[woodtradesman]

We'll, I know in this information age I should pony up, get with the times and do my presentations drawn on the computer but I am not making enough profit to buy some fancy software for drawing stuff up so for the most part I draw my shop drawings by hand. Most of the time this isn't a problem since most job come with a drawing from the archy or a designer and based on those drawing I make more technically detailed shop drawings for me to produce from but Like the title says my shop drawings are fairly lifeless (although very detailed on a technical level) and not really suitable for direct sales.

The pick bellow illustrates my typical shop drawing.

 

[Dan_Watson]

Details, notes, dimensions, isometric if possible, even an iso in color adds a lot, title block...

 

[tcleve4911]

Try using Sketchup. Many of the guys on this site use it. or go to Contractor's pub and do a search for sketchup. Leo & Dave and a few others have really perfected their art with 3D, shadows and colored renderings. Hope this helps.

:thumbsup:

 

[woodtradesman]

Details, notes, dimensions, isometric if possible, even an iso in color adds a lot, title block...

I should mention that I do include cutaway details, dimensions, notes siting material and such. what I am not good at is shading, shadowing, graining and such.

tcleve, I tried sketchup before with good results but I was darn slow at it.

 

[Dan_Watson]

Well whether its by hand or using the computer the only way to get better/faster is practice...

 

[tcleve4911]

I should mention that I do include cutaway details, dimensions, notes siting material and such. what I am not good at is shading, shadowing, graining and such.

tcleve, I tried sketchup before with good results but I was darn slow at it.

I know how you feel. But the more you use it and the more components you make , the quicker you'll be.

It's like anything...practice it..... use it ....experiment.....I know you'll perfect it.

The other thing about Sketchup is it's free. and you can import models from other people's projects that have done the shadowing and incorporate them into your own.:thumbsup: