Do Designers Sketch Anymore?
Posted 11 Sep 2009 - 14 Gratefully received comments
I realised something alarming this week. The last few projects I’ve undertaken have been extremely tight deadlines, giving me less time to explore all the creative possibilities. That old saying goes: “When a customer asks for quality, speed and affordability tell them they can have any two out of the three.” In this case I found that I had skipped a usual part of my design process, sketching. Because of the stringent deadlines I had to run straight to the computer and worked up the first ideas that came to me.
In the end I was more than pleased with the results, as were the customers. I had managed to meet my briefs and satisfy the needs of my customers without making a single pencil stroke.
In the past I’ve even missed out on sketching my comic strip because of time restraints, (which takes a little bit of the enjoyment out of it for me), but it’s come out fine.
This poses an unusual question. Do I need to sketch anymore? If not, why do I feel so bad for missing out something that has always been an integral part of my creative processes?
I tweeted that this would be my blog topic yesterday and received a message back from Joey McNair (@defycreative):
“Excellent topic. I used to get berated in school about my lack of sketches. It’s a fine practice, but not mandatory.”
Not mandatory? Is this where we stand now as designers? Have real artistic skills been replaced with button pushing? I sincerely hope not.
I’m sure there are some that take the opinion that if I wanted to sit around and draw all day I should have become a penniless artist. Well, I’ve gone and showed them, I’m a penniless designer instead, not only that but I’m whinging that I want to doodle more!
Drawing is such an integral part of any artistic/design related education. In fact it is laid as the foundation of all other creative skills.
Before you paint you are told to sketch out a composition. Before you design a page layout you are taught to sketch the design grid. Even if it isn’t what would be classed as ‘classical’ sketching, mark making of any kind with all sorts of media is encouraged to help stimulate creative thinking and artistic perception.
I think you learn so many other design traits through the practice of drawing: Composition, lighting, form & shape, observation, perspective, patience, persistence… I’m sure there’s something else beginning with P as well.
With the advent of computers becoming the primary tool to complete design projects; are we beginning to overlook the skills that we all developed at the start of, not only, our careers but our lives. I’m sure I’m not alone in remembering playing with crayons as a toddler, and developing those first scribbles into better works of art as I grew up.
Design is about communication and drawing is at the root of communication, dating back to cave paintings. This is why drawing can be such a useful skill, communication.
As a designer the end goal is about communicating ideas to our target audience. However, initially our challenge is to communicate our ideas to our clients. If you can develop sketching as a skill that can be called upon in a client meeting to describe an idea that you can’t find the words to define, it not only emphasises your artistic credentials, it’s also a nice party piece.
I personally believe drawing should be a mandatory skill, I’m not talking about Da Vinci-esque works of art to express an idea, I mean simple doodles that can be used to aid an explanation.
I believe I might have a few ideas that could help any reluctant scribblers out there to build up a bit of pencil related confidence (for the guys out there, this isn’t a filthy double entendre!) This is why I’m tentatively placing this post as my first tutorial. I’m going to share a few exercises that might give a decent grounding in sketching basics.
I warn you, these will seem very simple and totally obvious, so I apologise if these exercises seem beneath you! But if you can’t learn something new, I always think it’s a good idea to sharpen up the skills you have already.
All you need to complete these exercises are a pen and a stack of paper, scrap paper would be best because we aren’t creating works of art, we’re just going to be scribbling.
Exercise 1: Straight Lines – Freehand.
Draw a line of dots along the bottom of the page, and then begin drawing a corresponding line of dots opposite them. Start by making them quite close together then space them out.
The idea is to join the two dots with one smooth straight pencil line. Don’t do it slowly and carefully, sketch quickly and naturally. It gets harder the longer the line gets.
After a few sheets you should see an improvement in how straight and smooth the line is becoming. Use a ruler to check how straight the lines are.
Exercise 2: Curved Lines – Freehand
Use the same principle as before, use dots as guides and try to hit each one as you describe the curve that the dots sit on.
Try not to lean your elbow on the table and keep your arm free to move, not just your wrist.
Exercise 3: Geometric Shapes – Freehand
Now use these same principles to make simple geometric shapes, four dots for a square, three for a triangle etc.
