Tips& Tactics
We Heard it On Line
What drawing media do you use to sell your work? This question was discussed on NOMMA’s ‘members only’ Listserv during the week of December 26, 2002 through January 3, 2003. Initial question 12/26/02
What drawing media do you find most effective for conveying the visual weight of your forged designs, as well as some of the subtle textures? What do you draw with when you are creating the design to show a client? Forged steel is both heavy and strong, but also soft with subtle textures. How do you draw to get both of those qualities across? Do you prefer a certain type of pen, pencil, chalk, or paper? When I do drawings for clients, I typically use pencil, or thin line black pen. I do nature oriented designs, fairly realistic, very little repeated pattern. I find that when I actually make the piece I've designed, that I omit some of the elements in the drawing because the design elements have a greater visual impact in steel than they do on paper. That is what I mean by visual weight. The final piece does look like the drawing and the clients are always satisfied, but I'd like to improve. Kirsten Skiles Koka Metalsmiths A photo-realistic drawing
A photo-realistic rendering based on a CAD solid model and either converted to a freehand line drawing or superimposed on a photograph of the client’s environment is the most effective way to convey to the client what the project will look like. It also tends to show the client that you have complete control and understanding of their requirements. The process also lends itself to very realistic representations of metal finishes because you can “paint” the objects you model with a jpeg or bitmap of the actual finish photographed elsewhere. Please get in touch if you would like more March–April 2003 Fabricator
information on the processes involved (845) 623-8665. Dimitri Galitzine Design Development Associates LLC 2D models in CAD
The solid modeling Dimitri is referring to is a great way to communicate your concepts. Depending on your budget, you can render a 2D model in CAD using “line weights” you can set the size of each individual line to meet your requirements. You can superimpose this drawing also on a photograph to provide your client a preview of what you are trying to achieve. If you would like to see this process in action, I would be happy to show you how it works live on the Internet, (800) 255-9032. Dave Filippi FabCad USA Scaled hand drawings
For sales presentations I make quick hand sketches of forged patterns or use CAD drawings. Sometimes I will overlay on a CAD drawing to scale it properly and reproduce it by hand using ink on tracing paper, nothing fancy, just quick hand drawn layouts. I may spend no more than 20 minutes on a sketch for this purpose. If the customer needs it or my design is too difficult to render quickly, I will bring samples of forged or cast work along to shown them the size, texture, type of leaf etc. Then, once the job is sold, I often make a full-size pattern for their approval for size, finish etc. This is especially important when the contract is very valuable; there should be no misunderstandings between you and the customer on any job but especially the larger ones. This is the best
way to represent it (the design and finish) to the customer. Then I leave that sample in the shop while the work is proceeding so the mechanics/finisher can use it as a go by. This remains company property so I add it to the collection to use as a sales tool in the future. If the customer wants a more rendered sketch of the design or more detailed drawings I charge for them. Given this choice, my customers almost never want to pay for a better drawing, they want to proceed with the work, or they will shop elsewhere for free design work in which case they are not a great customer anyway. I used to spend a lot of time doing great drawings to sell the job but now I spend that time doing great layout drawings to build by; this makes the work easier. And, as far as I can tell, I have not lost any sales because I didn't spend enough time on a proposal sketch, but I have had some trouble because I did not do a precise shop drawing. Doug Bracken Wiemann Ironworks Digital hand drawings
I agree with Doug about the importance of accurate CAD drawings for production. The customer is usually more interested in an overall schematic approach. Doug, to aid in your presentation of “hand drawing” check out www.intcad.com they have a program called “Squiggle” that takes a CAD drawing and converts it to a drawing that looks like it’s been done by hand. They have different settings from “on a napkin” to free hand architectural. It will save you the tracing time, and you can get it for about $130.00 Dave Filippi FabCad USA 15