One of my online students is planning to attend Ringling College here in Florida. I asked her to pick one of the Ringling College buildings to sketch and she chose the library.
I worked on a sketch along with her to show how to block in the big shapes and then work towards smaller detail. When we got to color I stressed leaving the lightest areas alone. The temptation is to add some color to the light areas first but that only darkens them.
The other lesson is to always make a mess and then try and clean it up. The goal isn’t photo realism but a rough monstrosity that could have been painted by a child. I am proud to say that my student is now a Ringling student and forging her way towards a new career. The building looks a bit like a gator wearing horse blinders.