1IntroductionNotesThis booklet has been developed as a brief, introductory guide to assit you in your first steps in technical hand drawing technique. It is a collection of practical suggestions from reference (that it can be easily consulted in the University Library) and from personal expe-rience. This is not intended to be a manual, just a short guide with some hints.

It is part of 130 Representation and Communication Unit.

For further information please refer to the reference included, the unit library list and ask your studio tutors.

Objectives in technical hand drawingThe following are some important objectives you should strive to attain:

1. Accuracy. No drawing is of maximum usefulness if it is not accurate. The habit of ac-curacy is very important for a designer!

2. Legibility. The drawing is a means of communication to others, and it must be clear and legible to serve its purpose well.

3. Neatness. If a drawing is to be accurate and legible, it must also be clean. Tidy dra-wings are the result of careful methods and will give a good impression of your work!

2Fastening paper to the drawing boardBasic toolsDrawing BoardsThe first piece of equipment youll need is a drawing table or board. It should have a sur-face that is flat and smooth and at least one edge that is straight and square, though this is essential only if youre going to use a t-square.

Which size? .......

U can cheaply produce one by yourself from sheet composite panels like MDF... In this case you will be able to carry it wherever you need and be ready to work on your dra-wings. Youll need to cover the drawing surface in some way; it is reccomended to place a backing sheet of heavy drawing paper between the drawing and the table top.

If you work on a table with a true straightendge and a hard and smooth surface you can work directly on it. Though a drawing board would be best.

T-SquareThe t-square enables you to draw lines that are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the square edge of the dra-wing surface. The t-square you buy should preferably be 42 long and not less than 36. Its consistent parallelism depends on the straightness of the edge against which the t -square ri-des and upon the trueness (and tightness) of the joint between the head and the blade. Protect them! Dont let your t -square fall to the floor.

1 Tracing should not be fastened directly to the board because small imperfections in the surface of the board will interfere with the line work. Always fasten a larger backing sheet of heavy drawing paper on the board first then fasten the tracing paper over this sheet.

2 The drawing paper should be placed close enough to the working edge of the board to reduce to a minimum any error. The paper should also be close enough to the upper edge of the board to permit space at the bottom of the sheet for using the T-square.

Drafting tape is preferred for fastening the drawing to the board because it does not damage the board and it will not damage the paper if it is removed by pulling it off slowly toward the edge of the paper.

3 - 4 To align the paper and fasten it to the board you can help yourself with the T-squa-re. Press the T-square head firmly against the working edge of the drawing board with the left hand and adjust the paper alignment with the right hand so that the top edge of the paper coincides with the upper edge of the T-square. Fasten the first two top edges on the corners.

5 Move the T-square on the bottom to fasten the lower corners. Fasten this corners pulling the paper out in order to have it flat.

Large sheets may require additional faste-ning.

3Paper typesVarious types of papers are distinguished. It is worth mentioning here the most commonly used for technical drawings:

Drawing paper or detail paper is a rather white, relatively opaque paper. It is used whe-never a drawing is to be made in pencil but not for reproduction. For working drawings and general use. Is available in rolls or cut sheets of standard size.

Lines stands out on it in bold contrast, which makes tracing whatever is worked out on it onto a final drawing quite easy.

Tracing paper is a thin transparent paper on which drawing are made for the purpose of reproducing. Tracing papers are suited to pencil or ink pen.

The transparency of it makes it very effective for overlay work, allowing the selective drawing or tracing on one sheet and the ability to see through to an underlying drawing.

White paper is normally used for ink works and presentation drawing. Tracings can be done in pencil and afterwards traced with ink pen. Is available in cut sheets of standard size. 200 g/m2 paper weight, smooth finished one is particularly suitable for technical drawings because of its strong resistance to erasers and its nice finishing.

Paper sizesRegarding paper size standards conventions there is one widespread international ISO standard (including A, B, C series) and a local standard used in North America (including letter, legal, ledger, etc.).

