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THE MIDDLE PATH BETWEEN HAND DRAWING & DIGITAL DESIGN

 

Every designer knows it: show a computer rendering too soon and you lose the room.


In this five-week live workshop, you’ll reclaim the benefits of hand drawing lost when CAD took over — through a layered process I call the Middle Path. You’ll learn to combine the spontaneity and warmth of iPad sketching techniques anyone can master with the precision of CAD-based plans and 3D models. The result is a hybrid workflow that keeps design options open longer, keeps clients engaged to the end, and ensures you never lose a job again by being too literal, too soon.

That’s the Middle Path — the best of both worlds, brought back to life.

Five-Week Live Training

Next Cohort Begins Wednesday, November 19
(Enrollment Closes Sunday Night, November 16

Join the Workshop

See The Middle Path in Action

Before you scroll, take a few minutes to watch this short video.

It’s the original introduction to the Live Draw-Along Workshop — the starting point for what I now call the Middle Path between hand drawing and digital design.

What is the Middle Path?

It’s the solution to a problem no one talks about: computer renderings often lock a design in too soon — they look finished before the ideas are. The Middle Path keeps that door open, blending the warmth, ambiguity, and emotional pull of hand drawing with the precision and efficiency of digital tools. It helps clients stay engaged — and helps you stay in control of the design story.

 

Next Cohort Begins Wednesday, November 19
(Enrollment Closes Sunday Night, November 16)

$997 USD or 12 monthly payments of $97
"Try Week One Free" Guarantee

Join the Workshop Now


Wouldn’t You Love It If…

…your sketches looked fresh and alive again — like ideas still taking shape, not polished renderings that shut down discussion?

…you could open your iPad, drop in a photo, plan, or model, and instantly start exploring new directions — fast, fluid, and fear-free?

…you could show clients drawings that feel handmade and human, yet rest on the precision of your digital underlays — so they trust both your process and your vision?

That’s the Middle Path — the balance between digital polish and hand-drawn warmth.

It’s how modern architects and designers reclaim creativity, keep clients engaged, and bring joy back to the act of drawing.

The iPad just happens to be the most natural sketchbook we’ve ever had — one that finally lets hand and digital drawing meet on equal terms.

 

What’s Holding You Back?

If you’re like most architects and designers we’ve heard from, here’s what might be getting in your way:

Maybe you’ve opened Procreate or Morpholio Trace, drawn a few lines, and thought, “This should feel natural… so why doesn’t it?”

Or maybe you’ve watched others sketch beautifully on their iPads and wondered, “What are they doing that I’m not?”

Most architects have never had a guide to help them make the leap from analog to digital drawing. This workshop changes that.

You already know how to think with a pencil — but the iPad feels different. Set it up like your favorite pencil drawer and it just works.

Meet Your Instructor: James Akers, Architect

For decades, architects were told that the future belonged to software -- that hand drawing was too slow, too subjective, too human to survive. James Akers lived through that shift. He built a thriving rendering practice serving top New York design firms, helping them sell bold ideas to skeptical clients through the emotional power of drawing.

Then came the digital wave -- faster, cleaner, cheaper -- but also strangely colder.

The Future Needed a Human Hand.

James began noticing a new kind of failure: presentations that were technically flawless but emotionally inert. Clients would fixate on details instead of ideas, asking literal questions because the renderings looked finished even when they weren’t. The warmth and ambiguity that once invited conversation had vanished.

That’s when James began experimenting with the iPad -- not as a gadget, but as a bridge. He discovered that Procreate, used with architectural intention, could merge the intuition of hand sketching with the efficiency of digital production.

The "Middle Path": Warm Sketches, Cool Precision.

What emerged was something entirely new: a workflow where drawings could be loose yet accurate, suggestive yet grounded, expressive yet buildable. This became the foundation of what he now calls the Middle Path -- the new language of digital hand drawing.

Today James teaches this language to architects, interior designers, and students around the world through his iPad for Architects courses and workshops. His YouTube videos and self-guided courses have helped thousands of architects and designers relearn what drawing can do — not just as a skill, but as a way of thinking.

Join him, and you’ll be learning from someone who has lived through both the extinction and the rebirth of drawing — and who knows exactly how to guide you back to its creative center.


“I started using the rendering tactics from your Procreate course, and they’ve completely changed my workflow. What used to take days now takes a few focused hours — and clients actually prefer the hand-drawn look. They say it feels more creative and collaborative. You weren’t kidding when you said this stuff could change your life. It’s faster, warmer, and far more engaging than the cold precision of my old computer renderings. Thank you for helping me rediscover why I love this craft.”

Sven Johnson, Set Designer, Associate Professor of 3D Visualization, F.I.T.


That’s Why I Created the Live Draw-Along Workshop

  • To help architects and designers who already know how to draw finally feel at home doing it on the iPad.

