In this article, I’m going to review how to properly setup your drafting board, layout your paper, and create a professional border with titleblock for your illustrative plan.
Finding a Proper Work Area
One of the most important, yet difficult, tasks when starting landscape drafting is finding a suitable place to work. Many people do not have a dedicated studio space, so they will need to make room on kitchen tables or office desks at first – this is completely understandable. I remember that I would often utilize my parent’s kitchen table prior to receiving my own drafting table.
If you have a dedicated space, or you can find an area large enough to layout a standard 18” x 24” paper than you should feel assured that you can start drafting like a pro. However, if you have a true dedication to the craft, or wish to pursue landscape architecture or design professionally, it is well worth it to purchase a portable drafting table.
I have had mine since 1998 and it still serves me extremely well. I would recommend the Workmaster Drafting Table from Utrecht which has an adjustable tilt up to 40 degrees and has a storage shelf underneath for keeping drafting tools and supplies. It is a bit of an investment, but well worth it for a professional studio space.
What you draw on is not nearly as important as where you draw. There are a variety of things to consider when selecting an area to create your landscape design plans, but one of the most important items to consider is the lighting. In order to draw plans accurately, you want to make sure you have sufficient light quality so that you can perfectly see the plans you are drawing.
Lighting is typically measured by footcandles. You should shoot to have a workspace that registers around 80-100 footcandles. You can easily find a light measurement tools such as this Leaton Digital Luxmeter available online that can quickly register the light intensity of your work area. You can also download a variety of apps that do a similar thing.
Now, if you have an intended workspace, you do not need to worry if you don’t have enough natural light available. You may just need to pick up a supplemental light fixture to attach to your table. There are a variety of options available. If you want to pick up a good one, I often recommend the OttLite LED Crane Lamp.
Finally, take care to make sure the work area you are drafting on is sturdy and does not move or shake when drawing. This is an easy thing to check, but often overlooked. Finding a stable and sturdy location will become invaluable as you progress as a designer.
Setting Up The Drafting Board
Ok – so we have a suitable workspace, next is setting up the board. As with lighting, there are a variety of different drawing boards available. I use the 24” x 36” Blick Portable Drafting Board. I find it very versatile. It has a few features I find useful, that you may want to look for when purchasing drafting board.
First – it has hinged table legs which offer the ability to draft at an angle as well as lay flat. Secondly, it comes with a horizontal parallel rule, which is invaluable when continually drafting parallel lines on your design plan.
Finally, it has rubberized grips on the back of it which allow for you to move the board into several positions toward or away from you as you draw, which creates a very personalized design experience which is very user friendly.
Brush Off Area
So the first step in setting up your board is taking a drafting brush and wiping the area down. Over the days, months, and years you work on plans, you will undoubtedly get a lot of easer marks, lead shavings, or other dirt on your board. Just make it a habit each time you start a new drawing to quickly brush off the area. You want to make sure nothing gets between the paper and the board, which can otherwise cause you to puncture the paper and ruin your drawing.
Laying Down Paper & Aligning
After you have brushed off the board, you want to lay your paper down and align it with your parallel rule of T-Square. So take the top edge of the paper and line it up with the straight edge you are using, and then affix the paper using drafting dots or drafting tape. This will ensure that your lines are always properly parallel and aligned when drawing.
From here, we will begin to draw the borders of our plan. The borders can have either ¼” or ½” margins. I personally like the thicker ½” margins for my plans. Previously, when designers use to exclusively draft plans, so before the rise of AutoCad, they use to leave around a 2” margin on the left hand side for the purposes of binding.
As you can imagine, if you have 40-50 plans bound together, it would be difficult to read the left hand portion of the drawing. The 2” margin allows for this readability of the plan by keeping drawn elements away from the left hand edge. Nowadays this is not necessary.
So simply measure out ½” from each corner and begin drafting the top and bottom borders of your plan. After these are drawn, take your adjustable triangle and rest it on your T-Square or Parallel Rule. This will be used to draw the vertical borders on each side.
Once this is complete, you now have four properly draw lines for your border. The next step is to layout your Titleblock.
Laying Out Your Titleblock
The titleblock should be located either on the bottom edge or the right hand edge of your paper. It shouldn’t be located on the left or top portion of your paper. Honestly, it is a personal choice where to put the titleblock and should be based on what looks best for the property plan you are drafting. You want to ensure that the entire site can fit nicely on the plan; therefore, one orientation might be preferable to another.
The titleblock should be 2” wide. So you would measure 2” up from the bottom border and make a parallel line to establish the top of the titleblock.
A titleblock should include a variety of information about your project. This includes the Site Address, Project Title, Your Company Name, Company Logo, Scale of the drawing, a North Arrow, and any other information that would need to be included based on your design office’s practices, such as a project number, revision dates, etc.
When writing down the information, be sure to practice and use standard architectural lettering with proper guidelines. If you haven’t already, be sure to view my video and article on Architectural Lettering.
So there you have it, how to properly setup your drafting board, and create a border with titleblock for your design plan.
If you liked this post and wish to learn more about landscape design and drafting, be sure to check our Design Resources section for more articles like this one.
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