The biggest challenge is to draw a perfect freehand circle.
On the face of it these exercises may seem pointless and overly simple but it’s all about practice and persistence. It only takes 5-10 minutes a day to do a bit of doodling like this, but over time you will notice that making the lines and shapes gets easier, the line flows easier and your confidence builds.
You can use these simple lines and shapes to describe an idea for a logo, a sketchy grid for a magazine layout, or a little map explaining where the nearest coffee shop is, for your client.
The bottom line is, pencils and paper are a hell of a lot cheaper than computers and software. Why use a computer to sell an initial idea after you’ve put a few hours into a design, when you can spend five minutes sketching it out for a client to see if you are on the right track before investing the time?
I’d like to know how you feel about sketching and it’s place within the modern design industry.
It’d be nice to hear if this little tutorial is of any help to anyone as well.
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Who's Ken?
I'm a freelance graphic designer living and working in Suffolk.
I've been using Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign & Quark Xpress since 1999 but I've been using pens, pencils, paper and most importantly my imagination for a lot longer. I'm always looking for new clients to work with and interesting projects to work on.
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Nice post Ken.
I don’t get chance to draw very often recently mainly down to time constraints but it always helps when lacking inspiration! I personally think it’s a must for logo design and of varying importance for other things like stationary, flyers, brochures etc.
As it’s been a while I thought I better check I could still draw… I’ll let you decide. http://twitpic.com/haih8
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@ Andy Love the sketch, definite portfolio fodder.
I understand the time constraints point of view, but when working with a client surely having the ability to draw a rough sketch of your ideas will save you time in the long run?
I realise that I’m being slightly hypocritical here, but I’m hoping to get a bit of a discussion going on this one.
I agree wholeheartedly that doodling can help with inspiration though.
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For me it definately depends on the medium. For web layouts I almost always start with pen and paper I would really struggle to work without. Often I’ll print out sketch sheets from the 960 grid system to work from.
I’m not sure why I rely more on this way of working for the web than others perhaps it’s because clarity is so important, the navigation in particular.
Other areas can be frustrating when you start with a sketch and its an awesome idea only to find the stock photography doesn’t exist to make it so. Perhaps the frustration is part of sketching becoming a rarity with designers relying more on what’s available than what could be….
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Nice subject and article.
I always think it’s strange the number of times you hear, “I don’t have to draw, I’m a graphic designer”. For me, I find that most of the times I’ve skipped the sketching and gone straight to the computer for whatever reason, I get stuck really quickly. I find it much easier to just mess around on paper to begin with in terms of idea development.
Like Andy said, it does also really depend on the medium. For me, it’s mostly for logo and web design that preliminary sketches are important.
However, doodles and sketches are usually just for my own benefit; I’ve never really shown a sketch to a client to see if I’m on the right path or not. I guess I’d be a little worried that instead of being able to visualise the general idea, someone might fixate on the roughness of the sketch or lack of details that obviously haven’t been considered yet, therefore negatively affecting the idea itself.
That said, I think more developed sketches that have had more time spent on them are really nice and can easily be proper pieces in their own right.
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@Claire Hi, thanks for commenting.
I get what you mean about an under-developed idea throwing a customer off. Clarity is important, but like everything that comes with plenty of practice, hopefully the exercises above might help with that.
Confidence does become a large factor (like a lot of things in the design industry.) You have to have confidence to show a customer an initial sketch. You have to believe that something of the final idea you have in your head is displayed within a simple drawing.
Do you think drawing is something that has massive importance when you are learning about art & design, but diminishes over time?
I’m not convinced. Just because you learn new skills, they shouldn’t replace the ones you have, they should compliment them.
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Hey Ken-
Great post! I have been looking forward to it as I hoped to be able to elaborate on my tweet. (it’s kind of difficult to do that on Twitter.)
Let me first say that sketching is great and I actually do it more now than I ever have. It can and usually will lead to a well developed idea. However, use of a computer as your primary tool is only a crutch if you allow it to be. It doesn’t automatically mean the end result won’t be the best solution to a problem. If anything it allows for easy manipulation of elements and yes, speeds up the process. Believe me, I’ve gone back and forth many times hammering out the right solution to a particular project on the computer.
