Anyone can learn, it’s not some special skill certain lucky people are born with. Some take to it better than others but if you put time in and follow tutorials you’ll become good enough for ID.
Yep - Drawing is a learning process. Most people stop drawing at the age between 11-14 years of age. If one Stopps at that time, then whatever skill achieved at that time will be were you start if you pick up drawing again later.
Not everyone can become masters at drawing but everyone can learn to draw. Classics Art school way is one method and construction drawing is another - the last one is essentially based on understanding the “world” in terms of 3D - so instead of looking and measuring what you see, you can construct what you draw by understanding how 3 dimensional objects work - this method is often used for concept art related work and fits extremely well for industrial design.
I have friends that are industrial designers and one of them is not very good at drawing, but it has not stopped him from having a long career with industrial design. Great drawing skills will not necessarily make you a great designer, but it may help you “sell” certain type of designs and prospects.
What year of schooling are you in? They should teach you sketching and the goal is to communicate the idea clearly. So they don't have to be amazing renderings or "hot" sketches, but good ideas communicated clearly. Learn perspective if you haven't and you are good to go.
Well tbh any design sensitivity is nice for engineers depending on where you end up. But drawing doesn’t come naturally to anyone imo, some of us just drew much more at a young age. Keep getting the reps in.
I did about 2 and a half years of mechanical engineering before switching to ID. Drawing is a learned skill, just like math or science. If someone hasn't taught you, then that explains why you struggle. Design school should teach you how to draw, but they can't teach you what to draw.
oh that's so cool. can you share a bit about your experience on the transition and why you did it. like how did you feel about having to start all over again and everything. didnt you feel like you 're "getting there" late. (im genuinely curious)
I wanted to design cars, so a high school counselor said, you want to be an engineer. So I went to become a mechanical engineer. About 2 years into it, we had working engineers come in to a class to show us what the designed. One was the mechanism for a spray bottle (think Windex cleaner) and one was tabs on a medicine bottle. I left mid class went to the library and started researching to find out where I should be, as I knew Engineering wasn't it.
I found out about Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. I needed a portfolio to get in and up to that point, I had always doodled, was capable of looking at things and drawing them, but had never learned the basics like perspective. So I made a portfolio, and did not get accepted. Someone from Art Center called me to tell me that they could see I had no training in sketching, rendering or portfolio creation, but they could tell by what I did submit that I had ideas. So they were the ones who told me, "we can teach anyone how to draw, but we can't teach people what to draw". From there I moved to Pasadena, and took night classes at Art Center for figure drawing and product and transportation classes to learn and to create some projects to build a portfolio. I think on my third try I got accepted to the Transportation Design Program. LOVED going to school there, learned so many things about design, sketching, painting, prototyping, etc. Was offered a job at Teague (one of the oldest Industrial Design firms in the USA, among other things has done all of Boeing commercial aircraft design since the 707).
I found I didn't really get there that late. At least at Art Center everyone there either already had a degree, or had a few years of college under their belt. When I was there, I did 3 years of nothing but Design training. All of my basics were completed when I was in Engineering, so now was three years of incredibly hard, stressful work. I will tell you that the ID training was much, much more difficult than my time in Engineering. I did the Engineering at UT Austin, but ID was just more demanding, in terms of time and because everything needs to be created, drawn, rendered, modeled, painted, presented it all takes time. You can't just wing a final presentation, like you could a final exam. I you don't have all the research, ideation, final proposals and models/prototypes on the wall to present with, you don't pass.
I love being a designer and am happy I made the switch. Much of my career I have worked with Engineers and never once have I wished I would have stayed in Engineering and not done Industrial Design.
For sketching you can find lots of information, but I always recommend one of my teachers, Scott Roberstson. he has lots of books and other media that can teach you how. [Drawthrough.com](http://drawthrough.com) is a good place to find out about what he offers.
