LESSON 2: TRADITIONAL DRAWING TOOLS AND

LETTERING
OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the basic tools used by the drafters and designers
2. Identify standard drawing media and sheet sizes
3. Sketches parallel, perpendicular, and evenly spaced lines.
4. Sketch Circle and arc of a given diameter.
5. Add lettering to a sketch

Traditional Drawing Equipment

Drawing equipment is essential for students in technical schools and engineers and designers in
professional practice remained unchanged. However, other equipment has come into general use,

To do any job accurately and expediently, a designer must have the proper tools. Tools are important
in all work — whether it be surgery or carpentry, designing or drafting. Quality tools and equipment
will also make drawing and drafting more enjoyable. Investing in good equipment for designing and
drafting can benefit both students and professionals.

The advent of computer-aided design and drafting, commonly referred to as CAD, has reduced the
need for much of the basic equipment described in the following pages. However, many students and
professionals still prefer to draw manually in some situations, such as sketching initial design concepts
or construction details.

Drawing Table/Drafting Table

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There are other instruments that will help you to draw quickly and accurately.
These include the following:
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 French curves (for drawing non-circular curves accurately).
Large spring bow compasses.
Trammel (for drawing circles with very large diameters).
Scales (rulers with special markings for drawing items bigger or smaller than they are in
real life).

Technical drawing is concerned mainly with using lines, circles, arcs etc., to illustrate general
configuration of an object. It is a language of communication between architects and
Engineers, usually to convey information about the object. However, it is very important that
the drawing produced to be accurate and clear.

Freehand Sketching

Drawing and drafting are forms of visual language that use

lines,
pictorial images, and symbols to convey specific meanings.
Like
spoken language, written language, and body language, this visual
language has its own unique applications. In the design field,
drawing,
also called sketching or idea generation, is used as a technique
for developing and communicating ideas. Preliminary
sketches are used to initiate and explore basic concepts.

Freehand sketching is one of the effective methods to communicate ideas irrespective of the
Branch of study. The basic principles of drawing used in freehand sketching are similar to those
used in drawings made with instruments.

Simple steps on sketching Straight Line

1. Hold the pencil naturally.
2. Spot the beginning and end points.
3. Swing the pencil back and forth between the points, barely touching the paper until the
direction is clearly established.
4. Draw the line firmly with a free and easy wrist-and-arm motion

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 Horizontal line

Vertical line

Nearly vertical inclined

line

Nearly horizontal inclined line

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Lettering
• Lettered text is often necessary to describe an object or to provide detailed specifications
• Lettering should be legible, easy to create, and use appropriate styles
• The creation of neat freehand lettering has three necessary aspects:
• Knowing the proportions and forms of the letters
• Spacing of letters and words for legibility
• Practice
• CAD drawings typically use a Gothic lettering style but often use a Roman style for titles
• When lettering a CAD drawing, it is advisable to not use more than two fonts within the same
drawing for clarity.

Freehand Lettering
Most engineering lettering is single-stroke Gothic font.
Most hand-drawn notes are lettered 1/8” high and are drawn within light horizontal guidelines.
The CAD notes are typed from the keyboard and sized according to the plotted size of the
drawing.

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Lettering Techniques
Lettering is more similar to freehand drawing than it is to writing, so the six fundamental
drawing strokes and their directions are basic to lettering. Horizontal strokes are drawn left to right.
Vertical, inclined, and curved strokes are drawn downward.

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