Mark is a licensed architect in Chicago, working with the firm of Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED). He has over 26 years of experience in various project types, primarily focusing on affordable senior housing. Mark graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and learned his drawing and sketching skills through those architecture classes. The instructors emphasized the importance of documenting the environment by requiring students to maintain an active sketchbook. He filled it with ideas, inspirational quotes and designs, in addition to using it as a journal.
While in school, Mark participated in a nine-month, study abroad program based in Versailles, France, documenting his travels through Europe in pencil sketches and watercolors. He was drawn to the medium of colored pencils while working on his thesis project, and has used it predominantly since that time. Mark continues to keep active sketchbooks filled with conceptual drawings, urban sketches, journaling, and anything else that inspires him. He routinely utilizes freehand drawing to develop project designs and details in his work, and always encourages younger architectural staff to draw by hand.
Mark is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Construction Specification Institute, and he resides on the northwest side of Chicago. He will be utilizing his extensive experience to teach the workshop, Urban Sketching with Colored Pencils.
To see more of Mark’s work, follow him on Instagram, @markjones4125.
USk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2016 