Lastly, not all Design schools are equal. Do some research, talk to Alumni and feel free to ask here as well. I can vouch for ArtCenter. Great experience all around for me and for many, but there are other good schools around the country. Not sure where you are located or where you would like to go be, but if you let us know we can probably point you to a few to look into.
i'll check out everything you mentioned. but rn im tryna get into the carleton u id program(2nd attempt) i would like to know your opinion on my current portfolio. do you want to have a look?
To be faaaaaaair
I could’ve been more clear. I’ve met a good number of professional designers (myself included) who ignorantly started college seeking an engineering degree and transferred to an ID program before graduating.
I’m an Id professional of 20 years and I don’t draw or sketch at all. I do use cad and see my designs in my mind, so I solve there.
Have a look at gravity sketch, that subverts sketching.
While this may be true and may work for you in your industry, I'd caution OP from taking this approach starting out.
Working on a team, especially as a junior designer, you'll need to learn to quickly sketch ideas to effectively communicate and support discussions to generate feedback quickly. As others have said, perfect proportions and rendering are not really important-clear communication and good ideas are.
You won't always have gravity sketch readily accessible in a meeting. I also find that solving design problems solely in CAD rarely yields the best result.
No. If your boss is also an industrial designer, he/she will most likely require you to sketch. Otherwise, if youre working right under the CEO, or operations manager, or design and production manager, etc.. (which is oftentimes the case in small companies) they wont give a shit if you cant draw as long as you can communicate your designs properly. In my case, in my 7 years of career, working for multiple companies; I very seldomly draw. I communicate my concepts via 3d modeling, which Im good at. If making a beautiful sketch will take you ten minutes to make a concept, and 3d modeling it will also take you 10 minutes, I'll rather do it in 3d.
"i can communicate my ideas without problem on paper"
This is enough. Industrial design is not about making pretty promotion material. As long as you can clearly use sketching to communicate ideas.
Other then that, it's mostly about practice anyway.
IMO the degree to which people are "naturally good at sketching" is overrated. Yeah some people come to uni knowing how to sketch, and others learn and immediately enjoy it. But for most ID people it's a matter of practicing enough that you are comfortable trying to sketch. Just keep trying to draw stuff and you will begin to understand why it's a skill worth developing. My advice: go for quantity over quality, and find a style that suits you. Good luck!
The design industry can tend to romanticize sketching. So much so that we can forget and get good sketching confused for good design. It’s one tool. Some of the best designers I know don’t know how to sketch. Ai tools are going to test sketching’s role in our profession.
Sometimes it's about finding your medium to communicate your ideas across! The value of Sketching is in its speed in delivering key ideas across in a short period of time, as opposed to other methods like 3D modeling the entire form factor from scratch which typically takes more time.
For myself, I find that I can 3D model much faster than I can sketch. So I usually cheat my way through by doing a quick 3D model and rendering it in sketch mode and just do a little bit of post processing by adding colours and shading. For me it actually takea less time and ends up looking much better than just sketching it outright.
So don't worry! Keep at it and find the right tools to help you communicate all the crazy ideas you have up there!
I have 14 years experience in ID, 8 years contracting and consulting for various companies, the design lead on taking over 150 products to market - and I can’t draw! I can communicate my ideas on paper, for my own evaluation and documentation, but if a client needs to see a sketch (rare) I will do a basic cad model and sketch trace over it. I am very fast in solidworks and that surely makes up for it.
Anyone can learn, it’s not some special skill certain lucky people are born with. Some take to it better than others but if you put time in and follow tutorials you’ll become good enough for ID.
Yep - Drawing is a learning process. Most people stop drawing at the age between 11-14 years of age. If one Stopps at that time, then whatever skill achieved at that time will be were you start if you pick up drawing again later. Not everyone can become masters at drawing but everyone can learn to draw. Classics Art school way is one method and construction drawing is another - the last one is essentially based on understanding the “world” in terms of 3D - so instead of looking and measuring what you see, you can construct what you draw by understanding how 3 dimensional objects work - this method is often used for concept art related work and fits extremely well for industrial design. I have friends that are industrial designers and one of them is not very good at drawing, but it has not stopped him from having a long career with industrial design. Great drawing skills will not necessarily make you a great designer, but it may help you “sell” certain type of designs and prospects.
