Periodically I get questions from students, professionals, and curious people, and sometimes, those questions get me thinking. Recently, I received a question about how to develop a style. It really got me thinking, because I’ve never tried to deduce the origins of style when it comes to sketching. It happens so subtly and naturally, that [...]

Michael Roller, an educator and designer, and friend of mine, posted some great and interesting tips about sketching on his blog recently – Always warm up, Always pin up, and Always cheat. Obviously, I’m a huge fan of them (elkse why would I be posting about them), but more the first two than the third. [...]

Here is a little video I prepared for a quick gestural type of sketching that is good for an ideation process. This type of sketching works well for me when I need to sketch something more complex. It allows you to cheat a bit by just sort of indicating where things may go without having [...]

It is often beneficial to sketch up a quick idea or two of how a person interacts with a given product. Drawing in a human hand(s) to help present scale and orientation will allow you to quickly communicate exactly how the product lives in the human world. This video tutorial seeks to shed some light [...]

So . . . you’re a poor college student, starving artist, or another casualty of the raging recession. Markers aren’t getting any cheaper, the refill inks can be terribly expensive – so what do you do? The solution is rubbing alcohol

See: Marker Tutorial: Cube Last week, I did  a quick sketch render of a cube. This week, we’ll take a look at a cylinder. If you ‘d like to follow along, simply download the cylinder sketch here and print it out. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can run some marker paper through the printer and [...]

If you have never seen Spencer’s mug, check out this cool interview vid he was asked to throw together for www.davison.com/creators. You can learn a lot about Spencer’s bio or by listening to what he’s saying -  either way, there are some great visual nuggets and advice given by Spencer.

Alot of people have been asking for this, so i finally decided to do it . . .  but this time in step-by-step style without the video. Go easy on me. If something isn’t terribly clear, feel free to email us or comment and we’ll update this post to make it water tight. First off, [...]

I’ve met alot of designers in my limited experience that complain about the “sketchers”. Sometimes designers with an aptitude for sketching get labeled as being shallow or non-creative. However, I see sketching as a means to and ends rather than the end all. When all is said and done, regardless of how flashy the sketch may be or how killer it may look, the essence of why we sketch ideas as designers is seeded in effectively communicating those ideas to our clients. Sketching is our language of communication.

So, I sketch on the train. Yes, I am THAT guy. The one you think is looking at you, but you’re not really sure about it . . . Yep, the guy with the sketchbook. I take my sketchbook most places I go. Why you ask . . . well it’s really simple. I love [...]