What’s The Diff?

Cartoonists draw. Architects draw.

A cartoonist can draw a building. An architect can draw a building.

A cartoonist cares about what it looks like. An architect also cares about what it looks like.

A cartoonist doesn’t care about what is inside, if anything. An architect does.

A cartoonist doesn’t care about how long the building could last. An architect does.

A cartoonist doesn’t care that it only exists as a picture.

An architect knows that his drawings will result in the building coming into existence as a building and therefore designs it, omitting nothing whatsoever, unless errors were made and those must be rectified at some point.

Quality control can eliminate errors, if it is thorough.

Designing to build is far from the same as making cartoons.

The primary difference between the cartoonist and the architect is the intention. The vast amount of knowledge the architect has regarding design and construction materials and methods can (and has) filled hundreds of books.

The shed, above, looks like a cartoon and it is a cartoon drawing of a shed, which was designed and built with a hurricane-force resistant door, hurricane anchors, hurricane ties to the roof joists from the studs, and it had 5 inspections that all passed, as I built it.

Plans were checked and approved. I built it on my own with no help whatsoever. An architect who cannot build should build still build something, even if it is a simple shed in the backyard. The experience is a valuable teacher.