ISO A series are the most used for architectural drawings.

ISO A paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2. The base A0 size of paper is defined to have an area of 1 m2. Rounded to millimetres, the A0 paper size is 841 by 1,189 millimetres.

Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size along the larger dimension. The most frequently used paper size is A4 measuring 210 by 297 millimetres.

Tips: Size Height x Width (mm)

A0 1189 x 841 mm A1 841 x 594 mmA2 594 x 420 mm A3 420 x 297 mm

A4 297 x 210 mm A5 210 x 148 mmA6 148 x 105 mm A7 105 x 74 mm

4Pencils and LeadsTo make lines you will need some sort of pencils. Pencils are relatively inexpensive, quite versatile and uniquely responsive to pressure while drawing. Here some types available:

Recommended:

Recommended for technical drawings

Regular pencils dont approach drawing leads for consistency.

Drawing lead is compounded of a superfine graphite and clay mixture, smooth and free of impurities, which would chew up the drawing paper.

Leads are graduated in numbered and lettered degrees. If a lead makes a line with light pressure, it is called soft. If it requires a heavy touch to produce approximately the same line, it is hard.

Use leads between F and 3H for technical drawings that would be afterwards traced over with technical pens !

For thicker lines in pencil drawings

Use softer leads for drawing that will be completed in pencil. B up to 4B leads would be suitable for drawing thicker lines (e.g. section lines).

5There are different kinds and brands of technical pens.

Rapidograph pens are probably the most known and reliable product. These are extre-mely accurate, precise and long lasting. A must have for those who think to use these pens a lot and taking care of them. Unfortunately they are quite expensive though.

Fineliner are a cheaper and less accurate however still valid alternative.

A starting pen set for fineliner could include the following point sizes:_ 0.10/0.15 mm line width_ 0.20/0.30 mm line width_ 0.40/0.50 mm line width _ 0.60/0.80 mm line width

( If you decide to buy rapidographs you can choose slightly bigger pen size like:0.18 mm; 0.25/0.35 mm; 0.50 mm; 0.80 mm)

PensA quick way to make your drawings tidy and easy to be read with a professional looking is to trace those with techinical pens.

ScalesArchitects and designers use special rulers called scales. With these rulers you will be able to produce correctly proportioned drawings at reduced sizes to a consistent ratio. No interpretation of dimensions is needed to arrive at the reduced size; the scale is divi-ded so that you can layout drawings directly in reduced proportions. Each ruler usually has several sets of these scale ratios, which are individually also called scales.

Both triangular and flat scales are popular. Each edge of a scale usually has two propor-tional scales superimposed on each other, as illustrated below.

Common metric scale include: 1:5, 1:50, 1:500, 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000, 1:20, 1:200

TrianglesThe next items you will need are trian-gles, which are used to guide in dra-wing lines at any angle except parallel to the t-square.

The most useful triangles you will need includes angles of: 30- 60- 90 and 45- 45- 90.

You will find very useful to have two couples of triangles: A couple (30-35 cm) for drawing borders and doing ge-neral layout and another smaller (10-15 cm) to enable you to draw faster shor-ter lines.

6Compass / Templates Curves / Protractors

Erasers

7Drawing lines1. Always keep a sharpish point on your lead (if you are using a thin mechanical pencil this should not be a problem).

2. Always tuck the point of your lead against the t-square or triangle you are using (this prevents the point-and line-from wandering), and always pull the lead along the edge-dont push it.

For pencil:

Rulers and squares are typically bevelled.

You can use any side of the tool you want when you are drawing with pencils.

Be careful when you use pens instead!

In this case is always a good practice to turn the tool upside down, leaving the bevelled gap to face the paper.

For technical pen:

Tips:

3. Rotate the lead holder or pencil as you make lines.

This will ensure that a new lead surfa-ce is in contact with the paper at each point along your line and will wear away the lead evenly.

