Digital vs. Hand-Rendered etc.

Hi Nick!

Great topic! I am a firm believer in hand graphics and believe that anyone who loves to design loves to sketch……With the introduction and implementation of new computer based technologies many people have developed some amazing graphic abilities that would have otherwise not been explored had there not been computer technology…..and these technologies become even more powerful with the ability to hand sketch and create hand graphics…..

That being said, I still think that hand graphics should be a continued art and should be developed more, especially by students, new graduates, and anyone else in our profession…..It will always be a benefit to someones resume and abilities to have good hand graphics……I am yet to see a firm not need an employee who had great or even mediocre hand graphics….

Digital graphics have there place, but I think that all of the truly great designers have had the ability to express themselves through hand sketching…..There is nothing more powerful than being in front of a client and sketching out an idea right in front of their eyes…..Creating something in a matter of minutes that would otherwise had not been explored because there was not a computer available…..

In conclusion, I think that any new technology that can be developed to continue to allow us(landscape architects and designers) to express ideas and more fully to our clients is a good thing…..

I love technology, but still think that hand graphics should be the foundation by which we base all of our technological advances off of……

Just as a side note, as a reference point…..Who would want to go back to hand drafting Construction Document Sets of Plans? I know that I wouldn’t, not in a million years, but when it comes to developing concepts and ideas and exploring ideas, hand graphics should always be applicable……

Check out the November 2007 Landscape Architecture Magazine for a good article on hand drawing in a digital age.

I agree with the simple sketch for the client (even for someone with mediocre hand graphic skill!)
– the plan made the sitting wall look flat-but the sketch helped them see it

This link looks like a cybersquatter. Are you sure it leads to the videos you’re talking about?
http://www.gnomonworkshop.com

While I express myself well enough verbally, my hands tend to express my thoughts better than my speech. In other words, touch typing has extended my ability to nail exactly what I mean efficiently. Maybe it’s a question of which medium allows you to best express exactly what you want, combined with the need for efficiency. How many of us haven’t first done a quick 3D sketchup and then traced it and hand colored for a more organic visual effect?

one element of the argument is time…I believe I can get can get reasonable representation of my ideas faster and cheaper (a more easily distributed and edited!) with some help from technology.

but take a step back. why am i drawing?

1) Am I sorting out design ideas for myself? (sketching/thinking out loud)

2) Am I creating a visual that I hope will be a starting point for discussion? (opening the door)

3) Am I creating a visual that will put an end to “stakeholders'” doubts? (closing the deal)

Ideally, I wouldn’t approach all three of these problems in the same way.
To each his own. I’ve seen plenty of napkin sketches that achieve one or more of the above aims, and I’ve seen plenty of elaborate hand renderings and computer visualization wanking that achieves none of them.

the first question is how to reconcile the above aims with an ‘economy of graphics’. This leads you to the choice of tools which is a secondary consideration.

Hand drawing is definitely not a lost art. As long as there is design, there will be hand drawing. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t even think through a problem without drawing on something. It’s almost as if I am handicapped without a pen.

The computer is too confined and doesn’t allow for that free flowing thought of really connecting yourself with your thought process. You could be too busy trying to figure out just HOW to draw that perfect curve instead of just letting your hand flow and rework it till it’s perfect and then before you know it, you’ve lost that creative moment.

This actually reminds me of some exercises we did in our office retreat where we spent time each day with large crayons or paintbrushes over a huge pieces of paper just doing these flowform designs that were focused on getting us to connect with our minds and find balance through our drawing.

Drawing is such an important step…far beyond making a pretty drawing.

The key is really to understand when you use the pen and when to use the computer. Ultimately everything done by hand will be transferred to the computer for those fancy presentation drawings, cad sets, etc. Also it depends on what you are designing. Sometimes taking something into cad to work out a problem makes sense and sometimes doing something in Photoshop is easier to keep things vague if that’s what you want. Personally I think it really depends on the problem that you are trying to solve and what your desired outcome should be.

The other key is to understand your client. In the beginning of project, if you show them a polished 3D model they might panic and think the design is done when they were just expecting some hand sketches. But other times, you might have a client that expects fancy photorealistic perspectives before the design is even done. Or maybe you need to come up with some nice Photoshop plans and vignettes for a public park in search of funding. Or perhaps you are doing a planning study for a very sensitive group and you want to do some hand drawn perspectives because the more real it looks, the more worried the neighborhood is about every detail and you really want to keep it vague.

As far as making digital drawings look hand drawn, this is actually a useful thing. Getting back to client expectations of drawings in the conceptual phase….if you draw up multiple concepts in cad, all with the same layer names, then you can just throw those drawings into a program like Impression or M-Color and quickly churn out multiple hand-drawn concepts with the same look in a short amount of time. This keeps drawing time down in the concept phase and allows the client not to feel locked in. Another reason clients don’t favor too much computers in the beginning is the fear for the budget and the idea of using up too much money in the beginning.

If you are spending tons of time trying to create hand drawn looks then I’m guessing you are creating something more than a concept or SD drawing. Many designers and clients like hand drawn effects because it brings a certain feel of richness and life that computer generated renderings sometimes lack. It’s amazing though how you can really create some cool things with a hybrid of the two. I saw some awesome perspectives from Foster and Partners that used this cool hybrid of watercolor and ink but it was obviously done in the computer and it was so rich that the client loved it.

Another cool effect I saw was a presentation from an architect that started out looking like a hand drawn plan and then the view zoomed into it while it tilted and become a hand-drawn looking model and then the camera flew through it. That one really wowed the crowd.