  • This isn’t another course. It’s a five-week, draw-along experience where you reconnect the instincts of hand sketching with the clarity of digital tools.

  • Each week, we meet live for guided sessions that blend instruction with quiet moments of practice — so you learn by doing, not just watching.
     

  • Saturday office hours give you time to share progress, ask questions, and stay accountable without pressure.

  • You’ll join a small, supportive circle of peers — architects, educators, and designers — each rediscovering what it feels like to draw freely again.

  • Over five weeks, you’ll learn the same workflows I use in practice: how to sketch, render, and communicate ideas that feel handmade yet rest on digital precision.

  • This isn’t about mastering every app. It’s about mastering your confidence — using the iPad as an extension of the hand and mind that have always guided your design.

You’ll Learn How To

  • Work fluently on your iPad — designing, sketching, and rendering with the ease of traditional hand drawing, but the precision and speed of digital tools.

  • Draw to scale with templates, rulers, and brushes made for architects and designers who value both clarity and craft.

  • Blend analog warmth with digital efficiency to create sketches that feel handmade yet flow seamlessly into modern workflows.

  • Produce plans, sections, elevations, and perspectives on a single device — often in one sitting — using a process that feels natural, focused, and fast.

  • Use Procreate as your professional design instrument — lightweight, flexible, and mobile — so you can work anywhere without being tethered to a desk.

  • Present your ideas through drawings that invite conversation, keeping the process collaborative, open, and emotionally engaging.

Most courses teach tools. This workshop teaches flow.
 

Instead of isolated tricks or short tutorials, the Live Draw-Along Workshop shows you how iPad drawing fits into the full rhythm of design — from the first sketch to client presentation.

You’ll learn how to use your drawings to think, communicate, and move projects forward — bringing warmth, clarity, and confidence back into your process.


I’m a very recent ex-Disney Imagineer (Senior concept designer/ Art Director) and I want to grow my skills doing exactly what you're doing for vacation resorts and such. Love your videos because I’m using and learning the same tools. Thank you for these tutorials!!!

Mark Page Design Art Tutorials.

This isn’t another iPad course. It’s a new way to work.

Most online tutorials drop you into a sea of tools and leave you to figure it out alone. University courses take months you don’t have.
This workshop is different — it’s designed for working architects and designers who want results they can use the next morning on real projects.

Every tool and technique connects directly to daily practice — sketching, rendering, and presenting ideas with clarity and confidence.
It’s not about theory or shortcuts. It’s about building a professional workflow that’s fast, repeatable, and genuinely your own.

How Is the Live Draw-Along Workshop Different? 


It’s built for architects and designers who’ve already tried to teach themselves iPad drawing —

through scattered videos, half-finished courses, or tutorials that never quite connect to real design work.

This workshop replaces that frustration with a clear, guided path.

It’s live and time-bound, so you actually finish.
It’s structured and paced, so you always know what to do next.
It’s architect-led, with every lesson grounded in real design tasks — not art-class exercises.
And it’s supported by a small community that keeps you engaged, accountable, and inspired.

Each session moves you one step closer to fluency — drawing for real projects, using tools you’ll keep, and developing skills that instantly fit into your daily workflow.


“I used to think the iPad was just another gizmo. Then I tried it — and within 24 hours, I was hooked. Two weeks later, I upgraded, and I haven’t looked back. James’s courses were the missing link. They showed me how to use the iPad not as a toy, but as a bridge — a way to draw again with the freedom I’d lost to CAD.

The first paying sketch took an hour and a half. The revision took seven minutes. The client responded in five — and was thrilled.

I’ve worked on computers my entire career, but this is the first time the technology feels like it’s working for me, not against me.”

Kathleen Kinan, Architect, Buffalo, NY.

Join the Next Live Draw-Along Workshop

A five-week experience for architects and designers ready to master the Middle Path — combining the imagination of hand drawing with the precision of digital tools to keep ideas fluid and clients engaged.

 

$997 USD

or 12 monthly payments of $97

INCLUDES:

  • 5 live weekday workshops (draw-along sessions)
  • 5 Saturday Office Hours (for feedback + Q&A)
  • Lifetime access to all session replays
  • Unlimited auditing privileges for future cohorts
  • Full access to the complete iPad for Architects course library
  • All drawing templates, brushes, rulers, and Procreate tools used in class
  • “Try Week One Free” Guarantee — cancel before Week Two for a full refund

Learn on Wednesday. Put it to work on Thursday. Bill real hours by Friday.

Buy Now

Where the Middle Path Can Take You

Real stories from real projects that show how blending hand-drawn warmth with digital precision can reshape your workflow, rebuild your confidence, and re-engage your clients.

