Environmental Design Library @ UC Berkeley

Design Drawing - Resources for Skill Development

• Essential Skills
• Technical Drawing for Architecture
• Color and Ink
• Perspective
• Landscape Architecture Drawing
• AutoCAD
• Model Making
• Find More Books - use library catalogs
• Find Articles - use indexes

This guide is for students in architecture, landscape, environmental and design classes. Drawing is one of the many tools designers use to communicate their ideas. The books in this guide are a sampling of a broad range of materials published on design drawing. These are recommended core sources for developing drawing skills. For additional assistance, please consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall.

Compiled by Mia Jaeggli.
Content updated: June 2010.

Essential Skills

The following resources are written for architecture students learning the fundamentals of drawing. These books include the basic drawing skills and techniques required for architects to visually communicate ideas within the framework and standards of environmental design.

• Architectural graphics / Francis D.K. Ching. 4th ed. New York: John Wiley, 2003.
  EnvDsgn NA2700.C46 2003.
• Design drawing. / Francis D.K. Ching with Steven P. Juroszek. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1998.
  EnvDesign NA2708.C49 1998.
• Drawing and perceiving: Real-world drawing for students of architecture and design / Douglas Cooper. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
  EnvDesign NA2708.C66 2007.
• Architects draw / Sue Ferguson Gussow. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.
  EnvDsgn NA2708.G87 2008.
• Design drawing experiences / William Kirby Lockard. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000.
  EnvDesign NA2705.L622 2000.
• Freehand drawing for architects and interior designers / Magali Delgado Yanes, et al. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2005.
  EnvDesign NA2708.D4513 2005.
• Architectural drawing: A visual compendium of types and methods / Rendow Yee. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
  EnvDesign NA2708.Y439 2007.
• Plan and section drawing / Thomas C. Wang. 2nd ed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996.
  EnvDesign NA2708.W36 1996.
• Hand drawing for designers: Communicating ideas through architectural graphics / Douglas R. Seidler & Amy Korte. New York: Fairchild, 2010.
  EnvDesign NA2708.S45 2010

Technical Drawing for Architecture

The following books are exclusively about technical rendering and the standards that apply.

• Basics technical drawing / Bielefeld, B.. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser-Publishers for Architecture, 2007.
  EnvDesign NA2708 .B48 2007.
• Architectural drawing and light construction / Philip A. Grau, et al. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009.
  EnvDesign NA2700 .M8 2009.
• Architectural working drawings / by Ralph W. Liebing. New York: Wiley, 1999.
  EnvDesign NA2713 .L54 1999 Reference.
• Architectural graphic standards / Harold R. Sleeper. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley Sons, 2007.
  EnvDesign TH2031.R3 2007.
• The professional practice of architectural working drawings / Osamu A. Wakita, Richard M. Linde. 3rd ed. New York: J. Wiley Sons, 2003.
  EnvDesign NA2713 .W34 2003 Reference.

Color and Ink

Do you wish that you felt more comfortable using color and ink in your drawings? The following books are good guides for getting your feet wet and learning a variety of techniques

• Color drawing: Design drawing skills and techniques for architects, landscape architects, and interior designers. / Michael E. Doyle. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley. 2007.
  EnvDesign NC892.D69 2007.
• The pen & ink book: Materials and techniques for today's artist. / Jos. A. Smith. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1992.
  EnvDesign NC905.S6 1992.

Top

Perspective

Unlike many books on perspective, these thoroughly explain some of the more complex aspects. The explanations are in-depth and the illustrations are technical and detailed.

• Basic perspective drawing: A visual approach. / John Montague. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley, 2005.
  EnvDesign NC750.M648 2005 Reference
• Perspective: From basic to creative. / Robert W. Gill. London; New York: Thames & Hudson, 2006.
  EnvDesign NC750.G55 2006.

Landscape Architecture Drawing

• Plan graphics for the landscape designer: With section-elevation and computer graphics / Tony Bertauski. Upper Saddle River N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2007.
  EnvDesign SB472.47.B47 2007.
• Landscape architectural graphic standards / Leonard J. Hopper, (Ed.) Hoboken N.J.: John Wiley Sons, 2007.
  EnvDesign SB472.L36 2007.
• Landscape graphics: Plan, section, and perspective drawing of landscape spaces / Grant W. Reid. Rev. ed. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2002.
  EnvDesign SB476.4.R45 2002.
• Drawing the landscape / Chip Sullivan. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004.
  EnvDesign NC795.S86 2004.

Top

AutoCAD

The Environmental Design Library has a wide range of How-to and technique books on AutoCAD. The best method of identifying this material is to:

• Search OskiCat. Do a keyword, title keyword or subject search for AutoCAD and limit by the location Environmental Design Library.
• Browse the stacks. The call number sections to browse are: T385 and NA2728.

Model Making

• Designing with models: A studio guide to making and using architectural design models / Criss Mills. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2005.
  EnvDesign NA2790.M5 2005.
• Basics modelbuilding / Alexander Schilling. Basel, Switzerland; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2007.
  EnvDesign NA2790.S37 2007.
• Folding architecture: Spatial, structural and organizational diagrams / Sofia Vyzoviti. Corte Madera, Calif.: Gingko Press, 2003.
  EnvDesign NA2750.V99 2003.

Find More Books

Use the Library Catalogs, OskiCat, Melvyl or NextGen Melvyl Pilot. Use keywords or subject headings to search for title, subject, author, or corporate author. Take a drop-in class on how to find books using the Library's catalogs.

When searching the library catalog, the use the following subject terms to find additional books on design drawing:

In addition, the best discoveries happen when browsing the shelves. Try looking under the following call number ranges:

• NA2695 through NA2793 (Architectural Drawing, Design and Models)
• NC730 through NA758 (Technique)
• SB472 (Landscape Architectural Drawing)

Find Articles

The best online resource for articles on drawing technique is ART Full Text. Do a subject or keyword search for drawing technique OR perspective art. Many of the articles retrieved are from the magazine Drawing, published by Interweave Press. These articles offer additional insight on specific drawing techniques.

Top