Interior Design Drawing – 5 Excellent Color Media Techniques

The drawing of plans, sections and elevations are a vital component of an Interior Designer’s strategy when dealing with a client. A good presentation with clear and precise measurements, details and color schemes can increase the success of a designer’s career.

Color and the overall look of a proposed interior means everything to the client who needs to see and understand what you are proposing to do and that their hard earned cash will not be squandered.

So what are the techniques and color media that all successful Interior Designers have used and are capable of producing when drawing up plans and sample boards?

Colored Pencils

Quick, clean and relatively easy to use, colored pencils are available in a wide variety of colors. Various ‘spotlight’ techniques are possible to employ where you highlight certain parts of the plan or section and as a result, avoid having to color the whole page.

Watercolor

This is probably the most common and indeed most effective medium used when adding color to a plan, section and especially a perspective drawing. Watercolors come in three types, these include tubes, small tablets and liquid form. The latter is particularly handy when you want your drawings to show very vivid color. Before you start with watercolor, it is vital that you learn the techniques when applying this medium to paper otherwise you can easy destroy a lot of previous hard work.

Watercolor Crayons

These are similar to colored pencils and can either be used in the same way or can be washed over with a wet brush to produce an effect similar to that of watercolor paints.

Marker Pens

This medium should be used sparingly otherwise your plan or section drawing can become over complicated and messy. Marker pens are the quickest and cleanest of the mentioned color mediums and produce vibrant results when used properly. They come in many different colors and sizes.

Pastels

Pastels take a little getting acquainted with but once mastered they are a ubiquitous medium that can be mixed with others. The texture of the paper must be considered as the final result will be affected depending on what you use. A type of clear tape can be used when shedding the soft pastel particles onto a part of the plan, which leaves a clean border between different areas. When the final drawing is completed, it will need to be fixed with a spray fixative.

Drawing plans, sections and elevations when designing an interior is an enjoyable part of the job and process. By getting the above color mediums mastered, your fulfillment of the craft will be massively increased. If you are considering a career in Interior Design or Architecture, then I seriously advise you to spend a lot of time practising these techniques.