The Beauty of Hand Drafting in a World of Technology
When I first started studying design in college, there was so much I didn’t know. Which also meant there were so many possibilities. Even though I LOVE all of my tech gadgets and programs, that’s not where things began for me when it came to creating floor plans for buildings that I was working on. In college it started out as hand drafting. Yep hand drafting.
Okay let’s get something straight I didn’t start out hand drafting because computer-aided drafting wasn’t invented yet I’m not that old. (No matter what my younger sister says when she’s talking about my upcoming birthday.)
I think the reason that we started out hand drafting in school was so we can focus on all the different elements it takes to design a house. It wasn’t about relying so heavily on automated features that come along with programs. It was about focusing on the design and the technicalities and all the little details that go along with designing a house.
I’ll admit that hand drafting is not my favorite. That probably has something to do with my insane love for all things technology. But also it never felt as freeing to me because of the way my mind works. I know a lot of designers don’t feel that way. I would say there’s lots of designers out there that feel like you don’t get the same feelings of a space, of a building, through designing with a computer as you do when you’re creating the space with tools in your own hands.
There’s definitely a beauty to drafting by hand. There can be a more personalized touch. I think probably why today you see some rendering styles for programs like SketchUp (which I love) that you can twist and tweak to make it look more hand-drawn. All because there is this beauty in a sketch of a space.
There are even some design firms to this day that do all of their drafting and design by hand instead of using programs like AutoCAD, SketchUp, or Revit. And there’s definitely a personality to those types of drawings.
To be inspired...
When I was pulling together my thoughts for this blog post, I wanted to pull together some inspiration examples of hand drafted work. So I hope you enjoy these examples down below…
What works for me...
One of the biggest reasons that I prefer drawing through some sort of computer aided program (either AutoCAD or SketchUp & Layout) is because if you need to make a change you can do it so quickly, so easily. Where is if you’re hand drafting and let’s say you get all the way done with a project and you’re in the final stages of putting all the details, all the notes, and then your client comes back to say “I want to flip the kitchen and the living room.” Well if you’ve drawn by hand that’s a whole lot of work that you have to go and redo completely. Don’t get me wrong, you still have to redo a lot of that if you’re working with a computer, but it’s not nearly as intensive as if you have to start from scratch like you might in some instances when you’re drawing by hand.
That being said there are many benefits to creating a quick sketch or drawing out a concept or a schematic for something before you put it in a computer program. Just earlier this week I was talking to another designer about a bathroom vanity and I was describing it and then I just quickly grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and I started sketching out what I was talking about to get my point across better. I love to do that and I love when I’m working with builders or contractors who are describing a piece of construction and they grab paper and pencil and start sketching out what they’re talking about. There’s just something about getting those ideas down quickly that makes a difference
That’s probably why you’ll hear me say at times…
"when in doubt, sketch it out"
Sketching out ideas is a great way to get your point across. So even though I love love love all my tech stuff and how I can take ideas in my head and model it in 3D or draft it in CAD to create a really cool design… And then it becomes a real life project that gets built. There’s still just something about sketching out schematics and working through ideas by hand in the beginning.
So what’s your take on hand drafting versus computer-aided drafting. Which side of the fence are you on? Or do you like a little bit of both? I’d love to hear from you.
Halloween Inspiration for 2019
