The basic tools necessary to sketch include a drawing device (pen, pencil, crayon, etc) and media (paper, post-it, napkin, etc). Sketching can occur anywhere – in the field, during a business meeting, or even during a dinner meeting. It is often more convenient to sketch ideas to capture a moment’s thought than it is to begin the manual drafting or computer-aided design (CAD) process.
At times you will want to refine your rough ideas that began on a scrap sheet of paper. You will use technical sketching to do this. Technical sketching involves sitting down at a table, ensuring you have plenty of good task lighting and using more precise sketching skills. It’s not manual drafting though. Manual drafting is a more rigorous and precise process involving additional tools such as a drafting machine, triangles and lettering devices.
For technical sketching, you only need a few tools:
Have everything you need? Good. Now watch the video below to learn more about these “tools of the trade” and then move on to the next session, Line Quality.