The manner in which people are depicted depends on whether they accompany the design in an additive manner or are intended to indicate how the space is dimensioned. Like everything else people can be depicted in a variety of ways.

Views of architecture drawn on site can also be given a scale by adding people. If these drawings are perspectives then, before starting to draw, you should consider your position relative to other people. If you stand when drawing then (assuming a straight plane) the heads of all standing adults should be shown on the horizon line, no matter how near or far away they are. Here, too, you are confronted with the basic decision about what level of importance should be given to the people depicted. The main focus should always be on the architecture.

To make a (deciduous) tree appear more three-dimensional in sum-mer the mass of leaves with the trunk should first of all be shown as an outline drawing. The trunk and the branches can be added, but it is more important to break the tree up into so-called “leaf-clouds” whose struc-ture is more defined on their shadow side. It should be noted that “leaf-clouds” that have one side in shadow and one in the light appear more three-dimensional. Conversely, in winter trees consist only of the structure of the trunk and the branches, which grow thinner towards the top of the tree. In depicting trees a combina-tion of line drawing (pencil or fineliner) with a number of surface areas (marker pen or watercolours) is particularly charming.

Whatever the case, care should be taken that the upper area of clouds is not given any colour but is left white. Only the underside of the clouds should be depicted. The same applies when you hatch clouds: in the lower part of the cloud close to the horizon the hatching lines are condensed, and the ­upper part of the cloud is left untouched. A sky can be edged with nearby trees, neighbouring buildings or electricity wires, no matter whether it is just hatched or depicted with watercolours. Whether and in what way the sky is present in an elevation or a perspective can also supply informa-tion about the topographical surroundings of the site of the planned ­building.

It is not only in the field of technical drawing that particular scales are allocated to the different planning stages. Freehand drawing should also obey certain rules in order to ensure that legibility is preserved, for lay people as well. This is a difficult topic to deal with as sketching is ­always dependent on the individual style and expression of the draughts­ person. Essentially, however, the size of the drawing should always match the content shown.

A design is often made on the basis of an existing drawing with a known scale. Where this is not the case, a triangular scale can help. Free-hand sketches without a basis should not be too large, as they are gener-ally used in the early planning stages where details have yet to be ­clarified.

In architectural drawing on site, the size of a perspective can greatly influence its expressive strength. People, vegetation, vehicles and urban furniture enrich every drawing through atmosphere and by suggesting dimensions­. They function extremely well in terms of indicating scale, whereas other things tend to hinder the understanding of space. The ­depiction of individual stones in a wall or roof tiles from a great distance can strongly influence the apparent size. In addition, repetition of the same structures can often seem childish; it is far preferable merely to suggest such structures. As in the early planning stage of a design, a greater distance from the object being drawn demands a higher degree of abstraction.