Residential Design Impact — Real-World Example

What it looks like to draw to scale and explore design options quickly.
THE CHALLENGE:

A homeowner came to me with a rough sketch they’d pieced together after wrestling with online floor-plan tools. They had a clear sense of what they wanted—just not a way to organize it.

THE APPROACH:

I imported their drawing into Procreate, sliced it into parts, and quickly generated seven distinct, buildable schemes. Seeing the options side by side helped them recognize, almost instantly, the one that felt right.

THE RESULT:

Because the diagram was drawn to scale, we could move directly into SketchUp—producing accurate plans, 3D massing, and elevations that showed the client the design wasn’t just possible—it was real.

HOW THE MIDDLE PATH PAYS OFF:

Once you learn to move comfortably between sketch, scale, and model, you stop treating them as separate steps. Design becomes a single, fluid act—fast enough to keep ideas alive, precise enough to make them real. That’s how the Middle Path pays off: by restoring speed, confidence, and creative control to the way you work.

Nick Hotel — Real-World Example

What it means to bring color, energy, and story into your concept sketches.
THE CHALLENGE:

My client was asked to bring the Nickelodeon brand to life inside an already-designed hotel. The existing building was completely generic — no color, no energy, none of that signature Nick magic.

THE APPROACH:

I developed immersive lobby and public-space concepts directly on the iPad, using bold color, perspective sketching, and real-time collaboration with the client. Together we layered in familiar Nickelodeon icons — the blimp, the slime, the splat — while keeping the overall environment grounded in warmth, clarity, and adult comfort.

THE RESULT:

The sketches secured client approval and moved the project into full development. What began as a generic hotel evolved into a memorable brand experience — playful for kids, functional for parents, and unmistakably Nickelodeon.

HOW THE MIDDLE PATH PAYS OFF:

When you can draw at scale with clarity and confidence, your presentations gain both emotional and visual power. You can turn abstract ideas into imagery that feels real — merging hand rendering with storytelling, branding, and lighting studies, all with just enough polish to move complex projects forward. That’s how the Middle Path bridges creativity and clarity — and helps big ideas stay alive long enough to be built.

Real-world example 3. New Urban Design

What happens when you sketch fast enough to lead the conversation
THE CHALLENGE:

A major Middle Eastern client was developing a world-class theme park and needed rapid concepts for a next-generation queue experience. They didn’t want turnstiles and waiting areas — they wanted immersion, anticipation, and delight. And they wanted it fast.

THE APPROACH:

Collaborating with a large LA-based firm, I used my iPad and hybrid rendering techniques to produce more than thirty design ideas in under two weeks. Each drawing balanced clarity, movement, and color — communicating function, form, and atmosphere without locking the concept into rigid early decisions.

THE RESULT:

The drawings gave the client exactly what they needed — a clear sense of vision and excitement without slowing the timeline. Several concepts were selected for presentation to senior leadership, helping move the entire design package forward.

HOW THE MIDDLE PATH PAYS OFF:

When you can visualize complex ideas with speed and clarity, high-stakes clients take notice. These techniques build trust early in the process by revealing what’s possible without locking the design in too soon. You gain the confidence to communicate under pressure — with warmth, precision, and imagination working together.

What You’ll Learn Inside the Live Draw-Along Workshop

 

You already know how to draw like an architect — that part of you never left. This workshop helps you bring it forward again, faster and clearer, on the iPad.

It’s not about learning software. It’s about recovering fluency — the ability to think, design, and communicate through drawing the way you always have, only now with the flexibility and speed of digital tools.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Reconnect hand and mind. Use Procreate as an extension of the way you already think — translating the muscle memory of pencil and trace into a digital workspace that feels familiar, natural, and precise.

  • Blend warmth with speed. Combine photos, 3D models, and freehand sketches into hybrid renderings that look handmade but stand on exact digital foundations.

  • Draw to scale — beautifully. Use my 300 DPI ecosystem of rulers, grids, and stencils to design at true scale inside Procreate, so your sketches are ready for export or presentation without losing their looseness.

  • Transform real images into design studies. Build convincing exteriors and interiors from photographs or exports, adding light, material, and atmosphere with painterly efficiency.

  • Move seamlessly between Procreate and SketchUp. Carry ideas fluidly from concept to model to rendering — a workflow that feels alive, iterative, and billable.

Each live session builds your confidence layer by layer, reconnecting the instincts of hand sketching with the precision of modern tools.
You’ll finish not just drawing on your iPad, but designing through it — with the same intuition, freedom, and pride that have always defined your craft.


OMG! You are amazing wow! I’ve learned more about procreate from your video than in a year. Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial. You made everything look so easy and your paste was incredible for actually keeping up. Watched the entire video with my mouth wide open. Thank you!

Yaprak Gezmen

Join the Next Live Draw-Along Workshop

A five-week experience for architects and designers who want to bring the clarity and intuition of hand drawing into the speed and precision of the digital age.

