Southern Architectress: Architectural Charcoal Rendering

I was commissioned by my almer mater for some artwork of Mt. Carmel Academy for an auction. I was super excited at the chance to give back to my high school.

Here are a couple photos of the building:

Photograph by scrambler390

Photograph by Nicole Bell Photography

This is Mount Carmel Academy located on the corner of Duperior Avenue and Front Street in New Iberia, Louisiana. It is a beautiful building sited on the Bayou Tech. I was familiar with the history, but I learned some new thing about it's past when I did some research. It was constructed in 1850 as a residence for Doctor Henry Duperier. In 1872 it was sold to the Sisters of Mount Carmel and became a Catholic boarding school. The school was closed in 1988 when it joined with St. Peter's College to become Catholic High School of New Iberia, where I went to elementary and high school. Today it is the Place Eugenie office building owned by the Schellestede family.

After getting a feel for the building's history I got started on the rendering:

I choose 17" x 14" 80lb drawing paper.

I started by taping off the area I want to work within. I used the dimension of 11" x 14" which is a typical size that can be easily matted and framed.

Next I used vine charcoal and a ruler to do a basic perspective. I choose the view looking directly at the front facade.

Then, I added more detail with the vine charcoal.

Next, I picked up some black conte' and started retracing lines and adding more detail.

Then, I wanted to add some color to give more life to the building. So, I picked up some brown conte' and started adding texture to the roof, shutters, and lentils.