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Which means that in the early stages of set and lighting design, developing your drafting and technical drawing skills as you sketch out your ideas can be a real godsend. It just takes a little precision and practice, which is best achieved by assembling and working with your basic assortment of drafting tools, including:

• T-square: You’ll use this as your primary straight-edge
• Lighting templates: These are inexpensive plastic templates with standard lighting shapes and cutouts, and will quickly become invaluable to any lighting designer

• Compass: This tool is invaluable for creating those perfect circles
• Protractor: You'll need one for finding the perfect angle
• Straight-edge: This is just what it sounds like, a straight edge for shorter lines or connections.
• Drafting paper: You can never have too much of this thin, delicate paper on hand for drafting or design.
• Pencils: Thin-lead mechanical pencils are best, and produce finer lines
• Erasers: Use a good quality vinyl drafting eraser, which will erase cleanly even on delicate drafting paper.
• Drafting tape: Drafting tape is surprisingly important -- it will anchor your drawing and help it to remain squared and stable. It also removes cleanly and leaves no residue.