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Technical Drawing Can Improve Your Art

Drafting and mechanical drawing, like many other forms of visual communication, are both an art and a technique. They require specific tools, close attention to detail, and plenty of patience. Technical drawing is a two dimensional representation of how something functions or how something is constructed, and is usually applied in professional uses, like architecture and engineering, but technical drawing can teach artists many things that can be applied in the studio, too.

Tools
The tools for technical drawing a straightforward. Technical pencils or pens are a must, as are erasers, drawing paper, tee squares, a compass, and a few templates.

Artistic Benefits
What is it that technical drawing can add to artists' skills? First, technical drawing is all about accuracy of proportion. When a technical illustrator is creating plans for something that will be built, it is imperative that the technical drawing be accurate in all ways, which includes the very important concept of proportion. The drawing is always done to scale so that the people constructing from the plans know exactly what the final product is meant to look like, or how it is meant to function.

Another thing that artists can learn from technical drawing is learning how to see a three-dimensional object from every side. These views a called orthographic views, and this technique can help artists envision and translate a three-dimensional object into a two-dimensional medium, such as a painting. Learning how to see your subject orthographically is very helpful for rendering that subject onto the page.

Technical drawings can help outside the studio as well. Even if you aren't a professional, a technical drawing can help when you are planning a space in or around your home, such as a garden or a home remodel.

Pull the lessons from everything around you, and incorporate them into your art. Happy creating!