[quote=“Designer”]If you do not have exceptional quick sketching, drawing and rendering skills I would stay as an industrial engineer. I say this because drawing and sketching by hand whether it be on paper or wacom tablet is the life force of the industrial designer. Yes inevitably we do have to translate our designs into CAD, but not until we have the basic forms refined by hand. quote]
as an entry-level industrial designer, this pretty much sums up the basic necessary abilities. here’s why:
every project begins with an idea. that idea exists in one’s head as a thought. your job as an industrial designer is to make that intangible thing (the idea), tangible (a product). and then to make it tangible for thousands of other people.
the first step in that process is communicating that idea and sharing it with others. a picture is worth a thousand words and that’s why sketching ability is absolutely paramount…you’d otherwise be relegated to doing what we call “hand-waving” in trying to explain an idea. once you draw something, the idea is born. and if you can quickly make several variations of that idea, that would make you more of an asset. from there, you can further refine the idea with a rough study model of some sort.
if, in ten minutes, you can sketch ten ideas, then you’d have the makings of a pretty decent industrial designer.
checking out your computer rendering abilities, though, you’d still be a valuable team player at an i.d. firm. personally, i’m not patient enough for the computer rendering portion of a project. tweaking the colors, lights, and materials is very time consuming but definitely a necessary part of a project. clients like to see a pretty picture and it takes someone with a strong caliber of computer skills, big-time RAM, and patience to do that. so, just because you can’t draw doesn’t mean you can’t work at an i.d. firm.
but most of all, you should love doing what you do. but that goes for any job really. if you love computer rendering, i’d also take a look at working for Disney or even a game design studio. those industries are on the upswing as well. so if there isn’t an i.d. firm that could use you, there are plenty other avenues for you to choose from.