Ziska Childs scenic drafting

That is not a popular belief. At best drafting is perceived as a necessary evil-a type of drudge work. Designers dream of the day that they can afford an assistant who will take that heavy burden off their shoulders. At worst it is a document for project managers, comptrollers, and shop foremen to wave at each other in shouting matches during which the ragged little blueprint devolves into a magnet for contentiousness and blame. Even more disturbing is the opinion that a drafting is a carving in stone that should be blindly memorized and repeated like multiplication tables. This mind set makes the word "discuss" on a drafting synonymous with the word "disclaimer".

Drafting is actually none of these things. It is an invitation to join in the realization of an idea. Just as writing allows you to visualize emotions, ideas, and far away places drafting gives an idea a form which transcends language. If it's a good enough picture it should make your mouth water.

Drafting points the way. The more I draft the more I look at projects as a form of cartography. I want to travel from point A to point B how will I get there and what will I meet on the journey? Will there be mountains or deserts? Do I have to carry my own food and water? Will I travel by land or by sea? Will I travel into uncharted depths? What is at the end of the journey? A good drafting should answer these questions at first glance.

In the Entertainment Industry point "A" is a blank piece of paper or an empty computer screen with words from the script dancing in your head. Point "B" is a lot of 3 dimensional scenery in place on time with the cameras rolling, the audience streaming in, or the curtain going up....

How does a drafting do that?

Hanging in my stairwell is an engraved map of the city of Paris circa 1654.It is a beautiful map. It is also beautifully informative. It is a birds eye "military" view of the town made by the King's cartographer as a presentation piece to the mayor and merchants of Paris. It shows every building, hill, and canal with the large swath of the river Siene cutting a diagonal line through the center of the square map. There are coats of arms on either side of the map for the King, the Queen at the top of each column, the mayor, the president of the merchants guild, the "Procurer du Roy" on left side and royalty on the right. The gently sloping view allows you to see 3 dimensional buildings so easily you can find your street and your building by following the same route you would travel on foot.

Draft as well as this 17th century engraver did and you will do well.

What makes the 17th century plan so far superior to what we see on sites today and how do we emulate it?

Clarity. The map is crystal clear. This is because of line weight (thickness), character of line (straight or wavy), and the sureness of the hand (accuracy). There are no "shadows" behind the buildings-perhaps a couple of quick lines under trees to denote ground-there is no tint or watercolor wash it is engraving pure and simple. It is only the thickness of the line and how close it is to the next line which gives the illusion of a shadow or 3 dimensions. (*see footnote)

Beauty. The map is beautiful. The ornate escutcheons on either side border the piece and give it authority in both a literal and a figurative sense. The choice of orienting south on the diagonal at the top right corner of the map makes the Siene a left to right artery of negative space against the detail of the city on either bank. . There is enough countryside shown beyond the fortifications to give "air" between the heraldic border and the core of information in the center.

Information. Everything on the map has a purpose and it's importance is equal to it's visual weight. The birds eye axonometric view allows you to feel like you could "walkthrough" the town. (In fact everyone I've seen use the map traces the streets with their finger) The heraldic border tells you who's important and who you need to know in the town. The words "La Riviere de Siene" are the boldest letters on the map and the river is surely the most important thing about the city. Your eye travels down the river following the direction of the current and goes immediately to the Ile de la Cite (it is the governmental and religious heart of the city without this island there would never have been a Lutetia or a city of Paris).

Density. It gives information on more than one level. At first glance you see a city centered around an island in a river, at second glance you see important church and government buildings, at the next perusal you see individual streets, levees, canals, and buildings-then farms and fields and where black canon powder was made beyond the city walls. You have a visual representation of the political /social structure of the town; the names of the primary edifices and landmarks nested in the objects themselves; and all in a drawing so accurate that even today, almost 350 years later, you could actually use it to find the fishmonger in the de Siene market.

Ease. Everything may not be where you expect it but everything is easily found.Your eye naturally finds a resting spot at the map scale and compass heading in the upper right corner. Title ,plate number, and dedications are at the top of the page. A simple "Paris en 1654" is at the center bottom of the page.

A document which embodies clarity, beauty, information, density (backstory for you hollywood types), and ease of use. Now doesn't sound easy?

That is why it is the "art" of drafting.

Ziska Childs

*For all of you that say CAD has no "hand" and no character look at scientific illustrations from the 19th century, I once saw a drawing of a dinosaur bone in ink so breathtakingly honest that I could actually imagine the feel of the smooth fossil in my hand. The reason that CAD has no "hand" is because we want it to be as fast and easy to use as pencil. We want the same sensuous connection between pencil and paper. Think how long it took to etch each line-to choose the line weight-to choose the frequency of line-to choose the character of the line. These are all choices we have in CAD. Your reward is not in the immediate gratification of graphite gliding over vellum it is delayed reward of an idea perfectly translated. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes and eye. It takes thought.