Q You mean like a sketch on a fag packet sketch or, for our American cousins, a napkin?
A Precisely. We all do it. Designers and engineers tend to draw things out, sketch out a concept, a system, an idea, then use that as a way of recording thoughts. There’s some psychology around the act that says committing a thought to paper allows you to focus. Also, it lets your mind wander.
Q Pens. Paper. Not very ‘techie’ is it? Why are you discussing it in a technology magazine?
A Well, apart from giving us an excuse to wear a beret, listen to Leonard Cohen and smoke Gitanes, there’s a whole bunch of PC and Mac-based sketching systems, not forgetting touch and pen enabled devices such as the iPad and the Wacom products. Even PTC has dragged its digital paint tools from CDRS, a surfacing product it acquired back in 1995, and given them away for free as Creo Sketch.
Q What are the benefits of digital sketching as opposed to the old school method?
A That’s a difficult one to answer. Some are straight sketching systems such as Autodesk SketchBook Pro and SketchBook Pro for the iPad. Some also include vector creation and editing tools such as Alias Designer and Creo Sketch. The key benefits are layers, selection and freedom of brushes, pens, pencils and, of course, editability. The iPad, iPhone and yes, Android apps are intriguing particularly when you combine them with a stylus. There’s also a nifty new device from Wacom that works with a normal pen and your favourite pad to capture sketches in real time and store them as vectors.
Q So should my 0.5 fineliners and Moleskine start expecting more shopping lists and meeting doodles than concept sketches?
A: They’re both safe. We have a discussion going on in our LinkedIn group and it’s clear that while some people are using digital sketching and some providing highly polished sketches to customers, many are sticking with manual methods. As ever, use what you think works best for your workflow and budget. And stay tuned for Al’s feature on digital sketching tools once he’s weened himself off the Magic Markers and accordion music.
Image caption: Wacom’s 24 HD Cintiq tablet display. Take that Biro!
We would love to hear what people are using and where and when?