 

$997 USD

or 12 monthly payments of $97

INCLUDES:

  • 5 live weekday workshops (draw-along sessions)
  • 5 Saturday Office Hours (for feedback + Q&A)
  • Lifetime access to all session replays
  • Unlimited auditing privileges for future cohorts
  • Full access to the complete iPad for Architects course library
  • All drawing templates, brushes, rulers, and Procreate tools used in class
  • “Try Week One Free” Guarantee — cancel before Week Two for a full refund

Learn on Wednesday. Put it to work on Thursday. Bill real hours by Friday.

Buy Now

This Workshop Is for You If You...

  • Are an architect, interior designer, or educator who still loves to draw but feels your hand skills no longer fit easily into modern workflows.
  • Bought Procreate (or an iPad) months ago — maybe a year ago — but never got past the basics and now feel unsure where to begin.
  • Have tried online courses but stalled without structure, deadlines, or someone to ask when things don’t make sense.
  • Feel discouraged watching younger colleagues move faster with digital tools, even when you know your ideas are stronger.
  • Want to present work that feels personal and warm yet still reads crisp, professional, and high-end.
  • Want to communicate with clarity and confidence — and use drawings that actually help sell your ideas.
  • Want to bring back the joy of hand drawing without giving up speed or professionalism.
  • Are tired of working in isolation and would thrive in a small, supportive cohort moving forward together.
  • Need skills you can use immediately — drawings that show up in tomorrow’s client meeting or invoice.
  • Are ready to finally build the drawing practice you’ve always wanted and feel at home again in a changing profession.

This Workshop Probably Isn’t for You If You...

  • Are looking for a quick shortcut — something that pays off without practice, exploration, or learning anything new.
  • See sketching as “just for fun” and don’t plan to use it for real design work, client presentations, or communication.
  • Expect to master everything in five weeks instead of building a strong foundation you’ll keep growing from.
  • Prefer to binge tutorials on your own time rather than commit to a guided, hands-on experience.
  • Don’t actually want to draw and are only here because someone else suggested it.
  • Expect a theory-heavy class rather than a practical studio taught by someone who draws professionally every day.
  • Aren’t ready to show up live (or watch the replays), try new techniques, or engage with a supportive community.
  • Already have a polished digital rendering pipeline and aren’t interested in adding warmth or hand-drawn clarity to your process.

  • Are committed to using only Morpholio Trace and aren’t open to exploring Procreate.
    This workshop is Procreate-exclusive, because it’s the most intuitive and flexible environment for the kind of sketching we’ll be doing.

    That said, if you’re already comfortable in Trace, you’ll adapt quickly — the fundamentals of drawing are the same. As former student Heather likes to say, once you get good at one, you stop worrying about which is “better.”


This is great stuff. I like following along with what you are doing. Helps me put the ideas squarely in my brain.
I have long been an architect who watercolors - yet, I have never had those watercolors enter into my practice.
It seems the Procreate method may be more practical for the world today. Very Helpful! 

Eric M. Roberts, Architect

No-Risk Guarantee

I want this to feel like an easy yes.

If you pay in full, you’re covered by my First Week, No-Risk Guarantee. You’ll have full access to Week One — including the live weekday session and the Saturday office hours.
If you decide it’s not the right fit, just email me before Week Two begins and I’ll refund every penny. No forms, no friction.

If you’re on the payment plan, you can cancel anytime before your second payment — same promise, same ease.

Either way, you get to experience the workshop and decide for yourself, completely risk-free.

Join the Next Live Draw-Along Workshop

A five-week live experience that teaches the Middle Path — blending the imagination of hand sketching with the accuracy of digital tools to keep ideas fluid and clients engaged.

 

$997 USD

or 12 monthly payments of $97

INCLUDES:

  • 5 live weekday workshops (draw-along sessions)
  • 5 Saturday Office Hours (for feedback + Q&A)
  • Lifetime access to all session replays
  • Unlimited auditing privileges for future cohorts
  • Full access to the complete iPad for Architects course library
  • All drawing templates, brushes, rulers, and Procreate tools used in class
  • “Try Week One Free” Guarantee — cancel before Week Two for a full refund

Learn on Wednesday. Put it to work on Thursday. Bill real hours by Friday.

Buy Now

Frequently Asked Questions

Find the Middle Path

The Middle Path isn’t new — it’s the balance every designer quietly searches for. Between hand and digital, speed and sensitivity, clarity and craft. You’ve felt it before — in the moment a sketch just clicked, when design felt effortless and alive.

This workshop helps you find that balance again — and trust it. Because the tools have changed, but the hand, the eye, and the imagination that guide you never did.

Join the next Live Draw-Along Workshop
and rediscover the joy of drawing.


Join the Workshop Now

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