Hand Drawing My Client's Design Projects

I recently read some different designers opinions on hand-drawing client's designs as opposed to using a computer drawing program.  To my surprise the general opinion was that hand drawing still has an important place in the design studio, even with all the drawing programs available.  I have been doing all my drawings by hand since the inception of my business, in 1968.  I draw by hand because of the amount of detail and information I feel I need to include in a drawing.  Not that I feel CAD or other drawing programs don't have a place in the design studio.  Architectural engineering and room layouts are perfect examples of when those computer drawing programs apply.  

But once you get into hand-carving wood and designing art glass, incorporating curves in your work, and adding free-form designs, hand drawing gives me the freedom to rough in ideas, see how they work, and then refine the lines.  Drawings done by hand also have a more personal feeling, an artistry, compared to most computer drawing programs that seem almost lifeless to me.

I would like to find a program I can use to draw and change at will my many design styles, not keeping me in a box of that program's functions, but giving me the freedom to use my computer as I would my paper and pencil.  Until I find that drawing program, I will continue to do all my drawings by hand.

Below are a few examples of some of my drawings, along with their finished projects.  

Here is a drawing of an entry door with side lites.  The carving is an Indian with a dog.

Here is the finished door pictured in the drawing above.  The Indian and the dog are hand-carved in solid wood, and the glass has carved clouds in it. This was a contemporary Southwest entryway I did for a couple.  The wife loved the look of the Southwest, the husband loved modern clean lines.  This door was a combination of both of their styles and I think it turned out beautifully. 

Drawing for a solid-wood hand-carved olive tree entryway, with art glass side lite.

This is the finished door, hand-carved solid African mahogany.  The branch of the olive tree is the door handle.  I would never have the artistic freedom shown here with a computer drawing program!

Some variations for the client to choose from for their entry and bedroom doors.

The client chose "door number 2" in the picture above for their entryway.  The wood I used here is solid cherry.  The design is a hand-carved cherry tree with hand-painted and kiln-fired art glass cherry blossoms.

This is a drawing, and concept, for a solid-wood, hand-carved fireplace mantle along with a hand-forged iron fireplace screen. 

This is the finished mantle and screen.  The mantle is made of solid walnut.  If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen this mantel posted already.  I usually stay very close to my original design, but as you can see, I added a lot more carving and refinement to this mantel.  Another example of an impossible art piece to create from a computer program!  

This is a hand-forged iron chandelier I designed for a client with very high living room ceilings.  It's massive!

  

This picture of the chandelier does not show the scale well - if you look back at the drawing above you can see it is seven feet tall and five feet wide.  A beautiful addition to those high ceilings.

A design I drew for the heavily carved solid wood gates you can see in the picture below. 

These are the completed gates, hand-carved in solid cherry.  Can you see the two birds?  I enjoy incorporating nature in my designs.

Here is a tropical design I drew for a client's bathroom door.  

This is the finished bathroom door, made of solid jatoba wood.  It's carved in filigree to allow ventilation in the room.  I designed and made the bathroom cabinetry as well.  The wood I used on the cabinets is granadillo. 

I literally have hundreds of drawings that I have done for clients over the last 40 years.  I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my drawings and their finished projects.  As you can see, I have complete artistic freedom with my pencil.  One of these days I hope to organize my drawings a little better!  For now, they are safely stashed in mailing tubes or folded in with the client files.  Maybe I will write a book someday, to chronicle my years of drawings by hand, the only way I know how to creatively and artistically convey the images in my head into fantastic finished designs for your home. 

Dolphin Doors

Here in Southern California, dolphins are a popular design element.  Many of my clients live along the ocean, so that adding carved dolphins to their entryways or outdoor gates is the perfect tie-in to their coastal home and lifestyle.  In fact, when I was younger, I used to go bodysurfing and sometimes would end up swimming with the dolphins on my way in.  It was exhilarating!

I have carved many dolphin doors and gates in the last 40 years, utilizing many different styles, from classic to stylized.  But I always try to keep true to form, making sure the dolphins I carve are life-like, and have the essence of living dolphins.  

These dolphins are true-to-size, and are on both sides of the glass, making them appear very lifelike.

I took this door down by the ocean to get this photograph.

This entryway is a very classic style.  The dolphins looks almost regal!

 This is a close up of the above entryway.  The handles are carved seashells.

The dolphins in this entryway are "swimming" in a leaded and textured art glass design that I made.

Here is another example of dolphins "swimming" in the entryway.  I created the art glass to have a splashing effect to flow with the carved ocean water in the woodwork.  This was a very fun design to create as it captures the playful feeling one thinks of when they think of dolphins.

Another classic design.  These doors are massive arches, with arched glass sidelights to enhance them.

Full-scale, life-size dolphins, "swimming" as a group.

Dolphins are playful, and somewhat magical, living creatures.  They always seem to have a smile on their face, a twinkle in their eye, and the curiosity of a child.  While many different styles of dolphins can be incorporated into my entryway designs, there is one thing they all have in common, and that is their playful zest for life.  

Hand-carved Mantel with Hand-forged Fireplace Screen

The clients I built this hand-carved solid walnut mantel for wanted a very free-form, sculptural design, a centerpiece for their living room invoking nature, the forest.  As with all projects, I hand select all the wood for color, grain, and qualty for carving.  After the client approves the scale drawing, I enlarge the drawing to full scale, making any design adjustments that didn't show on the scale drawing.  The construction details and techniques are also planned during this stage.  I do all my drawings by hand, because as you can see, you would never get this elaborate or creative design from a CAD system.  

The mantel is constructed paying close attention to matching the grain.  Then the real fun begins.  First I rougly shape the piece, and then step by step refine the details until I am happy with everything.  Then I start sanding, to refine the carving, smoothing it out so that it feels almost fluid to the touch.

The clients also wanted a non-toxic finish so I used a hand-rubbed oil finish.  It really brought out the beauty of the wood.

The full scale drawing of the iron work was done at the same time as the carved mantel, but the pattern needed to be transferred to a piece of plywood because I am working with red-hot iron.  As the pieces are completed they need to be fit and matched to the pattern, and a paper pattern would burn from the heat.  You can see the scorched wood on my patten in the video below.  Here I am forging the leaves.

Each piece is forged and fit together.  Finally, I forge the hinges formaing branches and leaves to functions as the hinges. 

Beautiful art for your home, which I call Architectural Art, adds so much to the ambiance of your surroundings.  

Curves, continued

This Italian-style door is hand-carved with an arched top and a radius face to fit a curved wall.  It's made of figured walnut, has a 3-1/2" frame, and raised mouldings, dust rails and carved details.  I am also bending and texturing 1/2" glass for the upper panels.  The door rails are laminate bent, the mouldings are steam bent and the top arch is combined laminate and sawn curves, forming a compound curve.  It is a technically challenging entry door, as I used all the different bending techniques, which in turn makes it an extremely beautiful door.  It will be installed in a Palm Desert custom home.

Steamed moldings being bent to the door with clamps.

Curved Entry

Curved Entry

Curved Entry

Glass that has been textured and curved in my kiln

Hand-forged Iron

These are hand-forged ring pulls I made for a pair of distressed doors I am making.  The doors will have a dark glaze finish applied to them.  

I forge the ring pulls by taking a 3/4" diameter iron rod and heating it in my forge until it is red hot.  I then hand hammer, on an anvil, a taper about 6" long on each end and taper that to 3/8" diameter.  I heat the rod again and hammer the tapered iron into a circle.

The ring pulls and clavos will be installed in the center of each of the three concentric diamonds on both sides of both doors. 

Hand-forged Ring Pulls