- How much do you use analog vs. digital drawing? (Across the whole process, from preliminary sketches to a ‘final’ piece you’d present to clients?
90 % Analog, 10 % Digital.
- Do you use mainly analog for one part of the process and then mostly digital for another?
I mostly use quick sketches to communicate ideas. I do not hesitate to communicate with ballpoint sketches to clients - they can have a lot of character in themselves. Only when CAD modeling would be too preventive in terms of time and cost, we sometimes step to an intermediary digital sketch visualization.
- If you do use mostly analog/digital for certain things, do you ever find yourself in a position where you have to cross over and use the other? If someone’s super comfortable doing final marker renderings but hates doing finals digitally, can they get away with just being The Marker Guy forever? Vice versa, can you get away with always using digital?
Yes, but some firms strictly work with digital visualizations so it is a good idea to master both media.
Also the tools are now much more affordable - a $200 touchscreen 12" tablet + stylus will essentially give you an interactive drawing tablet.
- Related: do you wish you’d spent more time in school working on the format you’re less comfortable with, or do you think students should focus on just getting really good at one or the other?
It’s more important that you learn to sketch well than the media you use. And I advise to use only paper when you start sketching, because the learning process will be much faster. Then I suggest you start learning the digital media.
- How much flexibility do you have to choose whether you want to use digital or analog? We had a talk with a guy who said that the standard in his office is to use Sketchbook for 100% of their preliminary sketches. They might do a rough napkin sketch with a pen, but basically everything that moves beyond that point is digital. Does your boss usually dictate the format they want, or is it generally up to your personal preferences?
As an independent entrepreneur I adjust the tools towards the client - if we are rapidly creating a product on low budget some ballpoint sketches created in 30 minutes can be enough to spawn the needed ideas for the first phase. For other clients I involve days of ideation and digital visualizations to work out all the product visual and mechanical details.
- If you work with/manage new graduates, would you rather that schools emphasize one format over the other? Have you run into issues with students that were mainly trained in one format? What drawing skills are most important to you when hiring?
I would rather have a junior employee that can sketch well with just ballpoint or fineliner pens and have a clear line through his design thinking, than a master in effects and finishes that can’t do the design thinking.