This technique will help you make uniform lines and will keep your point usable longer.

4. Always hold down the edge against which you are drawing. If you tuck the lead against that edge without holding it down, it will tend to lift, so hold it down.

HORIZONTAL LINES: Press the head of the t-square against the working edge of the board with your left hand (a). Slide your hand to the position b so that the blade is pressed tightly against the paper. Lean the pencil in the direction of line at an angle of aproximately 60 with the paper and draw the line from left to right (c).

VERTICAL LINES: Place the t-square with the vertical edge on the left. Witht the left hand , press the head of the t-sqaure against the the board (a); then slide the hand to push down the blade of the straightedge (b) and pull down the triangle with the fingers of that hand (c). Lean the pencil in the direction of line at an angle of aproximately 60 with the paper and in a vertical plane (d).

8INCLINED LINES: The combined use of 45 triangle and the 30x60 triangle will allow you to draw inclined lines at all the possible angles shown below.

PARALLEL LINES: The draw a parallel line to a given line you just need two squares or one t-square and one square. See the scheme below.

PERPENDICULAR LINES: The draw a perpendicular line to a given line you just need two squares or one t-square and one square. See the scheme below.

General tips:

Tips for tracing with pens:

Clean your hands before starting and keep checking (and eventually cleaning)now and then while you are drawing. You wont dirty all your paper in this way!

Dont forget about your tools! they should be clean as well...

When you are tracing with technical pen over your drawing in pencil you should consider to trace thinner lines before and thicker ones later.

Paper need a bit of time to absorb thicker lines ink. Be always careful when moving squares over the still wet lines!

To protect your drawing while still working on some parts of it, it is a good a practi-ce to put a clean white paper over the parts you are not working on.This will help to preserve the paper and will give you the possibility to place more confidently your hands over the working space.

9Lay OutLay out the paperAfter the sheet has been attached to the board you can start to lay out. Notice that the layout is made independently of the edges of the paper.

1. Using the T-square, draw a horizontal trim line near the lower edge of the paper and then, using the triangle, draw a vertical trim line near the left edge of the paper. Both should be light construction lines.

2. Place the scale along the lower trim line with the full-size scale up. Draw short and light dashes perpendicular to the scale the required distances.

3. Place the scale along the left trim line with the full-size scale to the left, and mark the requires distances with short and light dashes perpendicular to the scale.

4. Draw horizontal construction lines with the aid of the t-sqare through the marks at the left of the sheet.

5. Draw vertical construction lines from the bottom upward along the edge of the triangle through the marks at the bottom of the sheet.

6. Retrace the border and the title strip to make them heavier.

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ConventionsThe following are indicative examples of representation conventions. However consider that there is an unlimited number of other absolutely appropriate ways to represent ele-ments in architecture and design.

Northpoints / Graphic Scales

Lines Types / Weights

Symbols for Openings: DoorsScale 1:100 / 1:200

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WindowsDepending on the scale of the drawing, the windows can be represented by a single line to a series of lines able to describe even the type of opening.

Stairs

1:200 1:100 1:50 1:20

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Codes formaterials

Symbols for furniture

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ReferenceBielefeld, B. & Skiba, I. (2007). Basics technical drawing

Ching, Francis D. K. (2003). Architectural graphics.

Ching, Francis D.K. with Juroszek, Steven P. (2010). Design drawing

Giesecke, Frederick E. (2003). Technical drawing

Patterson, T. L. (2002). Architects studio handbook

Porter, T. & Goodman, S. (1992). Design drawing techniques: for architects, graphic de-signers and artists

Porter, T. & Goodman, S. (1993). Manual of graphic techniques for architects, graphic designers and artists, 4, Architectural drawing

Ratensky, Alexander (1983). Drawing and modelmaking

For further information check Unit library list:

http://lists.lib.portsmouth.ac.uk/lists/21D1542B-92A8-C6B5-87D0-DB3F585D24B5.html