This is a tough subject for me to write about. I cannot pretend that I’m excellent at sketching or that I should lecture you about it’s importance. I only came to realize that I need to force myself to sketch within the last year or so.
Sketching came to me like a mosquito. It was there, and I tried to ignore it as much as I could, but it finally bit me. I can’t tell you what my high school years in art were like because I didn’t think I would go into art then. I knew that I loved photography, and that I could maybe Photoshop and develop film for a career. Long story short, Harding changed my views on the world of graphic design from Photoshop wizards to people that control communication.
While at Harding, the professors encouraged us to sketch. They would want to see 50 sketches and to me, that was almost an insane amount of time and effort. Who really has time to sketch when you have lunch with friends, class at 2, hanging out, and trying to study until 2 am while your roommate blasts rock and terrible country music? I certainly didn’t, and honestly I think some of my early projects suffered from that. What I didn’t understand about sketching is that it’s not an exercise of completing an idea. It’s about cranking out a quick render so you have an idea on paper that you can visit later. For the last year and a half of school, I did sketch more of my ideas for projects and those help me better my work, but I still did not truly understand what I was doing.
Now, I’m still not saying that after a year removed from school, that I can sketch with the best of them, but I have greatly improved. There have been a couple of projects at work that I have had to create, and I forced myself to sketch before I committed. We have a set style of artwork, and it would have been easy to fall back on that, and recreate another logo, just with a different title. I thought and doodled, and came up with a logo that the boss loves. I’d like to show it off here, but I don’t know about the legality of it yet. Sketching for packaging has been very limited here. Most of the dielines have already been created, and we use rectangles and squares for most of the cards. When I do get the chance to create or change the dielines, I love to get creative. This does not entail creating packaging that can’t be produced because it’s too expensive, but creating pieces that help emphasize the product as all packaging should. Enough about work though.
I’ve had some freelance projects come my way, and have been flying through pages in the sketchbook. Taking the pen and book in my hands has been such a great pleasure this year. Here is the revelation of why I have had such a great time with it. The sketches do not matter. They are not seen by the client, unless purposefully shown, and it does not matter if you can’t draw a person’s face, or the line is not straight. All that matters with sketching is getting the idea out of your head so you can visit it later. Fill up a page with as many variations of something as you can, or move on to the next idea on the same page! It does not matter. Putting ink on the paper is important. I’ve heard that some of the great graphic designers do not sketch very well, or very much. This does not excuse me from not sketching, but it provides me with a bit of relief that if they can sort through ideas in their head, I can develop that skill too. I have also told myself not to scratch through anything. That might be one of the worst things to do to sketches. If it was a thought that you felt needed to be committed to paper, then it deserves a clean spot, and should stay there. It might be the best idea down the road.
I still work primarily on the computer though. I sketch, then translate the raw idea into Illustrator by scanning the idea and then developing it further. There are some documents I have that the whole thing is nothing but variations. I honestly could not accomplish that with a pen and paper. There are far to many effects, colors, and fonts that I cannot duplicate by hand. I wish I could work in the days of handmade comps, but if I did I might not be able to make it as a designer. I could adapt, but who knows. I’m just going to say that I am blessed to be in such a tech heavy time as a designer. It makes my job a lot easier, but I have to remember that I need to go back to the pen and paper to start.
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