North American School Of Drafting

Back in the middle 1970’s, I had already taken drafting courses through the Naval education extension services while serving in the U.S. Navy. But very much like many young men, after my enlistment, my wife and I were building a family. I didn’t have time to finish my education. There were mouths to feed, so I took what work I could find.

By the late 1980’s we already had four children and the job I was working at the time just couldn’t pay all the bills. I need a larger income. A friend of mine knew about my early education in drafting and suggested I try getting a  drafting job which paid more money than I was making at my present job as a wrecker driver.

One day I was looking at a Popular Mechanics magazine and noticed an article for study at a home drafting courses called the North American School of Drafting. It looked promising and I desperately needed a refresher course in drafting. The article told me that I could pay as I go through the courses, so I signed up.

Before long, my package arrived in the mail. It included a drafting board, triangles, compass, protractor, mechanical pencil, eraser, french curve, pencil lead sharpening board, eraser shield, and a mechanical scale. Also included were my first two or three lessons. After sitting down to the lessons and drawing what was required of me, every bit of what I had learned while in the Navy came back to me. Within a couple of months, I was drawing like a professional. I created several different types of drawings, and put together a portfolio and resume that landing me a good paying job at a local surveyors office. This office also had connections with a couple of architects that hired me to work on their drawings in my spare time.

The point is that weather you have had previous training or not, home study is a good thing. I’ve owned my own drafting service since 1990 and have hired quite a few draftsmen. I even trained many of them myself. The courses here (House Plan Drafting) are the result of my training those drafters over the years. I’ve also created many other courses, which I modeled after the North American School Of Drafting. It seems they’ve shut their doors and closed up shop, but they are most certainly not forgotten.