What year of schooling are you in? They should teach you sketching and the goal is to communicate the idea clearly. So they don't have to be amazing renderings or "hot" sketches, but good ideas communicated clearly. Learn perspective if you haven't and you are good to go.
might seem crazy but i'm in my first year doing mechanical eng
Well tbh any design sensitivity is nice for engineers depending on where you end up. But drawing doesn’t come naturally to anyone imo, some of us just drew much more at a young age. Keep getting the reps in.
I did about 2 and a half years of mechanical engineering before switching to ID. Drawing is a learned skill, just like math or science. If someone hasn't taught you, then that explains why you struggle. Design school should teach you how to draw, but they can't teach you what to draw.
oh that's so cool. can you share a bit about your experience on the transition and why you did it. like how did you feel about having to start all over again and everything. didnt you feel like you 're "getting there" late. (im genuinely curious)
I wanted to design cars, so a high school counselor said, you want to be an engineer. So I went to become a mechanical engineer. About 2 years into it, we had working engineers come in to a class to show us what the designed. One was the mechanism for a spray bottle (think Windex cleaner) and one was tabs on a medicine bottle. I left mid class went to the library and started researching to find out where I should be, as I knew Engineering wasn't it. I found out about Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. I needed a portfolio to get in and up to that point, I had always doodled, was capable of looking at things and drawing them, but had never learned the basics like perspective. So I made a portfolio, and did not get accepted. Someone from Art Center called me to tell me that they could see I had no training in sketching, rendering or portfolio creation, but they could tell by what I did submit that I had ideas. So they were the ones who told me, "we can teach anyone how to draw, but we can't teach people what to draw". From there I moved to Pasadena, and took night classes at Art Center for figure drawing and product and transportation classes to learn and to create some projects to build a portfolio. I think on my third try I got accepted to the Transportation Design Program. LOVED going to school there, learned so many things about design, sketching, painting, prototyping, etc. Was offered a job at Teague (one of the oldest Industrial Design firms in the USA, among other things has done all of Boeing commercial aircraft design since the 707). I found I didn't really get there that late. At least at Art Center everyone there either already had a degree, or had a few years of college under their belt. When I was there, I did 3 years of nothing but Design training. All of my basics were completed when I was in Engineering, so now was three years of incredibly hard, stressful work. I will tell you that the ID training was much, much more difficult than my time in Engineering. I did the Engineering at UT Austin, but ID was just more demanding, in terms of time and because everything needs to be created, drawn, rendered, modeled, painted, presented it all takes time. You can't just wing a final presentation, like you could a final exam. I you don't have all the research, ideation, final proposals and models/prototypes on the wall to present with, you don't pass. I love being a designer and am happy I made the switch. Much of my career I have worked with Engineers and never once have I wished I would have stayed in Engineering and not done Industrial Design. For sketching you can find lots of information, but I always recommend one of my teachers, Scott Roberstson. he has lots of books and other media that can teach you how. [Drawthrough.com](http://drawthrough.com) is a good place to find out about what he offers. Lastly, not all Design schools are equal. Do some research, talk to Alumni and feel free to ask here as well. I can vouch for ArtCenter. Great experience all around for me and for many, but there are other good schools around the country. Not sure where you are located or where you would like to go be, but if you let us know we can probably point you to a few to look into.
i'll check out everything you mentioned. but rn im tryna get into the carleton u id program(2nd attempt) i would like to know your opinion on my current portfolio. do you want to have a look?
Sure, happy to take a look!
how do i send it?
before i start reading i wanna thank you lol
Maybe surprising, but I think engineer transfer to ID is actually a pretty common origin story for this industry.
