MY HAND-DRAWN GARDEN DESIGN PROCESS
Figuring out and fine-tuning my design process was probably the most difficult part of starting this business. My process this past year was completely analog and hand-drawn. In order to make a few efficiencies for this upcoming year, I’m transitioning a few steps in my process to digital solutions. However, before I make that jump I wanted to put my analog system out there in case it helps any other new designers!
Site Measurements & Base Plan
After the site visit, I take measurements and record those using a pen and graph paper. This is then drawn to-scale as a base map on bond paper - usually on 11x17, but sometimes on 18x24 depending on the size of the yard and what scale I want to use. I do my best to center the base map on the paper and leave room for my title block & plant labels. During this step, I’m constantly referring to photos I took at the site visit to make sure I’m capturing any additional details as well.
Concepts and Drafts
I do my first round of conceptual designs in pencil on trace paper over the base map. This is the longest part of the process and can go through many iterations. At this point, all of my plants are just circles. I’ll refine them into their appropriate graphics in the next step. I’ve found it really helpful and speedy to keep the number of symbols I use to a minimum - perennials are small circles, shrubs are little cloud-shaped circles, trees are large circles, and evergreens are spiky circles. This allows me to distinguish easily between everything when going over the plan with clients and allows me to quickly complete my graphics.
Once that is in a good place, I finalize the design in pen on vellum over the trace paper. This includes all plant symbols, labels, drawing details, etc. I like using a light board at this stage because really helps to see through the layers of trace & vellum. The pens I use are these fineliners (Microns work too - although mine wouldn’t perform well on vellum for some reason) and I use old sketching pencils I have on hand. The final vellum draft is then copied onto bond paper for rendering.
Rendering the Final Plan
Most, if not all, of my linework is done on the final copied draft from the last step, so all that’s left to do is render! I use Copic Sketch markers for all of my renderings. I like these because while they are a bit more expensive upfront, you can refill them (which is very helpful for your go-to grass, mulch, and hardscaping colors). I also finish my title block at this stage and put on a sticker that has my company logo. Finally, I head to the printer to get this copied in color.
A few other notes about my hand-drawing process:
Overall, my plans usually have 4 “layers” to the sandwich: base plan, trace, vellum, and the final plan on bond.
I make copies twice - first, the vellum is copied so I can render on bond, and then the final rendered plan is copied for my clients. I make my copies at FedEx Office or a local print shop (the local print shop definitely produces better quality copies).
Most of my supplies are from Blick or Amazon.
I do like using 11x17 paper for its portability but finding folders, portfolios, etc. for this size of paper is annoyingly difficult.
I enjoy using a pen set (like the one linked above) that offers a wide range of pen thicknesses so I can easily change line weights.
I don’t know exactly what will be digitized in my process for 2023 (there are so many options) but I want to keep my final plans hand-drawn. So, this could mean using Photoshop/Illustrator for title blocks, labels, etc., or using a CAD program for the base map. Hopefully, I can update you all again once I have it figured out!