DRAWING TECHNIQUES:

PLAN GRAPHICS - INSTRUCTIONS

Aims:
1. Combine all the graphic techniques from earlier sections of the course to create a presentation
plan of a courtyard design
2. Create a hierarchy of annotation using different pens, upper/lower case and lettering sizes
Materials needed:
1. Sheets of A3 tracing paper and detail paper torn from the roll and tracing paper
2. Sign Pen, Artline 200 pen, Uni-Pin pen and automatic pencil
3. Parallel ruler, scale rule, soft eraser
Handouts:
- Plan Graphics - Garden Plan NTS
- Plan Graphics – Garden Plan 1:25 scale

INTRODUCTION:
This exercise brings together all the graphic presentation techniques covered in the earlier sections of this
course

• Use of different drawing equipment

• Hatching

• Free-hand and precision drawing

• Lettering of varying sizes and using different pens

• Use of scale rule for measuring and drawing

• Graphic symbols and patterns

• Use of varying line weights and styles

• Cast and surface shadows

We will be using these techniques in drawing a presentation plan for the design of the small garden.
This series of exercises also demonstrates the importance of drawing this range of graphic techniques in a
certain order to ensure that the most important aspects of the design (i.e. the lines showing the layout of
the design) are not obscured by labelling, cast and surface shadows, and graphic patterns.
The labels and patterns are more flexible in their locations so can be drawn later in the drawing process to
fit around the layout
The garden leads from the doors of a living room into a small area of stone paving bordered by two raised
beds built from recycled railway sleepers. Moving away from the house, there is a small step up to a
barbeque area in brick paving with an L-shaped built-in seat, raised beds and an overhead timber frame.
Leading from the barbeque area is a further seating area paved in stone flags. There is a raised planting
bed at two levels along the back of the garden planted with climbers and larger shrubs and perennials to
soften the appearance of boundary wall.

1.0 DRAWING THE GARDEN AT 1:25:

This first exercise will put the things we learnt in the measuring and drawing with a scale rule exercises
into practice.

You have been provided with a not-to-scale plan of the garden design showing the layout of the paving,
raised beds, pool, furniture etc. with dimensions and spot heights.

It is decided that a 1:25 would be a reasonable scale at which to redraw this plan based on the dimensions
 shown on the NTS drawing.

This is similar to a task that a garden designer might often come across where they have returned from
site with dimensions roughly noted down on a sheet of paper and need to convert these dimensions into a
scale plan.

Procedure:

• Stick down an A3 sheet of detail paper aligned with the grid of the graph paper base

• Using a parallel ruler, scale rule and pencil, draw the lengths of the boundary of the garden at 1:25
by adding up all the dimensions around the perimeter shown on the NTS plan.

• Ensure that the garden boundary rectangle is in the centre of the A3 sheet

• Next draw the outlines of the two timber raised beds nearest to the house as follows

• Use the running dimensions shown across the width of the garden to draw horizontal lines parallel
to the boundary

• Draw vertical lines using the dimensions shown on the boundary at the top and bottom of the plan

• With a soft eraser trim the lines you have drawn to create the corners of the raised beds

• Draw the rest of the lines of the layout of the garden using this same technique

2.0 LINE WEIGHTS:

Now we have produced an accurate pencil-drawn plan of the garden layout at 1:25, we are now going to
start building up our finished presentation plan.

In this part of the exercise thicker line weights will be drawn to illustrate where the changes in level are in
the design.

Procedure:

• Stick down the pencil-drawn 1:25 plan aligned with the graph paper base - if you have skipped
Exercise 1 use the ‘Garden Plan 1:25’ handout

• Next mark the lines of the plan that indicate a change in level with an ‘x’

• Cover the detail paper with a sheet of A3 tracing paper

• Draw over the lines marked with an ‘x’ using a Sign Pen and parallel ruler

• Draw over all the other lines with an Artline pen and parallel ruler

3.0 SYMBOLS AND LINE STYLES:

The next stage is to add graphic symbols and lines for the different heights of planting.

Procedure:

• Stick down an A3 print of the ‘Plan Graphics – Garden Plan 1:25’ download and overlay the tracing
paper plan. Use a tree symbol from the Graphic Symbols exercise to draw the three tree canopies
in an Artline pen over the circles from the plan beneath

• Use a selection of large shrub symbols from the Graphic Symbols exercises to follow the outline of
the groups of smaller circles

• Use one of the groundcover line styles from the Graphic Symbols exercises to denote the outline
 of the area of planting greater than 500 mm in height, and a different line style to denote the
outline of planting less than 500 mm in height

• Before drawing the symbols on the graph paper plan, practice them on a sheet of detail paper
overlay

• Add two or three people selected from the Graphic Symbols exercise

4.0 ANNOTATION:
The skill here is to firstly limit yourself only to those labels that are essential to explaining the design.

Secondly the labels will be clearer and more understandable if you create a hierarchy of labels. When
viewing the plan, a client will naturally read the larger labels first then continue on to the smaller labels.
The most important parts of the design are labelled in the largest size of lettering and a thicker pen, and
the labels of the more detailed aspects of the design are written in smaller lettering with a thinner pen

Thirdly the labels have to be carefully located. They have to be positioned where they will not obscure or
cover up the lines of the garden layout and this may mean they are oriented in a vertical position.

Procedure:

• With reference to the illustration of the garden, write down all the labels needed to explain the
design to a client– aim for 20 to 25 labels

• Some examples of labels:

- Social area

- Step up

- Reflective pool

- Stone paving

- Barbeque grille

- Timber beam

- Pergola

- Timber fence

- Outdoor extension to lounge

- Barbeque

- 550 mm timber sleeper wall

- 1200 mm brick wall

• Divide the labels into a three-level hierarchy:

• Primary: functions of spaces

• Secondary: main features of the design

• Tertiary: details of the design – e.g. secondary features, materials

• Cover the tracing paper plan with detail paper and, starting with the primary labels, experiment
with their location (to avoid clashes with the layout) and the style of lettering (upper/lower case,
 size, pen type) to portray the hierarchy of the labels

• When complete, remove the detail paper and add the labels to the tracing paper plan

5.0 HARD LANDSCAPE PATTERNS:

Procedure:

• Select appropriate patterns from the Graphic Symbols exercise to denote the type of paving
proposed in the design

• Experiment with a pattern to symbolise the area of the pool

• In free hand, practice drawing the patterns on detail paper overlaid onto the tracing plan using the
grid base as a guide

• Next, add the patterns to the tracing paper plan in free hand using a Uni Pin pen

• Ensure that the patterns do not obscure the layout or the labelling on the plan

• Do not cover the entire area of paving with a pattern – concentrating on the edges of the area

• Draw enough of the pattern in an area of paving to communicate the extent of the paving material

6.0 SHADOW:
Procedure:

• Follow the stages in the earlier Line Weight and Shadow exercises to add cast and surface shadows

• Ensure that the tracing plan is aligned over the graph paper base parallel to the direction of
sunlight shown on the 1:25 Base Plan (or choose your own direction of sunlight)

• Overlay a sheet of detail paper and mark on two reference points at opposite ends of the plan,
then sketch the outline of the cast and surface shadows that would be created. Ensure that the
length of cast shadows is proportional to the height of the feature

• Overlay the tracing plan onto the detail sheet using the reference points, and infill the areas of
cast and surface shadow with 1 mm spaced hatching drawn in free hand pencil using the lines of
the graph paper as a guide

Copyright ©2019 Henry Mead