In this book, Theo Barten combines his love for architecture and the ‘Clear line’ technique in a series of 75 drawings: Architecture with a Twist. The subject is usually a well-known building with an ironic addition. In impossible situations that create an alienating effect, everything is drawn with love for detail. A building is a faithful representation of the real thing, a car is always of a certain brand. It is precisely this combination of realistic subjects that makes it exciting.
True to the clear line technique, a drawing is drawn up in tight pencil lines. After a series of refinements, the pencil lines are scanned and ‘inked’ in the computer. Subsequent layers of flat colors are then added. The result: a powerful graphic appearance.
All drawings have the same format and are on a right-hand page. On the left they are accompanied by an accompanying text on the subject in Dutch and English.
After his academy he worked for a number of years as a designer for a company and a publishing house. In the meantime he took on more and more illustration assignments and became a professional illustrator. Barten became known as the draftsman of bicycle subjects for the ANWB. Everything drawn in his favorite style, the Clear Line. Through an Amsterdam agent he received a lot of advertising work that also turned out to be award-winning, including that of the ADCN, the Art Directors Club Netherlands.
The need to add an informative value led Barten to make more and more infographics. For years he mainly did that, especially after winning a prize from the BNO. However, the pure drawing work continued to attract him. His love for architecture and the clear line have therefore resulted in this book, Basic Lines.
