How to learn hand renderings ,You think you can('t) draw? schematic sketch

After graduating high school I went to a community college studying Architecture technology. I graduated with an associated degree and then I transferred to a four-year university studying architecture (interior, exterior). This is the first assignment that I completed at the four year school and I posted it on my blog. 

The assignment was part of the series called “ you think you can(t) draw?” and It was about who can draw better, or who can't and see where to improve. Every week there was a different assignment varying from hand sketches to complete hand rendering or digital made. Some of the assignments were a mix of both, hand renderings and digital. I was good with the computer and at the beginning I was not very good with had renderings. 

 At first it held me back because I could not understand how it worked or how to get those ‘perfect’ renderings as one would say it. I thought that’s what the problem was and I quickly overcame it and I started to hand render my views of different projects more often. The questions is how did I do it? There are many ways to overcome that ‘fear’ of thinking that your renderings will not come as you would picture in your mind. They look all beautiful on your mind and once you put the ideas on paper the renderings look all different and you just see some lines. That is part of the solution my friends.  

 One would say how is that part of the solution when you haven’t told me how to get the ‘perfect’ renderings? It takes a lot of practice and dedication. You will not learn everything that there is about renderings overnight or from keeping everything in your head. Put them down on paper!  A little exercise that you can try is take a picture, visualize it in your head for ten minutes or so and then close your eyes. Put the pen down on paper and let it flow. Just keep visualizing the picture you just saw and go through with it with your pen. After finishing (when you think that you draw the picture) drawing, open your eyes and see the results. It will not be perfect but that is the point. Try the exercise again with different small projects and you will see the improvements. Maybe I should do different tutorials about hand rendering in the future. What do you think? Alright back to my assignment.  

 First drawing competition for Iar 211 we had to draw a joint or connection by using black pen only in a 12" x 12" piece of paper. This was a great introduction to the class and I took the opportunity to showcase some of my drawings with the class. The point of this particular drawing was to use any patterns we like such as hatching, stippling etc. We had to keep in mind that all horizontal lines are parallel to the same vanishing point and things get distorted as they get further away. I decided to do a part of a bridge and show the connection. What do you think of my composition? Leave your comments or any questions that you might have.