Drawing is a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing instruments to mark paper or another two-dimensional medium. Instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, various kinds of erasers, markers, styluses, and various metals. Digital drawing is the act of using a computer to draw. Common methods of digital drawing include a stylus or finger on a touchscreen device, stylus- or finger-to-touchpad, or in some cases, a mouse. There are many digital art programs and devices.
A drawing board is, in its antique form, a kind of multipurpose desk which can be used for any kind of drawing, writing or impromptu sketching on a large sheet of paper or for reading a large format book or other oversized document or for drafting precise technical illustrations. The drawing table used to be a frequent companion to a pedestal desk in a gentleman's study or private library, during the pre-industrial and early industrial era.
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very strong, absorbent and dries faster than cotton. Garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot and humid weather.
Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame. It is also used in such fashion objects as handbags, electronic device cases, and shoes.
A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid, and accurate, production of an unlimited number of copies. It was widely used for over a century for the reproduction of specification drawings used in construction and industry. The blueprint process was characterised by white lines on a blue background, a negative of the original. The process was not able to reproduce color or shades of grey.
An engineering drawing, a type of technical drawing, is used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items.
A T-square is a technical drawing instrument used primarily as a guide for drawing horizontal lines on a drafting table. It may also guide a set square to draw vertical or diagonal lines. Its name comes from its resemblance to the letter T. T-squares come in varying sizes, common lengths being 18 inches (460 mm), 24 inches (610 mm), 30 inches (760 mm), 36 inches (910 mm) and 42 inches (1,100 mm).
A pair of compasses, also known as a compass, is a technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs. As dividers, they can also be used as tools to measure distances, in particular on maps. Compasses can be used for mathematics, drafting, navigation and other purposes.
Computer Aided Industrial Design (CAID) is a subset of computer-aided design (CAD) software that can assist in creating the look-and-feel, or industrial design aspects of a product in development.
A table is an item of furniture with a flat top and one or more legs, used as a surface for working at, eating from or on which to place things. Some common types of table are the dining room table, which is used for seated persons to eat meals; the coffee table, which is a low table used in living rooms to display items or serve refreshments; and the bedside table, which is used to place an alarm clock and a lamp. There are also a range of specialized types of tables, such as drafting tables, used for doing architectural drawings, and sewing tables.
Technical communication is a means to convey scientific, engineering, or other technical information. Individuals in a variety of contexts and with varied professional credentials engage in technical communication. Some individuals are designated as technical communicators or technical writers. These individuals use a set of methods to research, document, and present technical processes or products. Technical communicators may put the information they capture into paper documents, web pages, computer-based training, digitally stored text, audio, video, and other media. The Society for Technical Communication defines the field as any form of communication that focuses on technical or specialized topics, communicates specifically by using technology or provides instructions on how to do something. More succinctly, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators defines technical communication as factual communication, usually about products and services. The European Association for Technical Communication briefly defines technical communication as "the process of defining, creating and delivering information products for the safe, efficient and effective use of products ".
Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. This is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least seven thousand years to the oldest known human societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The art has taken many forms throughout the centuries, from the simple beadwork of ancient times to the sophisticated metalworking and gem cutting known in the modern day.
Manufacturing Engineering is a branch of professional engineering. Manufacturing engineering requires the ability to plan the practices of manufacturing; to research and to develop tools, processes, machines and equipment; and to integrate the facilities and systems for producing quality products with the optimum expenditure of capital.
A drafter, draughtsman or draftsman, drafting technician is a person who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for machinery, buildings, electronics, infrastructure, sections, etc. Drafters use computer software and manual sketches to convert the designs, plans, and layouts of engineers and architects into a set of technical drawings. Drafters operate as the supporting developers and sketch engineering designs and drawings from preliminary design concepts.
An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to develop a design idea into a coherent proposal, to communicate ideas and concepts, to convince clients of the merits of a design, to enable a building contractor to construct it, as a record of the completed work, and to make a record of a building that already exists.
Technical drawing tools include and are not limited to: pens, rulers, compasses, protractors and drawing utilities. Drafting tools may be used for measurement and layout of drawings, or to improve the consistency and speed of creation of standard drawing elements. The tools used for manual technical drawing have been displaced by the advent of the personal computer and its common utilization as the main tool in computer-aided drawing, draughting and design (CADD).
The following outline is provided as an overview of and typical guide to drawing and drawings:
Drafting film is a sturdier and more dimensionally stable substitute for drafting paper sometimes used for technical drawings, especially architectural drawings, and for art layout drawings, replacing drafting linen for these purposes. Nowadays it is almost invariably made of transparent biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate, which should last several centuries under normal storage conditions, with one or two translucent matte surfaces provided by a coating. However, some older drafting films are cellulose acetate, which degrades in only a few decades due to the vinegar syndrome. Uncoated films are preferred for archival, because there is then no possibility that the coating material could deteriorate over time or react with other materials.
Lowell, W. & Nelb, T. R. (2006). Architectural Records: managing design and construction records. Chicago: Society of American Archivists.
