crumple it up and throw it away.

April 5, 2017

Recently I took the time to reflect back on a few projects I had the opportunity to be a part of in 2016. Despite the scale and longevity of each, I began to realize how much of an impact the creative process has on the outcome of any project. Throughout the scope of any given project – whether you’re in the beginning stages of a project or iterating on an existing idea, sketching provided the foundation for success.

How do you get to a point where the visual and written languages flow together to create a finished product? After being immersed in the world of digital design for the last few years, I’ve learned that any project starts with the process of sketching. It allows for the exploration of thoughts, promotes collaboration with team members and gives me the ability to further develop an idea before producing a finished product.

I like to think of a sketch as a very rapid, gestural visual that helps to communicate an idea. In the beginning stages of any project I’ll have to go through the ‘crumple it up and throw it away’ phase. Ideas will come and go. For every decent idea, they’ll be a trash can full of unused ideas or attempted experiments. I like to think of each unused idea as a stepping stone thats gets me one step closer to that eureka moment, when everything falls into perspective. Even though not every idea is used, putting the effort into sketching can yield results for future projects too – so save those ideas for a later date!

To assist with sketching I’ve began to compile a list of resources I constantly find myself revisiting for inspiration. These barely scratch the surface when it comes to techniques for rendering both digital and traditional sketches. Some of these resources even involve more in-depth approaches to developing an idea beyond the sketch phase. Hope you enjoy!

www.youtube.com/user/scottrobertsondesign/videos

www.ctrlpaint.com/

www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL/videos

gumroad.com/

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