There are two types of people in the world, those that like drafting and those that are sane. I certainly don't fall into the former category, so I'm putting away my 4H for a while and taking a break. Mainly because I just spilled coffee all over my assignment (I'm seriously beginning to think all liquid should come in tippy cups). Drafting, derived from the Latin words draftificus ridiculous, literally translates to mean that which gives people headaches and bad eyesight. All right, maybe I'm lying , but it definitely feels that way sometimes. Drafting is a test of patience, and they say that's a virtue, right? So by that train of logic, drafting itself is a virtue.
Despite being horrible at it, drafting is a skill I need to learn to survive in this field. After all, theatre is about communication, and that's what drafting is for. Drafting allows you to communicate even the most abstract designs in the most concrete of ways; it nicely puts everything into context. It tells you what shape things are, what size it is, what details its surface might have. As the drafter it is your job to tell the object or set's immediate story. If you don't convey exactly what you want, you're not going to get anything - and I suppose that holds true for most things in life. It's simple, it all boils down to the fact that if the designer can't communicate with the carpenter, the set won't be built.
You can't build something you don't have plans for. And plans are important in life. According to the professionals the key to success is having a good blueprint. It's the foundation to the building process; the calculated details of how everything is supposed to fit together. Unfortunately, life itself doesn't come with a blueprint, so we have to draft our own. I've never been one for making a five year plan or anything like that, I usually like to fly by the seat of my pants and trust that what I've learned will kick in and save me when the going gets rough. But as I get older, I'm realizing that might not be the best idea. I should at least doodle some semblance of a plan. At this stage of my life I don't need all the details - I don't need to know what all the exact measurements are, the lettering doesn't have to be 3/16 of an inch, hell, I don't even need to what the big picture is. I just need to know what direction is up, and that I have the skills to map out the rest. There's no point in sweating the small stuff. Smudges happen, plans get misplaced, delayed, destroyed. As long as I have the basics down, it'll all get easier eventually. And it's even okay to colour outside of the lines - as long as it's not real drafting homework.
