# Help?!



## Melzy (12 Nov 2011)

Hey!

can anyone please give me any links for publications to help me get the hang of the design side of making a piece of furniture? I want to design my pieces from scratch but i lack in that department!! I can do a quick scribble but i would really like to know techniques of how to draw what you see in your mind!!

Many Thanks

Mel!!


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## Lord Kitchener (14 Nov 2011)

Melzy":30gncdwq said:


> Hey!
> 
> can anyone please give me any links for publications to help me get the hang of the design side of making a piece of furniture? I want to design my pieces from scratch but i lack in that department!! I can do a quick scribble but i would really like to know techniques of how to draw what you see in your mind!!
> 
> ...



Download Google Sketchup (it's free) and do the tutorials (they are many on YouTube as well)

Then build your pieces in the computer, before building them for real.


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## SketchUp Guru (14 Nov 2011)

I think she's looking for books on design.

I think you could look at just about any books on design and architecture to get ideas. You might look specifically at The Woodworker's Guide to Furniture Design or Twentieth-Century Furniture Design by Klaus-Jürgen Sembach, Gilles Neret, Gabriele Leuthäuser, Peter Gössel or Classical European Furniture Design by José Claret Rubira. A Google search for _furniture design books_ will turn up a lot of results.

Then when you're ready to start designing your own, look at SketchUp as the tool.


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## Lord Kitchener (14 Nov 2011)

Dave R":ttx4unhj said:


> I think he's looking for books on design.




That's what I thought at first, but she does go on to say



Melzy":ttx4unhj said:


> I can do a quick scribble but i would really like to know techniques of how to draw what you see in your mind!!


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## SketchUp Guru (14 Nov 2011)

I missed that part.

So Mel, are you looking for information on how to do design or how to draw? They are different.


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## Jacob (14 Nov 2011)

Melzy":10l0g8ji said:


> Hey!
> 
> can anyone please give me any links for publications to help me get the hang of the design side of making a piece of furniture? I want to design my pieces from scratch but i lack in that department!! I can do a quick scribble but i would really like to know techniques of how to draw what you see in your mind!!
> 
> ...


The bad news is like so many things you just have to get stuck in and do it, and not be put off by your feeble early attempts. The good news is that it can only get better. 
It's worth looking at working drawings and sketches by artists, designers, sculptors - some of them can't draw for toffee but that didn't stop them producing the stuff. Leonardo is an exception, not typical at all!
Ideally you need a drawing board and to produce accurate full size drawings at the end of the process, but many designer/makers won't get far beyond sketches before they start making the thing.
Best source of info on furniture is furniture itself. Take notes, measurements and produce measured drawings, if you can get your hands on it.

I know people like Sketchup but I wouldn't go that way myself. Pencil and paper is hands on, as is making the stuff, and you can take measurements direct from drawings by laying on the components and marking directly.


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## Melzy (14 Nov 2011)

Thank you so much all of you for each of those inputs!! I really appreciate it all!! 
I am looking on how to design and draw really, {I guess the drawing skills would have to better,first!} i just wanted a few ideas and tips on where to start with it all but i think your right that i should just keep at it and it will get better!! I will definitely look up that google sketchup too!! I always make my pieces from what i see in my mind, but i really want to just put that all on paper! {so its understood too!!}

Mel!! {female!!}


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## SketchUp Guru (14 Nov 2011)

Mel, first my apologies for calling you "he". I had no idea.

Second, you may find that SketchUp makes it easier for you to get what's in your head down on paper. I do.


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## Melzy (14 Nov 2011)

Absolutely nooo need to apolagise silly!! Its quite funny!! a little strange to be called a 'he' but who's to know!! Thanks heaps for the advice! I shall check it out!!

