Swinburne Faculty of Health, Arts and Design

Bachelor of Engineering
Quality Learning, Innovative Research

ENG10001 Humanitarian Engineering Design Project l Design Tutorial

Week 1: Action Arrows (Line, Shape, Form)

EXERCISE: Practice drawing lines and shapes by copying the arrows below & designing your own.

Fill a full A3 page (minimum) of sketches. (Don’t draw too small or too few arrows on a page!).
Note: You will be assessed on line quality (making straight, consistent, confident lines), line variation (different thicknesses of lines, e.g. light lines for
construction, thin lines for details & thicker lines for outlines or shadow edges and accents).

To Draw These Circular Arrows

use ellipses as guides

(RULE: Ellipses are symmetrical across

the Major Axis & the Minor Axis)

Draw what
shape Major
ellipse would Axis
be on these
2 Major Axis

Eye Level
(Horizon line)

Centre line (Minor Axis)

DESIGN SKETCHING OVERVIEW & IMPORTANT TERMS

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN OVERVIEW ANATOMY OF SKETCH

BASIC LINES
• horizontal (1) Estimated Perspective (note converging construction lines),
• vertical
• diagonal (2) Hatching to create volume,
• curved
• dot/point
Man-made
(useful in constructing, measuring
& manufacturing shapes/forms)
Nature
(no straight lines
exist in nature!)
(3) Action Arrows to indicate usage instructions &
(4) Call Outs (descriptions of design features, notes or instructions).
could be considered
the alphabet What is the half way point of the spiral?

of drawing

Line variation

(3)

used to create simple

‘words’ like:

(4)
SHAPES
(2-D objects)
(3)
(2)
& (4)

FORM
(3-D objects)
when combined with (1)
perspective principles
(2)

(1)

Note the variation

of lines to clearly convey form. (3) (4)

RULE:

Use thicker lines

to create
‘SHADOW EDGES’ (B)
(A) (B)
usually
(B) (B)
(A) opposite the light
source

&/or
(B) (B)
(B) under objects
to sit them
on the page.
(B)
HATCHING is used No No No
to create volume (B)
through ‘value’changes
(light to dark shadows)
Better hatching technique
Better hatching technique (B)
HATCHING is used to create volume
through ‘value’changes (light to dark shadows)