New Sketchbook Pages

I have been very behind with my design blog postings, but rest assured I am still working on a lot of projects and will be posting updates soon! In the meantime, I have had some requests to place some more images of my sketchbook. When I was in Washington visiting Chandler O'Leary, I did a sketch every day and it was wonderful. The two of us sat in various locations and did drawings while we made each other laugh with mindless talking. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and catching some inspiration.

The locations are located in the lower right hand side of each sketch.





I always feel that my desire to become a designer stemmed from my love of drawing. I am amazed at all of my artistic friends and their wide range of styles when sketching. Each person brings their own background and technique to the medium. Almost universally though, they carry a sketchbook and use it all the time. I have a couple that I use for different purposes. One is for my work notes and layout thoughts for freelance work. The other one is strictly for my own design endeavors and internal concepts. The one shown here is just for pencil sketches of various places I am traveling to or visit during my day.

Even though our field has been changed and adapted by technology, drawing is still such a vital skill for staying fresh creatively and also learning to express your ideas in a quick, visual format. The ideas in design and art cannot be replaced by the computer, which is an extension tool after the concepts have been explored.

My strong feelings about staying fresh through other mediums, like sketching, most likely come from my father who is an architect in the city and still draws all of his renderings and plans by hand, with minimal tools (besides pens, a straight edge, markers and colored pencils). He was always told in college that architects need to know how to draw. Through his example, I was exposed to some great techniques and I think some of my own drawing style is influenced by him. Here are some examples of his work.






I also was influenced again when I went to the Rhode Island School of Design and my graphic design teachers pushed learning by hand before relying on the computer. Having a strong eye and exceptional technique came before execution of the final product. Strong concepts and messaging were the foundation of good design, not necessarily personal visual aesthetics.

While my sketches are not always design related, I always keep these lessons in mind. It can be extremely refreshing to return to simple expressions of visual understanding.