Visited a 100-year-old drafting studio in Pittsburgh, noticed they still use pencils for initial sketches

I was in Pittsburgh last month visiting family and stopped by this old drafting studio that's been open since the 1920s. The senior drafter there told me he does every first pass with a 2H pencil on vellum, even though they have all the CAD software. Said it helps him think through the geometry before committing to digital. Has anyone else tried going back to hand sketching for the rough stages of a project?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron_mitchell1mo ago

Buddy of mine who does furniture design tried this last year. He said pushing pencil on paper helped him find problems in his joinery before he ever touched Fusion 360. He still does it for any project that needs real thought put into the proportions.

jessica7071mo ago

Did he say if the vellum holds up better than tracing paper for layered revisions?

gray8751mo ago

Depends on the brand honestly. I tried a few different vellums and the cheaper ones actually tore easier than good tracing paper. Better to spend a little more on a decent mid-range vellum if you're doing lots of layered revisions.