There is much debate in the garden design world about computer aided design (CAD) versus hand drawn, and personally I think both have their merits. I use Sketchup to create virtual reality 3D models which allow me to really understand the levels, volumes and spaces of a garden, meaning that my designs are thoroughly thought through, and there are no surprises when the scheme is built.
But recently I reverted to drawing up a masterplan by hand (usually I use a computer generated base plan and just add some hand drawn embellishment to add interest and make it easier to read).
I was surprised to rediscover the delight of drawing by hand, relishing the richness of the 'mark making' compared to a uniform printed line. The drawing is still accurate, but I feel it conveys more of the character of the design. Unfortunately it is more time consuming, so will not be the norm, but drawing up this masterplan by hand has reconnected me to the pleasure of drawing, and I am feeling fired up with ideas for other creative activities as a result. In previous years I did a lot of life drawing and I always felt that this fed into my garden design work - it helped me to really look, and to appreciate shape, form, line, texture, colour. I think there is a real danger that over-reliance on CAD drawing can impoverish design, and I will always make a point of hand drawing alongside my CAD work in order to retain that more fluid and sensitive response to the site.
Comments
Hi Rose
Love your beautiful hand-drawn/CAD image and the projects on your website.
Please see my recent Blog Post and let me know if there is any way I can assist you in your work-flow.
David
Hi there, new to LJN and just found this post in my first email...
Love the drawing, Rose. I, too, love drawing by hand! I think the results are unique to any designer who hand-draws their plans and some of the drawings look absolutely stunning :)
I, too, use Sketchup to produce 3Ds and "walk-throughs" that I can display to the client on my laptop, but these don't show the planting detail.
From a background as a botanist/ecologist, prior to retraining in horticulture and garden design, the majority of my work consists of detailed planting plans. I construct the base plan and draw on the overall garden design by hand, scan it into the computer and label it in "GIMP" (a LINUX open-source graphics package.) I select areas of the unlabelled scan, print them to scale in a larger size, trace and draw on all the planting plan details. Scanning this back into the computer and labelling up in "GIMP" produces a neat, yet individual style of document. Another advantage of all this over purely hand-drawn is that multiple full-colour copies can be quickly produced at any required size - for presentation to the client, for the planting peeps, for portfolio/display, etc. Also, if any plant names/details change, I can now easily make changes "electronically" and reprint without having to redraw.
Yes, it takes time and I never charge the client as many hours as I spend, but I really enjoy this creative process and am usually as pleased as the clients are with the results.
However, the main event is actually designing and constructing the garden. It's all very well having "pretty" drawings, but the resulting garden has to be both beautiful and practical. I've seen some really stunning gardens developed by skilled peeps whose drawings have been "minimal" :) and, unfortunately, on a rare occasion, vice versa.
So, you see, I use both hand-drawn and "computer processing", thereby gaining "the best of both worlds" :)
p.s. I'd add an image, but I've no idea how to do so (???)
www.katiesgreenhouse.co.uk
Hi Katie, thanks for your comments. It would be good to see an example of your plans - it sounds like you have developed a unique way of producing the finished item! It is certainly an advantage being able to easily reproduce plans or make changes. Currently all my CAD work is in Sketchup only (using Layout for scale plans and annotating) but I am planning to take the plunge and get Vectorworks this year, which I think will be more efficient for planting plans.
Hi Rose, several of my garden designer friends use Vectorworks, mostly successfully, although there have been comments that it takes a long time to learn to use it properly - the chap who wanted to sell to me told me to allow a year to learn the basics after his training course, then come back for more training to learn its full potential. But, I haven't used it in anger, so you'll need to find out more from those who use it all the time... Also the cost of the package, the regular updates, as well as the initial and ongoing training, was well outside my budget.
The real problem I thought I would have with it was the limited range of plants (North American biased?) in the initial library. I'm a botanist and plants-bod, mad about different and unusual plants, and although you can enter all the data for plants it doesn't know, it looked like it would take much more time and effort than I was willing to invest to "teach it". Anyway, I like hand-drawing, as I said...
I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to go to V/w if you can produce lovely drawings like yours! I frequently get feedback from my clients that they like my drawings :)
When I get a mo' I'll try to upload a drawing for you to see...