Scale Drawings - How to.....

[Blue Monday]

Hi. I am currently researching the history of a particular helicopter, in particular the history of the various prototype and test variants of this helicopter. My initial plan was to write a book on this topic and publish it myself but for a number of reasons, this now won't be possible. I am still pushing on with my research and it will end up going into a book format as well as possibly ending up on a few websites as a PDF. I am lucky enough to have sourced plenty of useful photos for my project but one area that will enhance my final document will be accurate scale drawings. I estimate that I will need between 10 and 20 different sets of 3-view drawings, all variations of the same basic aircraft. The purpose of the drawings will be to illustrate the unique configuration of a particular aircraft as opposed to serving as highly detailed technical drawings. Every rivet will not necessarily be depicted in my planned drawings but at the same time, I want the overall drawings to be true to the original in outline and basic detail. I have two options open to me; commission an artist to draw the desired drawings or figure out a way to create the drawings myself. I would like to go for the second option, if at all possible, even though I have no experience of creating any kind of drawings. And so my questions are;

 

How do I go about learning to draw accurate, 3-view, scale drawings of my chosen subject?

 

Is it something you can learn by yourself using some kind of manual or will it require attending classes? 

 

Is it a reasonable expectation to believe that it might be possible to learn how to draw scale drawings in just 12 months or so? 

 

What option is best for the novice, learning to draw by hand or use some kind of computer graphics programme (given that I am not exactly a computer whiz)? 

 

Thanks for any assistance or advice anyone can offer.

 

BM.

[Dave Swindell]

Hi BM

If you want to have a go at drawing them yourself on a computer, the best option would be to learn a vector graphics program. Once drawn, your drawings can be scaled up or down without any loss of quality, and is easily duplicated and edited to give you all the variations you want. Be warned though, it's a steep learning curve. I use Coreldraw myself, but a lot of people use Inkscape, it's free, so won't cost you anything but your time, there's lots of tutorials if you google for them. Don't start on your helicopter drawings straight away, stick with the simple stuff. This should give you an idea whether it's worth your time and effort mastering the program, or getting someone else to do it for you.

[Blue Monday]

Thanks Dave. I was hoping to avoid using a computer programme but in reality it is probably the best option. The day of hand-drawn scale drawings is probably drawing to a close, sadly. I will check out the programme you mentioned. Cheers.

 

BM.

[Army_Air_Force]

To draw a 3-view, you really need access to the aircraft. You are going to need to spend probably several days with a tape measure, camera and notepad to capture all the details and dimensions required for a good 3-view! A large rule marked with feet and inches is also a useful tool to use in any photographs.

 

[Dave Swindell]

13 hours ago, Blue Monday said:

Thanks Dave. I was hoping to avoid using a computer programme but in reality it is probably the best option. The day of hand-drawn scale drawings is probably drawing to a close, sadly. I will check out the programme you mentioned. Cheers.

 

BM.

Drawing by hand is a possibility, but you're going to need some kit to do it and get good results:- drawing board, squares, curves, compasses, drawing pencils and technical pens, draughting paper, erasors(!) etc. Not as costly as a computer, but I'm guessing you already have that.

Once drawn, the images also then have to be scanned into a computer anyway and sized for use if you're going to be publishing for the web or as pdf. Scanned files can be quite large, vector files are relatively small.

Every drawing you need of the different versions will have to be done separately, you can trace the common bits, but it's still a lot of work and also subject to  error, especially if you keep tracing your previous drawing as the series progresses - the last drawing can end up quite a bit different to the first (the drawing office equivalent of chinese whispers).

Working digitally means each copy is an exact replica of the last. You can also work in layers, with unique elements of each different version placed over a base drawing, the individual layers can then be turned on and off to display the different marks (and different colour schemes can be displayed as per profiles you see in magazines etc) Once an element is drawn it can be copied or turned on and off at the click of a mouse.

Once you've mastered the "art" (sorry!) of drawing, each version is going to take you approximately the same amount of time to do again by hand, but digitally it will take a fraction of the time.

13 hours ago, Army_Air_Force said:

To draw a 3-view, you really need access to the aircraft. You are going to need to spend probably several days with a tape measure, camera and notepad to capture all the details and dimensions required for a good 3-view! A large rule marked with feet and inches is also a useful tool to use in any photographs.

Absolutely, if you want the ultimate in accuracy. It depends though, on what BM's intention is with the drawings - are they purely to illustrate the difference between all the variations, or are they there as a direct reference for accurately modelling all the variations?

At the moment though it's a bit of a moot point as from the first post, BM needs to work out whether he can learn to produce acceptable drawings himself, either by hand or digitally, or whether he should get someone to do the work for him.

With the latter option, it might be worth looking around to see who's done good drawings of his subject matter (3 view or profiles) and seeing if they'd be willing to edit their drawings to suit his purposes. If they've already got a drawing of the subject, a lot of the work is already done.

[Blue Monday]

"are they purely to illustrate the difference between all the variations,"

This is what I ultimately need to illustrate with my planned drawings. While highly-detailed scale drawings would be great to have of each particular version of my subject aircraft, in reality, a less-detailed drawing will suffice, with the main aim of each drawing being to illustrate the modifications of that particular version of the aircraft.

  

"If they've already got a drawing of the subject, a lot of the work is already done."

I do have a set of accurate 1/72 scale drawings on paper (in a book) of my subject aircraft and if it is possible to copy these and insert them into a computer programme and then draw the additional detail required, as you say, a considerable amount of the work is already done. Whether there are copyright issues in relation to the existing plans, I am not sure. My document is basically a private undertaking that will never be sold as a commercial publication. I will never receive a penny for anything connected with the document, even though it will be given for free to a few interested parties and potentially be available (for free) on one particular website. Thanks.

 

BM.

[Army_Air_Force]

If you can get permission to use the 3-view drawing as your main reference, you could open it in Photoshop or a similar picture editing program, and using a new transparent layer, trace over the original drawing until you have a copy. That transparent version can then be copied and amended to suite all other variants you want to show, using the various photos you'll have as reference for those changes in design.

[Dave Swindell]

Whoever did the drawings for the book will most likely (depending on it's age) have a digital vector file of the drawing - that's the valuable bit and the easy bit to edit. If you haven't got access to this (either yourself or via the original artist to edit for you) you've got a fair bit of work to do to get your base drawing. The 3 view can be scanned and imported into a program as Stephen suggests above, but I'd always go vector and not bitmap as he suggests. Put it on one layer and trace it on another. Most programs have an auto trace feature, but I find them rather inaccurate and ineffective, it's much better in the long run to do it manually. If you're doing it this way, you can just go for the essentials, basic outline etc without the fine detail. The same can be done with photographs of your subject.

Copyright could be a bit of a problem, the fact you're not doing it for commercial gain is irrelevant. Copyright could rest with the original artist or the book publisher, depending on the artist's contract - the drawing may have a name with copyright on it. Depending on how much of the drawing is used, how much is recognisable as the original and how much has been changed/added or removed, copyright may be limited or not relevant.

The bottom line is how much time and effort are you willing to put in learning how to draw technically to a standard you're happy with to publish vs the cost and relative speed of employing someone to do it for you.

If you learn to draw it's a skill you can use on other projects, however if you don't succeed it may help justify the expense of employing someone. You won't find out until you try, and you'll need to start with something fairly simple.

[Blue Monday]

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I have a better of idea of a starting point now. Hopefully I can make some progress with my ideas. Much appreciated. 

 

BM.