I definitely think drawing is a worthwhile skill to develop and I’m envious of those who naturally have that gift. I just don’t think it necessarily makes one less of a designer when sketching isn’t their strong suit.
Ultimately a computer, like a pencil, is a tool for getting the job done. We have to make the call as to what process is right for us.
[Reply]
@ Joey Thanks for commenting, It is difficult to elaborate on twitter!
I agree with your sentiments, but the thing that worries me is the increasing amount of designers I meet that never pick up a pencil. The guys that call themselves designers once they’ve installed Adobe CS.
I guess I’m defending drawing because I associate it with how I discovered I had a creative side, is this becoming the case with computers. Are people discovering their creativity through software instead of traditional art materials?
Is that progress?
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Yes, I do believe that software can ignite someone’s imagination and creativity. Again, these are just tools (issues of costs are another matter). There are benefits to each but in the end it’s just an instrument.
Let’s say you’re commissioned to do an illustration. You can bang out a crappy illustration with pen and paper and pass it off to the client but just because it’s analog doesn’t mean it’s still not a bad drawing. What can make it great is your skill at composition, color treatment and maybe even style. Those things don’t go away when you turn to digital tools.
More to the point, I think you nailed it with this comment, “The guys that call themselves designers once they’ve installed Adobe CS.” Maybe the real issue is that software has allowed those without the proper skill or training to mask what they don’t possess.
[Reply]
I do agree with Joey that software is as worthwhile a tool as other more traditional methods. As long as the skill, ideas and content are there, surely the way you reach that is up to you. I also think that last part of the previous comment is very accurate; easily accessible software does seem to have allowed more or less anyone with a mediocre knowledge of some software to bang out, say a logo, and get away with it (at least superficially) a lot more easily than if they were creating it by hand. This is particularly evident in a lot of the design competition sites, but that’s a different matter.
In response to your comment Ken, while what you said about confidence does make sense, I do also think that it also depends to some extent on the particular client. For instance, someone might automatically dislike a logo proposition just because they really don’t like the colour. Because of one detail that they can’t see past, be it colour or presentation (i.e. rough sketch) you risk a good idea being overlooked. I’m not saying this is justified reasoning, quite the contrary, but unfortunately, it can be the case especially in people that aren’t as artistically oriented. I think that this would be an important factor to consider when showing sketches of your ideas. Obviously if you’re lucky enough to work with people that understand this, then it’s great!
To answer your question, I don’t think that the importance of drawing diminishes over time at all. On the contrary, it makes sense that it should develop and hopefully improve continuously, just like any other design skill.
[Reply]
If the latest generation of designers are ignoring traditional artistic methods, are they doomed to expire? Will there be a time when graphic designers are just keyboard jockeys?
I take your point that a computer and a pencil are just tools, it’s the creative thinking behind how someone uses the tool that defines them as a designer. I think I’ve written another post on here somewhere that expands on that theme:
http://kenreynoldsdesign.co.uk/editorial/all-the-gear-and-no-ideas/
I guess I’m not convinced that a person can learn to be creative using just a computer; compared to hands on art materials. I think a computer can limit your thinking. While hands on tools you only limit yourself.
This goes back to Andy’s comment at the start: “Perhaps the frustration is part of sketching becoming a rarity with designers relying more on what’s available than what could be….”
[Reply]
You really pointed out some things there, awesome post : ) I’m looking forward to more posts in the future…
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@Anton Thanks for commenting. Do you have any more thoughts on the discussion? Do you draw? If not it’d be great to get a view from the opposite viewpoint.
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I draw alot, it’s a good way to get all of your ideas out on paper. But when I sketch up a logo or a website I don’t sit hours and hours trying to get the perfect circle etc. I just sketch it out for about 10-20mins, write down some comments and start working on the computer for real.
When you think about it, it’s kinda sad that the hardcore sketching has lost it’s touch, now that the computer has everything you need.
[Reply]
@ Anton I suggested the drawing exercises as a form of practice to build muscle memory etc, so you could develop confidence to sketch quickly, I’m not suggesting that you should sit around pouring hours into sketches. I just think designers should have drawing as a skill that can be called upon to aid communication.
Does a computer really have everything you need? A computer can’t think fo you.
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