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Stephen Smith

Instructor Wilson-Young

ENGL 1101

14 February 2019

Freehand and technical drawings

As the lead of the pencil glided across the blank sheet of paper, it left a trail of graphite.

My father started drawing a picture of an airplane which fascinated me. I was a daddy's boy, so

anything he did, I did as well. I can remember holding a pencil between my fingers and

visualizing the image I wanted to draw. I sat in my bedroom and drew for hours keeping every

completed work of art in an old shoe box. Freehand drawing became an extension of who I was

and how I was defined. I realized that I had a gift. I explored the simple idea of art and learned

there was a world beyond what I knew when I first started to draw. I stumbled upon technical

drafting and fell into a more profound love and appreciation for art. Freehand drawing and

technical drawing are often quite different, but both play essential roles in the artistic

community.

I sat at my desk in my bedroom listening to music and staring at the blank paper beneath

me. Freehand drawing was my escape from the real world. It was a place I could go where there

weren’t any problems and I was completely in control of what happened. The difficulty with

freehand drawing is the challenge of transferring imagination onto paper. Mistakes can happen

often with freehand drawing, which can be frustrating and waste resources. Freehand drawing

allows the artist to have freedom to create any picture that is in their imagination. An artist is not
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limited to specific standards in freehand drawing. As I entered college later in life, I stumbled

across a new drawing style that I was completely unfamiliar with, technical drawing. Technical

drawing is based on the principle of specific measurements that combine accurately drawn

shapes to create an image. I moved my handheld mouse across the desk, forming the image I was

trying to recreate from my textbook for a class. Technical drawing requires the artist to copy a

pre-existing image with specific specifications that can be interpreted to build a structure or part.

I found that freehand and technical drawing were not that different after all for the fact that both

allow the freedom to use imagination, even though in technical drawing it is not required.

Having limited formal education in freehand drawing, I learned much of it on my own

with practice. I've never attempted to pursue a career in art, so a degree in the course field was

not necessary for me. My thought process changed after being introduced to technical drawing. I

wanted to pursue an education in Technical drawing to assist in improving my skills and abilities

in art. Technical drawings are based on precise measurements, maintained by rules in drafting,

and can be used to assist in completing 3d drawings. For certifications, technical drawings

require very little imagination but still need practice and patience to complete.

The principles of art deal with balance, proportion, and unity. These principles are

essential to the process of creating an image that is interpreted by an artist and relatable to the

viewer. An artist is different in their unique way, and that is also true in regards to their

imagination and how they can transfer the images in their head onto paper. Freehand drawing

encourages an artist to use their imagination which has contributed to advancements and new

perspectives in art. Technical drawings yield a realistic approach to constructing images.

Usually, technical drawings are the preferred method in the construction of buildings and parts to

provide the buyer with a visual representation of the finished product, before completing the
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project. Technical drawings play an essential role in drawing by allowing the artist to create a

precise picture to specifications while giving the artist flexibility with creativity. Though

imagination for technical drawings isn't necessary, it can be used to aid in the design method.

Freehand drawing and technical drawing are similar and equally important to the

fundamentals of art. Where technical drawings may limit or lack in creativity, they are at times

exact images of the drawn objects, just of a smaller scale. Technical drawings utilize the

assortment of shapes to create an object, where freehand drawings use lines to come together and

form an object. Both freehand drawings and technical drawings need each other to survive.

Without freehand drawing, technical drawing would lack creativity. Without technical drawing,

there would be no standard set on replicating a part or object to exact specifications. As an artist,

you have to decide when starting a picture, if the project you are doing needs a technical drawing

format or if freehand would be acceptable.