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Dunlop publishes sketchbook compilation

September 22 2010

 Dunlop publishes sketchbook compilation
Alan Dunlop is a prolific sketch artist, drafting some 400 drawings over the past 10 years depicting projects ranging from built work such as Glasgow’s Radisson, to competition entries such as a competition design for Dundee City Council.

Now for the first time Dunlop has drawn upon a selection of the best for a new publication aimed at encouraging students to drop the mouse and pick up a pencil.

In his foreword Dunlop gets to the nib of the matter, penning a manifesto for the pencil quoting Robert McCarter who said “No computer generated image gets close to the spirit of a great drawing.”  It is a message that Dunlop is increasingly taking to his students on the lecture trail.

Anyone interested in taking a closer look at Dunlop’s handiwork is invited to download a copy for free or to request a high resolution version with a £10 fee.
An eclectic subject matter makes for some intriguing views
An eclectic subject matter makes for some intriguing views
Colour makes a rare appearance in this perspective of an office scheme on the site of the ill fated Elphinstone Place
Colour makes a rare appearance in this perspective of an office scheme on the site of the ill fated Elphinstone Place

16 Comments

C Miller
#1 Posted by C Miller on 22 Sep 2010 at 18:33 PM
Took me a little while to find and download from the website ( is there no direct link? ) but worth it. Remarkable, really remarkable
PJ
#2 Posted by PJ on 22 Sep 2010 at 19:24 PM
Wow - no really....Wow - what makes him think anyone cares about whats in his sketchbook? I have a notebook where I right down all the time by boss calls me a useless tw*t and storms around the office telling people to hurry up and draw - its available on Amazaon - What next audiobook download of his nocturnal mutterings....in case he happens to utter some words of pure genius - go back to america AD
FW
#3 Posted by FW on 22 Sep 2010 at 19:44 PM
Your boss sounds very perceptive, how many notebooks have you gone through?
PJ
#4 Posted by PJ on 22 Sep 2010 at 21:10 PM
Three less than you FW...
icameron
#5 Posted by icameron on 22 Sep 2010 at 22:51 PM
Reminds me of John Hart who was a superb draughtsman. We have a drawing of our office by John which hangs in our reception. I find these pencil drawings complete pieces of artwork. Alan Dunlop is an exceptional talent and a very fine architect too. I am very pleased that he has produced this book and that he continues to encourage students to draw. Computers have changed our profession but I fully support and admire Alan's work. Just makes me want to dump my PC and get my pencils out.
Myles
#6 Posted by Myles on 22 Sep 2010 at 23:31 PM
Some of the drawings are remarkable and Dunlop is certainly prolific but spoiled by his intolerence of anyone that disagrees with him and his critisism of Edinburgh Architects.
jimmy
#7 Posted by jimmy on 23 Sep 2010 at 08:40 AM
They are not all hand drafted as the article states. Many a time photoshop was used to fine tune those (sketches). And i wouldn't be cheeky if I was to say many started off being traced from a 3d CAD model print out. but still nice sketches al lthe same.
FW
#8 Posted by FW on 23 Sep 2010 at 09:45 AM
sounds more than cheeky, sounds like axes grinding, jimmy. I watched him do it for three years. As a young Part 11 I thought it amazing, no one else could match the output ! Incredible green eyed comments for someone who should be credited God knows!

Sad tw*ts, Good luck Alan
wang
#9 Posted by wang on 23 Sep 2010 at 10:19 AM
tbh it doesn't even matter if these have been subject to a bit of photoshop or tracing over 3d cad, still look pretty bloody good - the most astonishing thing is that alan can find clients to pay him to do these, that should be the lesson he's teaching the students!! it's hard enough to get a client to pay for construction drawings these days never mind time consuming pretty drawings
Bert Racoon
#10 Posted by Bert Racoon on 23 Sep 2010 at 11:45 AM
Some stunning drawings. Does anyone know what size the originals are generally drawn at?
Good hand drawings are a dying art, I also really like Nigel Peake's work: http://www.secondstreet.co.uk/
jimmy
#11 Posted by jimmy on 24 Sep 2010 at 01:11 AM
FW is very naive for thinking the sunshines out the back of alans you know what. did you get a signed sketch pencil off him or something? if you read my comment I still stated they were good sketches all the same. Look at Hockney's line drawings. no shadows or hatching just single lines and they still look unreal. now that is talent. and I wouldn't be cheeky in saying that he didn't use photoshop or trace!
C Miller
#12 Posted by C Miller on 24 Sep 2010 at 10:22 AM
HM may have gone over the top but your comments do seem rather churlish jimmy. I don't think anyone could deny that some of the drawings are incredible, particularly having been done by the architect. Also the comparison with Hockney, an internationally reknown artist is strange, it is well known that Hockney works directly from photographs and transfers images using a grid system, similar the that used in the 14th century, to his paintings. Perhaps that too is a bit cheeky. All the same another interesting debate!
4B
#13 Posted by 4B on 24 Sep 2010 at 10:48 AM
I can draw like that. I never thought it very remarkable, merely the result of a certain amount of training and work developing the skill.

Nice work, not Leonardo.
C Miller
#14 Posted by C Miller on 24 Sep 2010 at 10:51 AM
Excellent, can we see some of it?
I'm Spartacus
#15 Posted by I'm Spartacus on 25 Sep 2010 at 10:39 AM
ha ha, setting the bar a bit high there 4B, Michelangelo is not Leonardo either.

Me I dabble in sculpture, all you need is a rock, chisel and a hammer. Gonna have a go at stained glass next week.
Alan Dunlop
#16 Posted by Alan Dunlop on 15 Oct 2010 at 09:10 AM
All high res copies now finished, only 40 printed. Apologies, but sketchbook can be lifted as a pdf from my site and the resolution is decent enough, I think.

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