Mel


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## condeesteso (14 Nov 2011)

If I may add... we're talking 3 dimensional design here, and I believe there is far more to be gained looking at great design rather than looking for great furniture (design). I mean architecture, interiors, product design, nature (shapes and forms like why does a tree look right when it should maybe look top-heavy... and why do we like things that tend to be weightier towards the base, like a tree?). Sketchup is very powerful, but bad in will make bad out.
I think a lot can be learned from really good product designers (Aldo Rossi...?) then use that influence to develop your own visual language in your own medium.
Or copy the good stuff, that works well too :lol:


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## Melzy (14 Nov 2011)

Very good point! Thanks Douglas!! What dod you mean by 'bad in will make bad out'??!

The research of product design is good advice!!

Mel


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## condeesteso (14 Nov 2011)

sorry Mel - I just meant that Sketchup won't help you design at all - as it cannot think, just does what you tell it. And if what you told it was not pretty... but it will let you look at the thing, if you can master it (I've not bothered yet)! For inspiration I still say look way beyond wood/furniture. The very best design is mainly elsewhere (IMHO of course).


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## SketchUp Guru (14 Nov 2011)

Douglas is being polite.  As with anything else computer related, it's garbage in, garbage out. His point about looking around at design is definitely good. There are a number of websites and blogs that follow design related topics. I look at a few of them from time to time to get inspiration. not everything out there is well designed but there's lots of variety.

SketchUp will make it easy to look at your idea from any direction so you can get a good idea of what it'll look like before you go to the shop.


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## Melzy (15 Nov 2011)

All of the above is very helpful to me! I agree that the sketchup won't help me design. I only think it may help me a little if i can't get a perspective on something...I am going to go straight back to the drawing board and and start sketching,as much as i can!! If i keep doing it, then i will soon get the hang of it!! I do think sketchup will be helpful at some point, but maybe not yet?!

Mel!!


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## Jacob (15 Nov 2011)

You don't really need perspective drawings for most purposes, unless you are doing "presentation" drawings for a client etc. This is a very different skill from basic drawing as necessary for design and making. But "projections" are useful.
Good site here but perhaps more info than you need.


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## JakeS (15 Nov 2011)

Jacob":3ql87g6f said:


> You don't really need perspective drawings for most purposes, unless you are doing "presentation" drawings for a client etcd.



Technically speaking you don't need perspective drawings - they won't help in the process of making something - but I doubt I'm the only one who finds it useful to see something in perspective to get a better idea of how it will look when it's finished. Orthogonal projections are useful for the workshop, but they don't necessarily give you such a good idea of how something will look when it's sitting in your hall, how proportional sizes look, etc.

One thing I like Sketchup for is that from a minimum of measuring you can fairly quickly rough out the room and other furniture as well, and then get a perspective view of how the thing you're designing is going to look in situ. I'm sure that if I were better at design and/or more experienced, I wouldn't find it so useful... but I'm not, so I do. ;-)

(I guess this is really quite similar to the notion of doing a client presentation, since the whole point there is that the client isn't going to understand sufficiently from the ortho plans.)


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## SketchUp Guru (15 Nov 2011)

No, you don't need perspective drawings for your own use but they can come in handy. They certainly make it easier to communicate with clients whoever they might be. Putting a model in context can be very powerful because it gives scale to the piece.

While it is certainly good to be able to draw out your projects on paper in the traditional way, there are a lot of benefits to drawing a 3D model. Elevation drawing on paper can have conflicts that are difficult to identify. I have drawings for a house from an architect that are a perfect example of that. The roof in the front elevation is different than the one in the side elevation. Both elevations look fine but once i drew it in 3D in SketchUp, I discovered the roof would be impossible to build to match both elevations.

Also, drawing out the model in something like SketchUp allows you to create both perspective views for the client and ortho/2D views for yourself from the same model. And you can make exploded and detail views as needed as well as full size templates without having to rredraw everything. This will help to reduce errors and save time.


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## Melzy (15 Nov 2011)

Thanks Jake and Dave!! You are both very helpful! i love it!!

Mel


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