DRAFTING- Grade 8

Quarter 2 – Lesson 2: Engineering Drawing and Sketching

What I Need to Know

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Recognize the importance of sketching in architectural drawings.
2. Identify the different kinds of engineering sketches.
1. Understand the concepts , principles and techniques in sketching
2. Apply at least 4 different type of sketches accurately.

Introduction
One of the best ways to communicate one's ideas is through some form of picture or drawing. This is especially
true for the engineer. The purpose of this guide is to give you the basics of engineering sketching and drawing.

We will treat "sketching" and "drawing" as one. "Sketching" generally means freehand drawing. "Drawing"
usually means using drawing instruments, from compasses to computers to bring precision to the drawings.

This is just an introduction. Don't worry about understanding every detail right now - just get a general feel for
the language of graphics.

We hope you like the object in Figure 1, because you'll be seeing a lot of it. Before we get started on any
technical drawings, let's get a good look at this strange block from several angles.

Isometric Drawing
The representation of the object in figure 2 is called an
isometric drawing. This is one of a family of three-dimensional
views called pictorial drawings. In an isometric drawing, the
object's vertical lines are drawn vertically, and the horizontal
lines in the width and depth planes are shown at 30 degrees to
the horizontal. When drawn under these guidelines, the lines
parallel to these three axes are at their true (scale) lengths.
Lines that are not parallel to these axes will not be of their true
length.

Any engineering drawing should show everything: a complete understanding of the object should be
possible from the drawing. If the isometric drawing can show all details and all dimensions on one drawing, it
is ideal. One can pack a great deal of information into an isometric drawing. However, if the object in figure 2
 had a hole on the back side, it would not be visible using a
single isometric drawing. In order to get a more complete view
of the object, an orthographic projection may be used.

Orthographic or Multiview Drawing

Imagine that you have an object suspended by
transparent threads inside a glass box, as in figure 3.

Then draw the object on each of three faces as

seen from that direction. Unfold the box (figure 4)

and you have the three views. We call this an

"orthographic" or "multiview" drawing.

Which views should one choose for a multiview drawing? The views that reveal every detail about the
object. Three views are not always necessary; we need only as many views as are required to describe the
object fully. For example, some objects need only two views, while others need four. The circular object in
figure 6 requires only two views.
Oblique Drawing

A projective drawing of which the frontal lines are given in true proportions and relations and all others at
suitable angles other than 90 degrees without regard to the rules of linear perspective.

Types of Oblique Projection.

There are two types of oblique projections − Cavalier and Cabinet. The Cavalier projection makes 45°
angle with the projection plane. The projection of a line perpendicular to the view plane has the same
length as the line itself in Cavalier projection

Oblique Drawing is a type of projective drawing in which the frontal lines are given in true proportions and
relations and all others at suitable angles other than 90 degree without thinking about the rules
of linear perspective.

Oblique Drawing is a pictorial representation of an object, in which the diagram is intended to depict the
perspective of objects in three dimensions.

Oblique Projection is a type of technical drawing that is

used for drawing graphical projections of three-
dimensional objects on two-dimensional planes.

The most common technique used for technical

drawing is Oblique Projection.

From the first or second century to 18th-

century Oblique Projection was used almost universally
by Chinese artists for depicting rectilinear objects such
as houses.

• Cabinet Oblique is popularly used in furniture illustration, where the receding axis is scaled to half the
size of the original object.
• Cabinet Oblique is also sometimes called cabinet perspective is a type of oblique projection.
• In Cabinet Oblique one face of the projected object is parallel o the viewing plane, and the third axis is
projected as going off at an angle between 30 degree to 45 degree.
• In Cabinet Oblique projections the receding lines are shortened by half of their true length to
compensate for distortion and to approximate more closely what the human eye would see. Cabinet
Oblique is the most used form of oblique drawing due to this reason.
• In cavalier drawing all lines including receding lines and
the three-axis lines are made to their true length which
means that if an object is shown is 4 cm deep then
while drawing that object with a cavalier method we
have to draw the object 4 cm deep.

