Start Your Designs In Procreate...THEN Switch to Sketchup or Rhino

Is it better to start your concept design "freehand," or begin immediately in Sketchup/Rhino? In this episode I share technique for sketching an accurate interior design plan using only your eye, your real-world knowledge of the "size" of things, and the 2D grid drawing assist feature in Procreate. This freehand technique maintains both accuracy and flexibility until you're ready to develop your ideas further in Sketchup or Rhino.

Download free "1-click" interactive guide to all the tutorials on this channel here: https://www.akersarchitecturalrendering.com/blog/2020/12/24/free-interactive-guide

Check out this video showing how I use importable grid templates and matching scale rulers to design “in scale” in Procreate: https://youtu.be/MUSV8qYV5mw

To choose your next playlist click here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ProcreateForArchitects

TO PURCHASE CURATED BRUSH SETS, GRID TEMPLATES & SCALES USED IN MY VIDEOS:

http://www.akersarchitecturalrendering.com/akers-architectural-rendering-youtube-procreate-brushset-grid-template-scale-rulers

DESCRIPTION:

Today we’re going to create this freehand floor plan as the first part of a 3-part series called design from plan to perspective. I’m going to show you a way to use procreate to create an accurate freehand design that can help you be more intuitive in the early phases of design while still delivering an accurate sketch that can then be easily built in Sketchup or Rhino.

TIME STAMPS

0:24 Why I don’t recommend starting concept-designing in Sketchup. Sketchup and Rhino are powerful programs but the same magic that allows your concept design to come together with such apparent finality may actually make you resistant to modifying the design

0:43 Why I begin design as freehand sketching: it guarantees my thinking remains loose and spontaneous. After all, concept design is the time to make your design as imaginative as possible.

1:18 A solid understanding of the concepts of scale and proportion is critical to becoming a great freehand designer, and in this video we’re going to work on developing those skills...

1:33 Sizing your canvas. For those of you drawing along with me, I’m creating a canvas that’s 5100 x 3300 pixels x 300 dpi because it will print at 11x17”, and it also works with the grid templates and scales you can buy on my website at the link in the description below.

1:45 Begin the design by drawing/estimating a square with #5-Flat Brush.

2:05 Use proportions to transform the square into a 24’ x 40’ rectangle.

2:38 Using Procreate’s drawing assist feature to add a grid to this room

3:24 “Blobbing-out” the design, I start to put furniture in there based on how big those pieces are.

3:36 I start with the dining room table for 10 people on this side, so the client can have big parties and lots of family over for Thanksgiving, and locate a 2-sided fireplace in this room about 2/3 of the way across so that I will have a 24 ft.² living room part of the barn and a 12 to 14 foot wide dining room side.

4:16 Refining the freehand “blob” design with a tighter-but-still-loose #1-Technical Pen overlay on a new layer

5:27 Adding some dimensions and checking my math with a #1-Technical Pen red line overlay on a new layer

6:07 Making the “final” freehand line drawing with a #1-Technical Pen overlay on a new layer

7:18 Adding tone with the #5-Flat Brush. Now that I have my plan, I add some quick tone to make the design more understandable to my client and/or team members.

8:15 Adding a dark boarder and white lettering to add the finishing touches

ABOUT ME

My name is James Akers and the name of my business is Akers Architectural Rendering. I'm a registered architect and full-time professional renderer, and my mission is to help architects, interior designers and students master their design and digital rendering skills in Procreate. You can find more design tutorials and inspiration for architects at the links below. 

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