Yo: sketch videos

Thanks Gerry. I really liked how that video turned out. I’m going to keep reusing the bumpers on it too.

In today’s video I’m demonstrating a simple pencil technique of using not only the ip of the pencil, but also the side of the pencil to create dimension and depth. Of course using my favorite Prismacolor here today, taking care to keep the pencil sharp throughout the sketch. Have a watch with the sound on to hear me explaining everything. Comment below with any questions and I’d love to hear your suggestions for future videos… and if you feel like it, give it a like and share on YouTube! :slight_smile:

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Keno, makes sense. Ironically, I’ve never been much one for exercises. I’ve always preferred to jump right in to a full on complex object to draw… which of course means I did things wrong for years… I’ll try to do a perspective breakdown next.

Last week I posted a video showing a simple tip of the pencil/side of the Prismacolor pencil sketch technique on a tea kettle. Here is an example of a bit more of a complex form, a streamlined hyper car. With this relatively simple technique you can communicate a lot of form.

see the video above.

I haven’t been able to record a sketch video for a few weeks since I have been traveling in China visiting factories. Since my last video, a few of you requested that I sketch some softgoods. In today’s video I sketch up a backpack concept and show you a few key techniques including: backpack constructions, simulating leather, and simulating textiles in a rapid concept visualization. A few important notes on this sketch: First, notice how I start with very light line weight, even with this Papermate Flair pen. Only once I have the form and concept roughed in do I come back with heavier lines. Second, check out how minimally I use markers. This is a quick sketch. There is no need to over render. Simply indicate form and materials… I also got to use my favorite marker color, “Cinnamon Toast”! Lastly, notice the little details like stitching and pattern breaks. When you are working on a concept for a category of products, study that category. Take apart existing examples of products that are similar. Understanding how something is made will always make your ideas better.

Turn the sound on to hear me explain everything I’m doing.

No replies on that last one. Are you guys digging these, or too obvious? I made another today.

Sketching a wheel can make or break your car sketch. In this video I explain the way I simply indicate a 5 spoke wheel. Whether you love to draw cars or not, this is a great practice exercise for two of reasons: First, you need to practice eclipses. Second, you practice the simple act of iterating on a known object. Taking something simple and defined like a five spoke wheel and quickly giving it a unique twist is a great mental exercise. As you go through this video I want you to notice how much contrast I’m giving this sketch through both line weight and choice of drawing tool. It can be scary to add this much contrast to your sketch. I remember when the fear of messing up a sketch held me back from adding this much contrast. Try to remember that the worst that can happen is you screw it up and you have to put a clean sheet of paper over top and start over. It’s no biggie, I screw up all the time. One think that helps to force me to add this much contrast is to switch drawing tools. Note I switch from the Papermate Flair pen to the Sharpie. This forces me to go bold, and the sketch is better for it. Try switching drawing tools like that in your sketches, no matter what the subject is.

Yo, Yo!

Loving the little minute videos. I like how you cover some of the real basic fundamentals like line weight, perspective, pencil technique, marker basics etc etc, while not JUST covering the basics. You cover at least a few fundamental ideas AND keep it interesting. Quite hard to do IMO.

For some future ideas:

I know I’m not alone in saying, I always love seeing those juicy sketch pages. I think it would make a pretty cool video if you time lapsed some ideation pages… maybe for one of these upcoming sketchwars weeks? Or even maybe something on the simpler side for the video’s sake?

Other than that, I’m just waiting patiently for your next video.

cool, thank you for the suggestions1 I’ll try to work them in.

Bag designer here!

I love how you used the fabric as a texture technique! So simple and effective.
Cool to see you spell out those archetypal bag shapes.

Thanks raid. That makes me feel better. I’ve designed a few bags, and of course a lot of shoes, but I’m not a full fledged bag designer so I was worried I was venturing off into less familiar territory. I got a few requests to do a bag sketch demo though and I thought it was important to start off with the constructions. Understanding how to turn a 2d sheet material into a 3 dimensional bag is a lot different than most hard goods categories. I think for the sketch to be convincing there has to be a bit of understanding of the basics.

Sometimes after a long day of meetings and intense design for production decisions I like to blow off a little creative steam with a sharpie sketch. Tonight was one of those nights. The reason I like doing these with a sharpie is it forces me to have bold and have fun. The drawing tool forces me to be in the moment and not try so hard to control everything.The medium forces commitment. In this sketch notice how I’m drawing my lines so quickly that the sharpie can’t replenish ink in the nib fast enough. This is how I get those lines that seem to grate out and get thin and faded at the end. Next time you are feeling creatively stuck take a shot at a Sharpie. Remember, the purpose is not to create a beautiful sketch, it is to shake you up.

