Possible To Learn How To Draw?

ruskent

Ok i have to admit i can not draw for the life of me. I use a program for most of my design work, but if i could hand render stuff i'd be so much better off. If i take some art classes at the local community college, is there any way i could become better at drawing? Or is it just a skill your born with?

dirt diggler

well - i was actually considering going ahead and getting that program so that I wouldn't have to draw.

So why do you now advocate drawing over that program??

in other words - you took two steps ahead [of many designers] but now you want to take three steps back?? what gives??


at any rate ... the way i do it: while im sitting at my desk, I just take a "snapshot" in my mind of me looking at the finished product while standing at a particular point on the site. and then i just draw it.

and i only do the conceptual drawings for myself - and only when i have trouble visualizing the finished project. no conceptuals done until contract has been signed. They do take time (but at that point it is "necessary" time)


not every conceptual i do is "presentable" either. it's more or less a way to jot down "notes" for myself.



There is a "scientific" way of doing conceptuals - you can learn this in drafting school.

but if you want present clients with a conceptual - you're obviously charging for this, so why not take it to a draftsman??? or an LA??

and at that point, why even bother?? The results from that program you have are pretty cool

so why's this even an issue??

Tom M

Why not buy graph paper? I ve been using it for years to do minor work sketches. I box = 1 foot. I keep it in both trucks for field measureing to bring back to the office. IF you draw the proportions to scale you can free hand your "ideas or alterations" with in those guides. Construction is square lines and edges not fascial expressions.

Chris G

The ability to draw well is golden. It's mesmerizing to a client when you can twist the nib of your marker into their vision right before their eyes.

Take some art classes. Let them know what you want to achieve, (marker renderings I would assume). You'll get better as you do it more, but the honest truth is that it is an innate talent, you need to be left brained, (or is that right), or at least know how to activate that side of the brain, (they'll teach you this). Good luck, give it a go!

theworx

Take the Art course!!! You'll start off drawing bowls of fruit but, after a few weeks, the nude woman comes out to model. Worth the money for the course right there. Just don't bring binoculars and crayons (they frown on that)...

Seriously, take a drafting course. They will teach you how to draw your projects to scale and even show you how to do a perspective drawing (an elevation drawing in 3D). Has come in handy for me when clients can't invision what the finished product will look like. The skill you learn plus your computer program together should be beneficial.

ruskent

dirt- I do not want to move away from the program. Its just some things i can not draw on the computer. Some stuff just HAS to be hand drawn.

Glasshousebltr

Cake man ....it's all cake

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Bob

KentWhitten

No it doesn't. I can show you anything you come up with. The talent to draw by hand is noble, but not necessary. If you want to hand draw, then go right ahead. It's not a bad thing. Everything fills in the little pieces to the puzzle, then one day you realize, you have a well running business because of all these little things that you have done that you know how to do.

BTW, are we talking about drawing blueprints? Visualizations? What exactly are we drawing? (Or you LOL)

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ruskent

Visualizations mostly. Like the shape and details on a outdoor fireplace.

TempestV

I can see two really good uses for hand drawing:

I draw a lot of things on the computer- different houses on home design software, along with plenty of mechanical objects for my Mechanical engineering classes and personal enjoyment, and while I can do anything on the computer so that it looks real professional, sometimes it's useful to sit down on the couch with a pad of paper and get some rough sketches of what I'm trying to do on the computer program. Then I take the sketches to the computer and do the final drawing on the computer.

second, imagine that you are talking to a client about some detail that they want changed or something. You come up with some plan on how to do what they are looking for, pull a pad of paper out of your truck and draw a very convincing 3d view of what the finished product would look like, on the spot. I suppose you could keep your laptop with you, but what if the battery dies or something? Good art skills are a good backup to have.

Tscarborough

There is no innate capability to draw well. It is 100% practice. If you want to draw, you must draw. And draw, and redraw. And draw some more.

The value of a quick perspective rendering in a client meeting is worth any amount of CAD design. A nice perspective on a napkin will sell better than prints delivered the next day.

Buy a spiral notebook and doodle.