Study graphic standards and learn revit and autocad. 

You'd be surprised how many kids out of college have no idea how to manually sketch or draw. It is very nice to see somebody like you interested in that. Everybody can learn how to use cad or revit, but not that many are really good manual drafters and trust me, many of us appreciate the skill. 

If I were you, I'd pick random objects (stairs, gates, bridge details) and draw them. Start with more simple objects then move into more complex and larger objects, eventually buildings etc. 

You should post some work, because we all appreciate it. 

Draftsmanship? is this drawing floor plans and building sections, sketching, detailed perspectives with shadows shading and reflections, and or some other presentation skills?

my advice sketch for an hour every day, sketching is still a useful skill in communicating ideas.

Peter N

i wonder how many kids out of college will go their entire careers without ever hand drafting a floor plan, never sharpening lead in a lead holder with that sandpaper thing, never using a t-square or a mayline, never running blueprints.  i bet it's alot.  probably because those skills have been replaced with newer skill-sets that work better.

Teach it, tutor and help others with what you learned.

We use ArchiCAD BIM platform to produce 100% of our construction documentation at our office.  I'm a big believer in the power of the paradigm of 3D CAD.  

That having been said, I think that the profession is rapidly losing something important as more and more young practitioners enter their jobs without the ability to skillfully draw by hand.  I believe there is something very powerful in the eye:hand:pencil:paper interaction that allows the architect to see and experience their work in a way that is unachievable with computers.  

I think that something important is being washed away.  My recommendation?  Sketch and draw by hand as much as possible.  Go to great buildings and draw them observationally.  Use sketches to communicate with others.  And if you can, take the Hand Drafting class offered by your local ICAA chapter.

I'm with EKE on this one.

As one rises in the profession, one spends considerably more time with clients - often away from the studio - talking about design aspects of their projects. These discussion frequently are conducted in rather informal locations - such as restaurants and bars. I cannot count the number of times in such settings that I've pulled out a felt-tip pen and a piece of paper (or a napkin) to illustrate or investigate some aspect of my client's project. 

CAD and BIM are powerful tools - but, in important situations like those described immediately above - they're essentially worthless. Nothing beats the spontaneity (and impressive power) of hand drawing when working directly with a client.

Making an image appear out of nowhere on a piece of paper is my favorite skill and I work on it most everyday. I learned to draw as an architect/designer and again as a special educator. As a special educator I learned to draw upside down too (sitting across the table from a student) and it is an amazing way to communicate, like magic. A good live drawing can cure a student's ADHD in an instant, ha ha.

Do you mean manual drafting though? That stuff is nice but I think sketching and drawing for expression as opposed to technical drawing is more important for young architecture students. Just keep drawing, draw everyday! It takes practice. Painting is a good counterpart to drawing too. 

Learn all methods, and use everything.  My personal design process is a blur of Cad / REVIT, parallel bars, and sketching -- usually a blocked out CAD plot gets extensively hand drafted on and sketched on while I'm working things out.  Sometimes I'll scan the hybrid sheet back into the computer and continue with a Wacom tablet -- then print it again or maybe email it to a client.  Sort of an "in and out of the computer" approach.

I'm certainly no genius, but you'll find that few architects -- of any age-- can do this type of process very effectively.  

It takes a good boss who can push you into being a good draftsman.

i note that dnorton didn't ask what you need to know or what's useful in the profession. the original questions is more along the lines of 'i like/value this. i want to get better at it.'

as someone who likely got into architecture more because i loved to draw - both sketching and drafting - than anything else, i understand this desire.

the only way to get better is to do it. a lot.

if you can do it in the office of an older architect for whom this was THE method for documentation, you're learning will be more rich. you'll learn techniques associated with better line quality, legibility, standards for better communication, rules of thumb for efficiency, neatness, and composition. ultimately it's a facility with technical approach - the means of making the best, most complete, and most clearly communicative drawings - that also make them beautiful.

it's perfectly ok to value the production of manual drawings separate from its applicability to the current architecture profession.

dnorton,

congrats on finishing your 1st semester. Its good that you want to further your skill sets in the art of drafting.  I think the work Drafting is a noble word, I wont get into that discussion here and you are too young to hear things I have seen in the industry, thats another discussion. Anyways you've received a lot of responses ranging from the guys that don't draft anymore to the ones which continue this ability.  That in itself is very valuable.  I will say this to you as my advice, before and foremost you should should sit down make a list of what you value most, by that for example do you want to be your own boss one day? Do you want to develop your skill sets to encompass the whole process of delivering a building?  Everything you do, do it well, do it with craftsmanship, do it for yourself. I wont lie to you, it is not easy to do good work, when the business side of architecture rears its ugly head. If you are taught well, in manual drafting, from sharpening a pencil, to line weights, remember that you are learning how to discipline your train of thought, your craftsmanship.  If you remember this you will do well, with any computer software thrown your way. 

ps. please dont be a person that creates a thousand and one line types in Revit, or Acadd.

good luck

Draw what you like, be obsessive, do it for years, do it for no reason other than you love it.