Note: this sketch took 4:50 in real time.

I typically focus on looser sketches on this channel for a few key reasons. First because I think rapid visualization is an amazing tool as a designer to both collaborate and influence in real time. Second because they are fun to do. But there are times when a 20 minute sketch just won’t do and yet moving to CAD would be too much. This is a quick example of my typical workflow on a more long-form render. This entire process takes about 4 hours, so it isn’t quick, but the result is something a bit more impactful. In the future I’ll do a one of these where I really break down the steps, but for now, this is how I do it:

  1. SKETCH: This can be by hand or digitally in AutoDesk Sketchbook or Photoshop. The important thing here is to get the overall design down. This particular rough sketch took 6 underlays to get to this point!

  2. SHAPE: Either in Illustrator, or Photoshop, or Sketchbook, I block in the shapes in just grey forms. Here I am really paying attention to the silhouette, the proportion, the snap of the lines. Spending time here ensures you won’t be wasting time on the next few steps.

  3. SHADE: Just using black and white airbrushes I shade the form in pure B&W. You can really see what you are doing when you remove color from the equation here. If it reads in B&W, it will read in color.

  4. DETAIL: Everyone wants to rush to this part, but if you spend a lot of time on 1-3, this step goes quickly. Here I have selected some areas to be glass, added some stripes, graphical color blocks, as well as struts, wheel details, tire texture, and various grille patterns in the voids.

  5. HUE: this is a subtle step, but I put a new layer over top, set the layer style to Color only, then airbrush some warm and cool tones to push and pull the concept on the page.

  6. LOGOS: as a last step, since this is a race car, I added some sponsorship logos. :slight_smile:

I’ve been getting a lot of requests to do a sketch demo of a boat. Specifically on how to get the overall hull shape in perspective. Personally, I love drawing boats. I don’t know much about them, and I rarely go one them, but I love the elegant forms of their hulls. The first thing I do is draw the overall volume the hull occupies. Once I have this it is easy to draw in the 2 arcs that make the left and right (port and starboard … like I said, I don’t really know much about boats) as well as the arc of the bottom of the boat. All of the other details hinge off those three lines. This sketch took about 30 minutes in real time. Give it a watch and comment bellow with any questions. I also love getting your requests in the comments.

YO!

Thank you for all these great videos and tips on sketching! Could you do a video demonstrating varying levels of opacity? fully transparent, frosted, etc… ?

Thank you!

Ying

Ying, great idea, I’ll work on that one.

Easy as ABC… it has been a long time since I posted a video so here is a very quick 3 minute doodle with a Sharpie​ this morning before calling into a conference call. Turn on the sound to hear the markers squeaking on the page… if you are into that sort of thing :slight_smile:

I can’t believe 2016 is just about over. I thought you all might like to see every fun free time sketch I did in 2016. There are about 250 sketches here. I wanted to put this together to show you just how many rapid visualization exercises I do in a year. Remember, these are just my for fun sketches. This doesn’t include all of the sketches I do for new product development projects I’m working on at Sound United or with freelance clients. Obviously I can’t show you those until those products launch! It is important to sketch at a high volume like this so your skills are sharp and you can freely express your ideas without hesitation. A great sketch is about three things, developing an idea, communicating the idea, and inspiring others to believe in that idea. A great sketch can be incredibly persuasive. So set yourself a goal to do just one fun sketch a day in the next year and you will see your skills dramatically improve. Happy 2017 everyone, now get sketching!

look forward to more of your work in 2017, yo!

to everyone else, i recommend watching this a .25 speed so you can look at the drawings a little longer. also, protip, if you pause the video you can use the period button to move forward frame by frame. comma button goes backwards by a frame.

I filmed the next 6 sketch demo videos in the core77 series I’ve been doing. Here is the next:

Why is sketching still important? I’m really excited to be able to share this short video piece I did for Hector Silva, who founded Advanced Design Sketching. In this video I talk why I think sketching still so important in today’s design world. there is also a bonus behind the scenes look at my home design studio … can you have a bonus at the beginning of something? This bonus is. If you have watched any of my previous videos you have seen the sketch surface on my desk. Today I zoom out to show you what you don’t see.

See more Advanced Design Sketching videos: Facebook