The basic drafting procedure is to place a piece of paper (or other material) on a smooth surface with right-angle corners and straight sides—typically a drawing board. A sliding straightedge known as a T-square is then placed on one of the sides, allowing it to be slid across the side of the table, and over the surface of the paper.
"Parallel lines" can be drawn simply by moving the T-square and running a pencil or technical pen along the T-square's edge, but more typically the T-square is used as a tool to hold other devices such as set squares or triangles. In this case the drafter places one or more triangles of known angles on the T-square—which is itself at right angles to the edge of the table—and can then draw lines at any chosen angle to others on the page. Modern drafting tables (which have by now largely been replaced by CAD workstations) come equipped with a drafting machine that is supported on both sides of the table to slide over a large piece of paper. Because it is secured on both sides, lines drawn along the edge are guaranteed to be parallel.
In addition, the drafter uses several tools to draw curves and circles. Primary among these are the compasses, used for drawing simple arcs and circles, and the French curve, typically a piece of plastic with complex curves on it. A spline is a rubber coated articulated metal that can be manually bent to most curves.
Drafting templates assist the drafter with creating recurring objects in a drawing without having to reproduce the object from scratch every time. This is especially useful when using common symbols; i.e. in the context of stagecraft, a lighting designer will typically draw from the USITT standard library of lighting fixture symbols to indicate the position of a common fixture across multiple positions. Templates are sold commercially by a number of vendors, usually customized to a specific task, but it is also not uncommon for a drafter to create their own templates.
This basic drafting system requires an accurate table and constant attention to the positioning of the tools. A common error is to allow the triangles to push the top of the T-square down slightly, thereby throwing off all angles. Even tasks as simple as drawing two angled lines meeting at a point require a number of moves of the T-square and triangles, and in general drafting can be a time consuming process.
A solution to these problems was the introduction of the mechanical "drafting machine", an application of the pantograph (sometimes referred to incorrectly as a "pentagraph" in these situations) which allowed the drafter to have an accurate right angle at any point on the page quite quickly. These machines often included the ability to change the angle, thereby removing the need for the triangles as well.
In addition to the mastery of the mechanics of drawing lines, arcs and circles (and text) onto a piece of paper—with respect to the detailing of physical objects—the drafting effort requires a thorough understanding of geometry, trigonometry and spatial comprehension, and in all cases demands precision and accuracy, and attention to detail of high order.
Although drafting is sometimes accomplished by a project engineer, architect—or even by shop personnel such as a machinist—skilled drafters (and/or designers) usually accomplish the task and are always in demand to some level.
