Even if you think you’re bad at drawing

If you’ve ever thought, “I love architecture, but I’m just not good at drawing,” you’re not alone. I hear this all the time from students, graduates, and even qualified architects. Almost always, it’s followed by the assumption that drawing is something you either have, or you don’t.

That belief alone stops more people than a lack of ability ever does.

Here’s what I want you to know straight away: Architectural drawing is a skill, not a talent, and skills can be learned.

How to Improve Your Architecture Drawing Skills (A Clear Framework)

1. Understand before you stylise

Drawing in architecture is not expressive art

This is an important reframe. Architectural drawing isn’t about artistic flair. It’s about communication. It’s a visual language used to explain space, proportion, scale, and ideas. Just like plans, sections, or software, it follows rules.

When those rules aren’t clear, drawing feels intimidating. When they are, confidence grows very quickly. That’s why telling students to “just sketch more” often doesn’t help.

Practice without understanding doesn’t build confidence. It reinforces frustration.

2. Learn the foundations you were never taught

Why so many architecture students think they’re “bad at drawing”

Most people aren’t bad at drawing. They’re under-taught.

In architecture school, drawing is often expected rather than explained. You’re shown examples, encouraged to sketch, and surrounded by confident drawers, but the foundations are rarely taught slowly and clearly. So when your drawings don’t match what’s in your head, it starts to feel personal.

I remember being at college learning how to draw interiors in two-point perspective. I’d designed a space with stairs, a ramp, and mirrors, and I wanted it to look realistic and correct in perspective. I tried to guess it, but perspective isn’t something you can guess or make up. You have to follow the rules.

At the pin-up, I looked around at the other students’ work and felt like they got it. Their drawings looked stronger than mine. I didn’t want to compare myself too harshly - we were all learning, but I could clearly see where I’d gone wrong. And that, I later realised, was half the battle.

I booked a tutorial with my design studio tutor, and he walked me through it step by step. That’s when it clicked. I finally understood how grid lines work and how to follow them back to the vanishing points.

That evening, I went home and tried again. Drawing stairs. Drawing reflections in mirrors. These are challenging things to draw in perspective, but this time it worked. And the feeling of getting it after struggling for so long was huge.

3. Focus on perspective early

Perspective is usually the real issue

When someone tells me they’re bad at drawing, nine times out of ten, they’re actually struggling with perspective. Perspective isn’t intuitive. It’s structural.

Once you understand eye level, vanishing points, and simple one- and two-point perspective, drawing buildings stops feeling random. This is often the exact moment students say, “Oh… that actually makes sense now.”

If perspective has ever felt confusing, my free Perspective Practice Sheets walk through the basic rules step by step.

4. Practice messily before neatly

The mistake most people make when trying to improve

Most students try to draw nicely before they understand clearly.

They worry about line quality, neatness, or style too early. They hesitate. They erase. They judge every mark as they make it. But learning happens in the messy stage. Confidence comes after repetition, not before it.

I have shelves of sketchbooks filled with messy drawings now, but it didn’t start that way. I used to sit down expecting to create a finished drawing straight away, as if it should just happen the first time. If I made a mistake, I’d rub it out and keep going, usually frustrated, pressing too hard, ending up with a sore hand. What I didn’t realise then was that I needed to warm up first. I needed time to get into the zone and let my hand loosen up.

READ: How to Warm Up Before You Start Drawing: Simple Exercises to Boost Your Creative Confidence

Now, before I start a sketch, I warm up with simple lines, shapes, circles, and lines over lines. Only after that do I move into a drawing.

Teaching first-year students brought all of this back. Many felt embarrassed by their work, but they were simply learning, and that was a good thing. I’d get them to spend time drawing random lines and turning them into buildings, experimenting, and having fun with it.

We drew left-handed and right-handed. With our eyes closed. To music with different rhythms. We drew objects, people, landscapes, buildings, and small architectural details. We drew from real life, from books, and from photographs. And almost without fail, the drawings looked worse before they suddenly improved. That’s the process. And it’s worth trusting.

5. draw smaller, not longer

Ten focused minutes are enough.

Drawing one corner of a room, one window, or one chair builds more confidence than attempting a full building every time. Small wins teach your brain that progress is possible. This is especially important if you’ve taken a break from drawing or feel out of practice.

6. Let style come last

Style comes after understanding

Instagram sketches can be inspiring, but they can also be misleading. Stylised drawings sit on top of solid foundations. They are not the starting point. Drawing real spaces, even imperfectly, trains your eye far more effectively than copying someone else’s finished style.

Once proportion and perspective are in place, your own way of drawing emerges naturally.

If you’re applying to architecture school or returning to drawing

Over the years, I’ve worked with students who were convinced they weren’t creative enough. Students who felt behind everyone else. Students returning after burnout, career breaks, or motherhood. Some hadn’t drawn properly in years.

What they all had in common wasn’t talent. It was a willingness.

As a Senior Lecturer at a leading arts university, I reviewed hundreds of portfolios from students in the UK and internationally. The portfolios weren’t always strong, but you could see the effort. And when I met the student behind the work, there was almost always passion there too.

They wanted to learn. They wanted to understand the techniques and make them their own. They understood, often instinctively, that drawing isn’t just about producing a nice image. It’s a way of thinking, feeling, designing, and communicating ideas. And that foundation matters, whether you’re just starting out or finding your way back.

Start where you are

If drawing feels like a block for you, let this be the reframe you take away:

You’re not bad at drawing
You’re learning a language you were never properly taught

And once the foundations are clear, practice becomes lighter, calmer, and even enjoyable.

Learn how to draw a floor plan by hand

You don’t need to be the best drawer in the room. You need to understand the basics, practise without judgement, and give yourself permission to learn. That’s how confidence is built, one page at a time.

Improving your architecture drawing skills isn’t about drawing better overnight. It’s about learning the foundations, practising intentionally, and trusting the process.