The Hopkins Annual Drawing Competition gives staff the opportunity to enter work in four categories - photography, model-making, digital images and hand-drawn images. Category winners this year were Stanley Fu, Charlie Healey,  Zbyszek Czaja and Thomas Ellis, who also took the prize for overall winner.

Thomas’ winning image exploring contrasting perceptions of Venice and its surrounding lagoons, was digitally hand drawn on a tablet. ‘Most people think of the tourist experience when they think of Venice, but there is a different reality that sits alongside the public image,’ said Thomas, whose process involved scanning existing drawings, then distorting and colouring them to make the final image.

As an architectural assistant, Thomas is a champion of drawing as an integral part of the creative process, using it to test and explore ideas and what will work. ‘As architects we want to make work which is visually accessible and appealing. I like to combine digital and hand-drawn processes to make a drawing more personal and engaging. Even if there is just a slight shift in the line or a squiggle, you get a sense of the person behind the image and that this is a work in progress, rather than something overly-defined or closed off to interpretation. I want to make images which are visually and personally engaging. I enjoy visual complexity and the idea that a drawing might not yield all its information at first glance.'

Run since 2016, the Hopkins drawing competition creates time and space for creative exploration outside the demands of day-to day projects. Along with internal design competitions and charettes they are an important way of encouraging in-house talent, developing a strong collective design ethos, and sharing work. As Thomas notes ‘I love looking at drawings in different styles and being inspired by them. Other people’s work can challenge you to try new things. The use of colour in one of last year’s entries really pushed me to explore colour in my own entry this year. In that sense no drawing is ever entirely original – we all stand on the shoulders of those that came before us!'