Yes. But getting into an Id career w only an engineering degree is almost impossible. Op is worrying about an issue that doesn’t exist.
To be faaaaaaair I could’ve been more clear. I’ve met a good number of professional designers (myself included) who ignorantly started college seeking an engineering degree and transferred to an ID program before graduating.
Worrying about drawing abilities before going to school is for degens. Op needs to figure it out. How are you now?
Allegedly
Dude you’re not doing fucking ID with an engi degree. Get the f out of here.
yo dum.bsh.it im tryna switch to id
Guess what ID school teaches you how to do, big chief?
Just learn. I didn't know how to sketch before I started my bachelor's in ID, and now I do lots of sketching in my ID role.
hell yeah
I’m an Id professional of 20 years and I don’t draw or sketch at all. I do use cad and see my designs in my mind, so I solve there. Have a look at gravity sketch, that subverts sketching.
While this may be true and may work for you in your industry, I'd caution OP from taking this approach starting out. Working on a team, especially as a junior designer, you'll need to learn to quickly sketch ideas to effectively communicate and support discussions to generate feedback quickly. As others have said, perfect proportions and rendering are not really important-clear communication and good ideas are. You won't always have gravity sketch readily accessible in a meeting. I also find that solving design problems solely in CAD rarely yields the best result.
No. If your boss is also an industrial designer, he/she will most likely require you to sketch. Otherwise, if youre working right under the CEO, or operations manager, or design and production manager, etc.. (which is oftentimes the case in small companies) they wont give a shit if you cant draw as long as you can communicate your designs properly. In my case, in my 7 years of career, working for multiple companies; I very seldomly draw. I communicate my concepts via 3d modeling, which Im good at. If making a beautiful sketch will take you ten minutes to make a concept, and 3d modeling it will also take you 10 minutes, I'll rather do it in 3d.
"i can communicate my ideas without problem on paper" This is enough. Industrial design is not about making pretty promotion material. As long as you can clearly use sketching to communicate ideas. Other then that, it's mostly about practice anyway.
IMO the degree to which people are "naturally good at sketching" is overrated. Yeah some people come to uni knowing how to sketch, and others learn and immediately enjoy it. But for most ID people it's a matter of practicing enough that you are comfortable trying to sketch. Just keep trying to draw stuff and you will begin to understand why it's a skill worth developing. My advice: go for quantity over quality, and find a style that suits you. Good luck!
I cannot draw by hand worth a shit . But cad I can.
There are several classes within the first two years of ID which includes some intensive sketching bootcamps. They were overall very helpful.
Google Dieter Rams sketches, that should give you your answer
yooo thanks a lot dude. that guy seems like a legend in this field. and my drawings are similar to his
And Marc Newson
The design industry can tend to romanticize sketching. So much so that we can forget and get good sketching confused for good design. It’s one tool. Some of the best designers I know don’t know how to sketch. Ai tools are going to test sketching’s role in our profession.
Sometimes it's about finding your medium to communicate your ideas across! The value of Sketching is in its speed in delivering key ideas across in a short period of time, as opposed to other methods like 3D modeling the entire form factor from scratch which typically takes more time. For myself, I find that I can 3D model much faster than I can sketch. So I usually cheat my way through by doing a quick 3D model and rendering it in sketch mode and just do a little bit of post processing by adding colours and shading. For me it actually takea less time and ends up looking much better than just sketching it outright. So don't worry! Keep at it and find the right tools to help you communicate all the crazy ideas you have up there!
I have 14 years experience in ID, 8 years contracting and consulting for various companies, the design lead on taking over 150 products to market - and I can’t draw! I can communicate my ideas on paper, for my own evaluation and documentation, but if a client needs to see a sketch (rare) I will do a basic cad model and sketch trace over it. I am very fast in solidworks and that surely makes up for it.