Sketching Feedback and Advice...

Hey everyone!
I am a 3rd year Industrial Design student at the University of South Australia. I have identified sketching as one of my big weak points so I am attempting a sketch-a-day to try and improve my skills and develop my personal style.
I am doing them in the format of the 1HDC by doing a page of thumbnail Ideation before picking one and doing a Rendering of it.
Any feedback and advice would be appreciated. Be as critical as you can, I could probably find someone to tell me its “nice” but that’s not going to make me any better!

These first two are from the 1HDC.
Topic: Supersoaker


Topic: LCD Television


Topic: Chefs Knife


Topic: Coffee Table

Felt my ideation was not relaxed enough so I tried loosening it up and sketching with a felt tip. Not sure if it worked though :slight_smile:
I have been sketching on A4 so I can fit it in my scanner but I don’t feel I have enough room to freely sketch or apply details so I will start doing it A3 and using the uni scanner.
Cheers!


Your coffee table ideation page is your most successful sketh. Right now it looks like youbare cery tight. Force yourself to go looser and fill the page more. Let your lines flow. Work the design out on the page, not in your head. Stop worrying about the sketch itself and start focussing on what you are trying to convey. Sculpt on the page in a manner of speaking.

Are you overlaying your sketches?

I’d back off color for a bit and just stick with linework. Maybe go to a indigo blue prisma pencil where you can use the tip as well as the side of the pencil.

It is great you have identified a weak spot and you are workin on it. Try to do 2hours per day! Sketch everything. Everytime you have a thought, sketch it. Work with a classmate if you can. When I was in school a few if us would get together, list out a bunch of things (watch, ambulance, jackhammer… Whatever) and then sketch through the list at 10 minutes per subject on 24" x 36" paper! By the end of the night there was a body of work we could compare and contrast.

Thanks Michael, I have admired your sketching skills in the ‘doodling’ forum for a while now.
Yes I think I do need to relax more and concentrate on exploring the designs, thought I find it difficult to ‘create’ a design on the page… maybe another area for me to work on:)
No I haven’t done underlays for these, I do for studio presentations though.
I bought some new Prismacolor pencils today, so will play around with them and upload something.
Cheers…

So I got some Prismacolor pencils and had a go at Ideating some Cameras, mostly a form study and getting used to the pencils. I like the ability to apply the pencil lightly and then define the form by pressing firmly, keeping the pencil sharp seems to be critical though.
Thoughts?

Cheers…

I find that a form or shape emerges from a series of lines defining edges. Your last sketch locks down the edges of the form in a hard multiple heavy line, no room to breathe or allow me to interprete, moreover it shold allow you to look back on it 30 minutes or an hour later and see new possibilities. It feels like you are getting specific too fast, loosen up, don’t feel the need to lock down the shape until much later, if at all for some iterations.

It looks like you know what your are doing, even in the color its reads well. I think you need practice. Like Yo said hold off on the color and work on line quality. That is what can make or break a sketch. Work light and build the sketch up. start with super light lines. Then define a bit more. Look through coroflot for some inspiration:

This one has alot of computer flair but it gets he point across http://www.coroflot.com/besancon/transportation-design/23

And one from the great Yo! http://www.coroflot.com/public/image_file.asp?portfolio_id=3032115&job_seeker_id=67242

Most of all keep sketching!

I agree with Yo. The coffee table page is a good step.

Try an hit some foundation rules.

1-Bold outside lines, lighter inside lines.
2- Strong, deliberate lines.
3- Make sure your lines support the 3 vanishing points. It helps the viewer to understand your geometry better.
4- Draw a little larger.
5- Don’t be afraid to trace over your own work.

Keep going!