1. Foundations

In this video, I took a rough drawing from a sketch book and run through the paces of finishing a concept all the way through its’ production. To elevate your skill level to being a competent draftsmen on par with the professionals that you may encounter everyday or artist that inspire you, work on many iterative designs on a sketchbook rather than digital. There are no shortcuts to learning nuanced points of structure, shading and composition.

Advantages to working on what is considered the old analog way rather than digital :

• A sketchbook is handy to get those points across without the hassle of setting up your digital tablet device or laptop combined with a graphics tablet or an on-screen tablet.

• These gadgets do improve productivity but one drawback to this is that you have no tangible account of your work, it is instead imprisoned in those ones and zeros.

• Invest in a sketchbook and draw everyday is my advice to anyone who are on the fence to go all digital.

My personal preference are cheap spiraled sketchbooks where there are no frills of the optional perforated pages or fancy hardcover with a saddle stitched bound with an integrated book marker. The reasons for these differing distinctive qualities in sketchbooks are is one that would like a formal display of thei visual diary of your personal growth as an artist. The first few pages where all very scratchy rough renderings. After 10 drawings into the sketchbook, you will notice your lines getting tighter and an introduction to shading in some of the drawings. Twenty drawings into the sketch book you begin experimenting with different media, in my case different leads ranging from 4H, 2H, HB and 2B. These different grades of lead are from darkest to lightest.