Looking to improve

It takes a lot of practice. don’t beat yourself up, just keep at it. Notice in my sketch it wasn’t perfect, and I took a few passes at it.

It looks like you don’t quite nail down a concept before jumping to markers, which aren’t as forgiving as a pen/pencil.
It’s easy to keep adding to one sketch, but sometimes its good to get those first ideas down then grab a new piece of paper and overlay w/ clean lines.
I’d say throw a bunch of quick sketches down refining a concept working on proportion (orthographic views help w/ layout/proportions) then jump back into perspective/markers… my two cents. keep it up tho and don’t forget to stay loose!!!

You might be right. I think for my next few I am just going to keep to linework and try and nail getting the lines clean.

Hi there,

You are getting really good advice here, and I agree with all of the above.
Your first sketch wasn’t bad at all, it needed a bit more contrast, looseness in shading strokes, a softer drop shadow and overall a more expressive feel.
What I mainly see is that you are trying to get those ellipses too perfect while as you can see in yo’s sketch, even if the ellipses aren’t perfectly drawn, the overall sketch gets a much better character if you let your hand flow with the lines. Work from the shoulder, it will help you get better ellipses. You can also see how fluid strokes on the outlines that continue past the perimeter of the sketch, and some overall effect and perspective help a sketch come alive.

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Thanks for the input guys it helps.

Decided to concentrate on line work for now and get that clean before i try to use markers again…

1st one


These photos seem to bring out every blemish that i can’t see on the paper lol

That last one is getting much looser. Very nice. You are getting there. Keep pushing through!

These are getting much better! Have you tried overlaying the same sketch over and over until you’re happy with the linework style you’re getting? It’s tedious but I find it helps with actually drawing the line where you want it to be.

Thanks for encouragement guys.

I have been using overlays but with copier paper for the last few - hard to see through.

Latest… Lines a bit messy on this i think but was tired.

line work on right side messy but didn’t want to start again this time lol.

Running out of camera concepts lol. So decided to try a sandwich grip type thing. Bit messy, will try better for next one.

Running out! To infinity and beyond. Try to stop making them look like just another camera. What are the functions of the forms you are putting down? What are you trying to communicate or exaggerate? Otherwise it is just lines and subject to the winds of subjectivity. Give it some objective grounding and explore from there. Think about adding scale. I have no idea how big these cameras are. Are they 10 centimeters in length? Are they a meter? Keep pushing.

The sketches above show such an improvement from the first ones! Nice work.

If you are running out of ideas but not try designing a camera with different constraints, e.g. with no straight lines, it will give a completely different feel to the product.
As Yo said, a reference to scale would be good to see.
Why not have 10 different concepts on one page, all with consideration to different forms or functions.

There are endless possibilities, just don’t think about it too much before you get some shapes down. :slight_smile:

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the advice guys I’m taking it all on board and will try to grow from it.


Not really sure how to incorporate hands into the id sketch to achieve visual pleasure… Should they be detailed? or simple?

Had a go anyway. I’m learning the black prismacolour pc935 wax pencil really doesn’t work well on copier paper for me. Too much tooth in the paper i find, leaves things looking a bit mucky and i have to sharpen every 2 minutes.

Lack of focus over last week. Struggling with simple pencil shading on rounded shapes… If i get stuck on something, or can’t draw something well i tend to lose consistency. Anyways here’s something…

That’s alright. Progress is not a straight line. Do 5 of these by tomorrow!

You have been making fantastic progress!
Good call on focusing on linework, improvement has to come one step at a time and the most important thing is you keep fueling your ideas.
You have been seeing how small details and more looseness add character to your sketches.
Keep going into concept directions involving different kinds of grips, controls and interactions. Also you have been doing some more organic shapes. You can approach them loosely and then start defining them more properly by thinking about the different profiles that cut through the shape at different intervals. Drawing out these profiles make the sketch more interesting as well and will be the guidelines for shading.
You have to still keep getting your hand to loosen up and set light lines, trust they will get you there.
The addition of the hands is great and you have been developing your own style. You can do with a bit less detail to focus more on the product, and make sure you draw the entire product first. As long as you keep things consistent. Great work!

Here’s one LOL. I would have tried for 5 but I’ve been rushed off my feet with other stuff last few days. Also I don’t like uploading anything that doesn’t look too good. For every one I upload there is 10 in the bin!.. I struggle with the more complex forms and then it just ends up a mess…

Will try and get another 4 out over this week.