A guy at a print shop in Austin showed me his old drafting table setup

He was pulling prints for me about six months ago and saw my CAD notes. He said, 'You kids and your perfect lines, you ever draw by hand?' He walked me to the back where he had this old wooden drafting table with a worn-down lead holder. He showed me how he still uses it for quick sketches because it 'feels real.' Has anyone else kept up with hand drafting after moving to digital?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretk892d ago

My old studio professor made us do final projects on vellum with ink. It felt like punishment, not craft.

jade32d ago

Why does everything have to be a fight between old and new? That guy gets it. He kept the tool that feels right for the job. @margaretk89, I get that being forced to use ink on vellum sounds awful, but that's a bad teacher, not a bad tool. Choosing to sketch by hand for the feel of it is totally different from being graded on it. My old lead holder is still in my bag. Digital is for the final product, but my first messy ideas always start on a scrap of paper. It just connects my brain to my hand in a way a mouse never does.

rose_young2d ago

It's like how some people get weird about reading real books versus e-readers... like picking one means you hate the other. My grandma knits, and she tried one of those fancy machines but went back to her needles. Said it just didn't feel the same in her hands. Forcing the old way is dumb, but acting like new stuff always kills the soul of a thing is just as bad. The best tool is the one that lets you make the thing without fighting it.