Drawing Shortcuts

Developing Quick Drawing Skills Using Today's Technology

Jim Leggitt

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781118280737
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture Design

The updated edition of a contemporary approach to merging traditional hand drawing methods with 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional digital visualization tools.

Jim Leggitt?s Drawing Shortcuts shows how communicating with hand drawings combined with digital technology can be ingeniously simple, and this new edition makes an already popular technique even better. Completely expanded with new chapters and a wealth of supporting images, this Second Edition presents practical techniques for improving drawing efficiency and effectiveness by combining traditional hand drawing methods with the latest digital technology, including 3-D modeling with SketchUp. This book?s step-by-step approach will sharpen and streamline your techniques whether you draw for pleasure, school or your design profession.

• Easy-to-follow instructions cover every aspect from the basics of drawing?such as composition, color, shading, hatching, and perspective?up to the most current technologies
• Incorporates Google SketchUp, Google Earth, computer generated renderings, digital scanners and printers
• Features new visuals from accomplished drawing experts
• Special new?Gallery? section highlights the creative process with step-by-step examples of drawings
• Complete coverage of the?Overlay and Trace Method,??Simple Composite Method,??Advanced Composite Method,? and?Digital Hybrid Drawings?
• New matrices show alternative drawing techniques for specific visual effects such as Linework and Shading, Selecting the Right Views, Perspectives and Paraline Drawings, Drawing Detail, Camera Lenses, and Drawing Tools

Generously enriched with detailed process drawings, examples, and more than 500 full-color images, Drawing Shortcuts, Second Edition will have you creating top-quality drawings faster and more effectively.

CHAPTER 1
TRADITIONAL DRAWING TYPES

This chapter identifies the basic varieties of traditional drawing, which range from simple sketches to sophisticated presentation renderings. Any drawing is the result of a series of decisions one makes about the subject and how to communicate it. Consider the three steps of drawing: identify the subject information or drawing data, construct the drawing framework, and illustrate the final image. Apply this process to creating a quick drawing in a sketchbook or developing a rendering for a design project. By breaking the drawing process down into a series of small but strategic choices, you will build confidence in your visualization skills and overcome the fear of drawing that so many designers experience.

Sketching

One fundamental method of drawing is from direct observation. It is enjoyable to draw plein air, with a subject in front of you to study. But when there is no base information available, you can also sketch from your imagination. This takes some practice and confidence, but it is possible to produce great drawings without any references—cartoon illustrators do it every day.

Purchase a small sketchbook and carry it around with you. Get into the habit of sketching everyday scenes and design ideas for projects. Set aside time during vacations and business trips to sketch buildings or scenes (Figs. 1.13–1.14). Your drawings will become an unforgettable record of that place and time.

Three Visual Levels

Throughout the design process, you can produce different types of drawings to communicate your creative ideas. Think in terms of three levels of visual product. Quickly drawn thumbnail sketches explore general design concepts and identify possible drawing views that can be developed in further detail. Character sketches are often the most effective visuals produced during a design process. They are not time-consuming to construct and have enough detail and personality to effectively communicate your design intent. The highest level of visual product is the presentation drawing, which has more formal detail and intent. Remember, the most successful drawings may not be the largest, the most detailed, the most colorful, or the most difficult to create.

Drawing Framework

A drawing without structure is like a body without bones. The most important decision you make concerns the composition of your drawing, which defines the geometry of the image and establishes the center of interest—the big idea. To best convey the three-dimensional characteristics of your design concept in a two-dimensional drawing, you need to determine whether a perspective view or paraline view is appropriate.

1.1 Simple shade and shadow technique. This 8½×14” Ink on Mylar drawing was first outlined and then shadowed with diagonal lines parallel to one another. Windows are filled In black to contrast with the mullions.

1.2 Practice sketching people. I created four smaller Images on one page to shorten the drawing time, as the people I was drawing were changing positions.

1.3 Draw the entire town. This sketch, from the viewpoint of the coastal town’s pier, took about an hour. Complex window patterns and white walls create an architectural texture that contrasts with the rough natural textures of the mountain above the town.

1.4 Small watercolor sketches...