Architectural drawing Tips  

1. Use line thickness's

When drawing a floor plan or section, the walls that are being cut through should always be a heavier line weight. 

2. Minimize smudging    

In order for hand drawn architectural drawings to convey their meaning, they need to be neat. Avoid smudging and making your sketches look messy.    

3. Take your time  

Creating a perfect architectural drawing takes time. Accept that fact and be ready to rework your pieces for as many times as it takes until you nail it.  

4. Use layers

When drawing in a CAD package, divide your line weights into layers, for example you may have different layers for say walls, windows and joinery. These can then be saved as a template and used every time you start a new drawing.

5. Use hatches

Hatches add detail and depth, and can be used to identify and draw attention to elements and materials, for example to show floor finishes and/or light and shadow.    

6.Use objects

Using objects such as furniture, cars and vegetation, adds scale and context to drawings as well identifies the limitations of the spaces created. i.e if a client has specialist furniture requirements. 

7. Add annotations

Annotations help to draw attention and add additional information to the objects and elements in your drawing.  

8. Add dimensions

Dimensions provide a quick reference to the scale and size of the spaces in your drawing, without the need for a scale rule 

9. Work with a mouse and not touch pad

To create perfect CAD drawings, you need a mouse, touch screens are not CAD friendly.