Top Tags

Tag sketching

New Concept Art DVDs.

When I first became aware of the Gnomon Workshop many years ago, most of my DVD purchases were focused primarily in the 3D realm.  Over the past several years, and especially now, my interest has shifted less from the computer and more towards more “traditional” art and design concepts.  Interestingly enough (and perhaps not surprisingly), I have found my “analog” training over the past several years has given me a new perspective when creating images digitally.

It’s even more interesting that my journey began using mathematics to render shadows, and many years later I am using traditional media to accomplish the same (e.g. Prismacolor and NuPastel).

To continue my education, I recently added several DVDs from the Gnomon Workshop to my collection:

With the near conclusion of Design Drawing I, I plan to explore these videos in more depth and begin to take advantage of the lessons contained within.

Lessons in Efficiency.

I am currently taking “Design Drawing I” – a foundation Industrial Design course at the Academy of Art University.

One of the interesting aspects of this class is that while I am gaining considerable knowledge about perspective drawing, sketching and rendering, one of the foundation lessons involves the development of an efficient sketching workflow.  Understanding the reason behind the prescribed workflow, working within that workflow, and streamlining all aspects of the workflow is key to succeeding in the course (and beyond).

The workflow conveyed in the course typically involves the following four steps:

  1. Thumbnails – very small sketches designed to be created in five minutes or less to determine composition.
  2. Sketching from still life – a loose sketch designed to distinguish light and dark areas.
  3. Drafting – drawing the objects in proper perspective using the life sketch as a reference point.
  4. Final Render – transferring the draft to charcoal paper for the final NuPastel render.

The first several weeks of the course were very challenging for me because while I understood the workflow in principle, I didn’t really grasp the importance of each step until fairly recently.  Because of this lack of awareness, I started to work outside of this workflow.  Not surprisingly, I was less efficient and early on I began to see the class as a “means to an end” vs. the true learning experience I originally signed up for.

Ironically enough, one reason why I originally worked against the workflow was to try to be more efficient.

One of the early lessons in efficiency (i.e. overcoming procrastination) is to “work on the most difficult task first”.  The reasons for doing so are obvious: eliminate your main barrier and everything else will be much easier to complete.  Because of this lesson, I focused on the drafting and render first (the most difficult steps in the above workflow) before spending time on the thumbnails and life sketch.

After realizing my error, I decided to abandon this early efficiency lesson and instead work within the defined workflow.  Due to this change, the past week has been significantly better both in terms of overall (sketch) quality and personal satisfaction.

This concept has applicability to the workplace as well. In general, companies that operate efficiently do better than those that do not.  This is one reason why companies focus their energies on process engineering and process improvement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma – i.e. highly efficient processes mean the company can do more with less (e.g. time, money, resources, etc.), and this makes them more competitive.

As with my experience in the classroom, associates who work outside of or against these established processes (for various reasons) can frequently find this behavior to cause them (and others) greater dissatisfaction and efficiency loss in the long-run.

Perhaps the lesson here is not really about efficiency gain – it’s about understanding what you hope to gain from the experience.  If you are treating the activity as a “means to an end” (e.g. a specific result, grade, etc.) then you will likely be less efficient in the long-run, and you may never achieve your objective.  In contrast, if you operate with the mindset that you are working solely for the experience, your satisfaction will increase and you will be efficient by default.