• Cavalier drawing is mostly used for drawing of oblique

projection construction. In a cavalier drawing one axis is
horizontal, the second axis is vertical, and the third axis
is at 45 degree to the horizontal line.

• Cavalier drawing resembles very closely the actual image.

Perspective Drawing

For some reason perspective drawing is looked on as a complicated intrusion into the fun side of painting. In
this article we will take a very simple approach to remove the complication from an indispensable drawing
tool.

In linear perspective, there are 4 major types of perspective defined by the number of primary Vanishing
Points lying on the Horizon Line: 1-point perspective, 2-point perspective, 3-point perspective, and Multi-
point perspective.

Perspective drawing is a technique to create the linear illusion of depth. As objects get further away from
the viewer they appear to decrease in size at a constant rate. The box in the sketch below appears solid and
three dimensional due to the use of perspective.
The closest part of the box to us is the front vertical edge. The two other visible vertical edges, being further
away, appear shorter. To find the length of these lines we need to know where our eye level is in relation to
the box and where the two vanishing points along the eye level line will be for all our horizontal lines to recede
to.

Because the box is square and our angle of view to the box is forty five degrees, the vanishing points will each
be the same distance from the box.

Finding the Eye Level or Horizon Line for Perspective

The horizontal line through the box indicates our eye level and will vary according to our vantage point in
relation to the box.

In the box above, our eye level is about a quarter the way up the front edge. Horizontal lines below the Eye
Level will appear to slope up to the vanishing point and those above the Eye Level will appear to slope down.

In the sketch above, our eye level is below this box so all horizontal lines will appear to slope down.

Here our Eye Level is above this box, so all horizontal lines will appear to slope up.

The vanishing points and vanishing lines

The vanishing point is where all parallel lines intersect and is always on the horizon line. Using the example
of a straight road clearly illustrates what this means. Imagine a street with a consistent width that stretches
into the distance. If you look directly at the street from above, both sides form parallel lines. However, if you
stand on the street and look into the distance, the two lines seem to converge.

Just as with the horizon line, there are different perspectives for the vanishing points. However, it is
important to know that both variants can be combined with each other.

The two things that determine how far from our object the vanishing points will be are our distance from the
object and our angle of view to the object. The closer we are to the object, the closer the vanishing points
will be and the more extreme the perspective (sketch below).
As we move away from the object the effect of perspective diminishes and the vanishing points move
outwards, away from the object (sketch below).

Changing our angle of view to the object will cause one vanishing point to move closer to the object and one
to move further away. In the sketch below, moving around the object to the right causes the vanishing points
to move to the right. One gets closer and one, further away.

Changing our angle of view to the object will cause one vanishing point to move closer to the object and one
to move further away. In the sketch below, moving around the object to the right causes the vanishing points
to move to the right. One gets closer and one, further away.

If we move around the box to the left the vanishing points move to the left. The left hand point moves further
away, the right hand point moves closer.

If you can read through these notes and understand what is happening, you should then, with some
practice, be able to draw a variety of little boxes like the ones above. Draw them from below, above, turned
at various angles, from close up, further back - Once you become comfortable with a single box and how the
changes in Eye Level and Vanishing Points effect perspective, building more complicated structures is just a
matter of stacking, rearranging and modifying more boxes.
Understanding perspective drawing is an important part of your ability to draw but, no matter how accurate, it
can also be the undoing of an otherwise good painting. Don’t let your work become over drawn and
mechanical.

References

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-007-design-and-manufacturing-i-spring-2009/related-
resources/drawing_and_sketching/

https://www.johnlovett.com/perspective-drawing

https://www.tomboweurope.com/en/inspiration/perspective-drawing

https://www.sketchlikeanarchitect.com/blog/what-type-of-perspective-should-you-choose