Using Drawing Instruments

1. Using Drawing Instruments Landscaping Chapter 1

2. Terms to Know • T-Square • Drawing board/table • Drawing pencil • Drawing leads • Letter Guides • Ames Lettering Guide • Triangles • Curves • Scale • Engineers Scale • Architect’s Scale

3. The Purpose of Drawing Tools • Help make an idea a reality • Allow the designer to • Present their idea to a client • Give a visual representation of their idea • Give the landscape contractor the details necessary to make an idea a reality

4. The Tools of Landscape Design and how they work

5. T-Square • Long straight-edge • Used to draw straight parallel horizontal or vertical lines • Important to keep the t-square flush with the drawing board • Common uses • Representation of property lines, roads, drives, fences, utility lines and for adding boarders • Also used to support other tools such as triangles and lettering templates

6. Drawing Pencil • Link between the designers mind and the paper • Range from inexpensive wood pencils to the more costly, but longer lasting lead holders

7. Drawing Leads • H • Harder leads • The higher the number the harder the lead • Lighter lines • Longer lasting • B • Softer leads • The higher the number the softer the lead • Darker lines • Easily smudges and requires more sharpening • No rules exsist but most landscape designers work with 2H or 3H lead

8. Lettering Guides or Templates • Used to create a stenciled lettering style • Template must be matched to the width of the lead tip being used • Results in lettering that is stiff and mechanical • Used in combination with the T-Square

9. Ames Lettering Guide • Plastic device used with a t-square to produce guidelines for hand lettering • Can be set to create lines in varying numbers and varying width that can be replicated endlessly without additional measurement • Also has straight edges that allow it to be used in the actual creation of lettering too.

10. Triangles • Have either 30-60-90 or 45-45-90 degree combinations • Used by themselves as straight edges or in combination with the T-square to create lines of consistent angles of 30, 45, 60 or 90 degrees

11. Compass • Used for creating circles, the basis for many landscape features such as plants, patios, pools and lawn areas • Remember when drawing circles that the distance between the two legs of the compass should be half the desired diameter of the circle • Ex: You desire a circle with a 4” diameter, so the compass legs should have a spacing of 2”

12. Curves • Hard plastic or flexible plastic supports for curvilinear lines • French Curves • Hard plastic & available in assorted shapes • Flexible Curves • Flexible plastic that allows limitless support for the designer as it can twisted into practically any shape

13. Scale • Used to represent actual dimensions in a reduced size • Triangular in shape that provides 6 edges • 2 common types • Engineers Scale • Architect’s Scale

14. Engineer’s Scale • Divides the inch into various multiples of 10 • Permits dimensions to be read as whole numbers and decimal portions

15. Architect’s Scale • Divides the inch in a number of ways that permit dimensions to be represented as feet and inches

16. Reading Scales See figure 1-17 p. 10 in the text.

17. Templates • Available in a variety of styles and sizes • Circle • Irrigation • Tree and Shrub

18. Erasers • Plastic erasers • Used the most • Kneaded erasers • Used for lightening lines • Special purpose erasers • Used for the removal of ink or colored marker but do not work as well as claimed • Liquid erasers • Used for removing old, dried ink lines or those created by copy machines

19. Erasure Shield • Helpful when erasing soft B leads or small portions of a line

20. Assignment • Complete Chapter 1 Practice Exercises A, C & E– 30 points due on ____________________ • For exercise A don’t worry about the different leads, just draw 10 lines of different lengths • Complete Achievement Review A and B & Workbook Ex 1 Evaluation —30 points Due on______________________