Drawing Shortcuts: Developing Quick Drawing Skills Using Today's Technology

Jim Leggitt?s Drawing Shortcuts shows how communicating with hand drawings combined with digital technology can be ingeniously simple, and this new edition makes an already popular technique even better. Completely expanded with new chapters and a wealth of supporting images, this Second Edition presents practical techniques for improving drawing efficiency and effectiveness by combining traditional hand drawing methods with the latest digital technology, including 3-D modeling with SketchUp. This book?s step-by-step approach will sharpen and streamline your techniques whether you draw for pleasure, school or your design profession.

• Easy-to-follow instructions cover every aspect from the basics of drawing?such as composition, color, shading, hatching, and perspective?up to the most current technologies
• Incorporates Google SketchUp, Google Earth, computer generated renderings, digital scanners and printers
• Features new visuals from accomplished drawing experts
• Special new ?Gallery? section highlights the creative process with step-by-step examples of drawings
• Complete coverage of the ?Overlay and Trace Method,? ?Simple Composite Method,? ?Advanced Composite Method,? and ?Digital Hybrid Drawings?
• New matrices show alternative drawing techniques for specific visual effects such as Linework and Shading, Selecting the Right Views, Perspectives and Paraline Drawings, Drawing Detail, Camera Lenses, and Drawing Tools

Thirty-one students (two classes) proved to me this summer that Drawing Shortcuts works for learning how to make and render drawings in color quickly, effectively and relatively economically. The final projects reflect ten weeks of increasingly stronger skills and confidence in drawing/rendering abilities. Both graduate and undergraduate students with varied levels of computer expertise found value in the Drawing Shortcuts approach of "Let Technology Do Your Dirty Work".

Bottom line: a relaxed learning atmosphere in studio, fearless renderers willing to experiment with color media and striking final projects. The studio professors are commenting on the improvement in rendered drawings in their classes, too. Leggitt's methods are weaning students from a dependence on computer-generated images. The enhanced freehand drawing skills complement the computer drawing skills. Students now have many options for graphic expression which reflect their individual needs and desires.

I teach rendering classes for interior design students in the School of Building Arts at SCAD. We'll be using this book every quarter. Thanks, Jim Leggitt. But think about the chocolates with the second edition of the book!


Every Architect and Student Must Have This Book !   April 5, 2002
R. E. Middlebrooks (Chesapeake, VA USA)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

This book is an instant classic, that every architect and architectural student must get. Many of us grew up using the techniques taught by Michael Doyle in his book "Color Drawing". Jim Leggitt's techniques are even more geared toward the pace of productivity we all face. Using all the advantages of current technologies, including cameras, copiers, and printers he shows you exactly how to improve or gain the skills it takes to produce fast and effective visualizations. Some of the techniques are so insightful and helpful, as to immediately payback the cost of the book. Great color photographs help guide you step by step. This book is packed full. No one interested in drawing technigues should miss this book.


Great Book   November 24, 2002
24 out of 25 found this review helpful

I am an architecture student. The content of this book isn't by any means revolutionary, but it is smart. Basically the whole argument revolves around tracing as a basis for developing drawings, a concept I kind of thought of as cheating before reading this book. That sounds simple enough, but it is worth buying the book to find out all of the interesting ways he is able to develop a traced framework - ways I would never have thought of. He could have gotten everything he wanted to get across in half the pages, but then the book wouldn't look very serious.
Buy this book: the quality of your drawings may or may not increase from reading it, but you'll be able to produce twice as many in the same time.


This book rocks!   April 9, 2002
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

Packed with step-by-step instructions for creating drawings more efficiently and effectively. Every technique is illustrated, every tip explained and every chapter summed up in a series of "Quick Tips". I'll be using this book frequently, especially when deadlines are looming.


Drawing Shortcuts   April 4, 2008
Richard L. Gardner (N'awlins)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Every once in awhile, a life changing book comes along. I've been creating Architectural Illustrations for over 40 years using airbrush, water color and pen and ink. I've never felt comfortable doing quick sketches. Jim's book clearly delineates the tools and techniques needed to produce drawings fast and on-site. Living in New Orleans, I'm involved in a lot of post Katrina planning and development. These new skills are an invaluable asset for my continued survival.

Richard L. Gardner, New Orleans, LA