect. Apply that guidance by choosing one readable boundary rather than leaving several competing edges equally dark. Lesson: Drawing Everyday Objects — National Gallery of Art (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/lesson-drawing-everyday-objects)

Check the Blank Space Beside the Buildings

After checking the building itself, examine the blank space immediately outside its contour. Getty defines negative space as the area around the primary objects in an artwork. That surrounding shape provides another way to inspect the same boundary. Understanding Formal Analysis — Getty (https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/formal_analysis.html)

For an illustrative check, imagine a fixed vertical boundary beside the sketch. Where the building’s edge extends farther outward, the gap between that edge and the boundary becomes narrower. Follow that gap upward. Does its changing shape agree with the contour you intended to record?

Use this check on each side separately. A misplaced edge can be easier to notice as an unexpected bulge or notch in the surrounding blank area. Return to the paired marks at that height before changing the line, so the correction remains tied to the width record.

When recording more than one building, establish each building’s own contour before refining their arrangement. Add spacing or overlap only when those relationships are remembered. The plural description alone supplies no particular arrangement to reproduce.

Resolve Common Problems in the Width Record

If the base no longer looks narrow, compare it directly with the upper checking pairs. Look for a lower edge that has drifted outward during revision. Correct the specific passage that changed rather than redrawing the entire building.

If only the very top appears broad, inspect the intermediate pairs. You may have recorded the endpoint relationship while losing the widening through the body of the outline. Revisit each section and restore only the differences you remember.

If the silhouette looks too regular, check whether you connected every mark with the same kind of line. A smooth curve can erase a remembered corner, while a chain of straight segments can replace a remembered curve. Line character belongs to the record as much as relative width does.

If multiple pencil lines make the boundary ambiguous, select the contour that best matches the checking marks and lighten the alternatives. Keep uncertainty in a brief written note where necessary, so it remains legible without obscuring the shape.

Finish With a Readable Contour and Specific Notes

Temporarily cover any interior detail and inspect the outer edges alone. You should still be able to identify the narrow base, the broader upper portion, and the remembered contour between them. If those relationships disappear, return to the paired marks before adding anything else.

Finish with a short visual check:

• The base remains visibly narrower than the upper portion.

• Intermediate widths follow the remembered outline.

• Each side retains its own line character.

• Uncertain passages are identified without invented detail.

• Extra marks do not compete with the selected contour.

The completed sketch can remain spare. A readable outline, a few retained checking marks, and precise notes can carry the whole task: showing how these fictional buildings widen upward from their narrow bases. Preserve that relationship wherever it is clear, and leave unresolved portions visibly unresolved.

Sources

• Lesson: Drawing Everyday Objects — National Gallery of Art (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/lesson-drawing-everyday-objects)

• Framing the Landscape — Getty (https://www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/curricula/impressionism/lesson02.html)

• Understanding Formal Analysis — Getty (https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/building_lessons/formal_analysis.html)