How to Draw with the “LEGO Block Technique”

How to Draw an Apple Plug
(with the LEGO Block Sketching Technique)

Today, we draw a plug design by APPLE.
And you learn the Block Sketching Technique.

Study it and it will open in front of you a door
with an infinity of Product sketching possibilities!

To follow this tutorial,
you need to go through the Designer Starter Kit book first
to learn your basics of perspective.

>> Subscribe to my Youtube Channel
>> Get the Designer Starter Kit

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If you are a beginner,
you may feel overwhelmed,
and have no idea how to start.

That’s normal.

This is why I like to decompose
my tutorials into bite-size steps.

In Product Design Sketching,
it is essential to learn how to draw
with simple techniques
to progress fast and draw with efficiency.

This is how your mind gains clarity,
and you increase your skills like crazy!

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I went to a cafe with my laptop and saw my Apple plug standing.
And thought it would be a great sketching tutorial for you today!

You learn how to start drawing anything easily.
How? By decomposing something complex into simple blocks.

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Remember to subscribe to my Youtube channel to get notified of the newest design sketching tutorials.

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We will cover 3 phases:

• Phase 1| Strategy in 2D
• Phase 2| Practice in 3D
• Phase 3| Draw from memory
• BONUS CHALLENGE| Draw from a different angle!

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Observation from side view, where the elements are aligned.

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Beginner’s mistake 1 is to start by drawing the plug itself.

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I don’t recommend you to pick randomly the element to start with.
Try to draw with strategy and set up a sense of order.

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The base is what supports the plug itself.
We should start to draw it before the plug that will connect to it.

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The beginner mistake 2 is to draw what you see using only the outlines.
It often results of clumsy drawings.

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When you draw with strategy, we think with blocks/boxes.
It helps us to simplify a complex subject into very simple forms.

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Instead of thinking with outlines, you think with geometry!
You would be surprised how sketching is actually made of a series of simple rules of geometry.

The learning curve raises when you start to assemble these rules to draw complex forms.

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Let’s jump from the 2D side view to practice drawing in 3D (Perspective drawing).

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Let’s use this photos an underlay. I low the % of opacity a bit.

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Observation exercise:
Spot the converging line using the longest line when possible.
Note: We start here with the base, not with the plug itself.

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If you need to learn the basics of perspective, I created the Designer Starter Kit for you to learn it step-by-step.

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You learn how to draw a cube from any angle!
Here are the 9 main setup to know.
We choose the bottom left configuration for our plug.

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Can you see the similarities?
When you start learning to draw in perspective, memorize the 9 perspectives set up to use as a “mental 3D guide”.

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Remember that the details (plug holes) follow the perspective as well!

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We keep going with the Apple plug (in green) starting with a simple box.

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It is essential to simplify what you see to draw the easy way.
Think you are drawing blocks, then you sculpt to refine, add precision and details.

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For example here, the rounding is actually a “sculpted edge”

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Time to redraw the overall with 2 main boxes.

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Remember to use the contour lines.

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During Phases 1 & 2, we set up our drawing strategy.
We memorized it. It is now time to draw mostly from memory.

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A quick warm-up, is to review the side view with a thumbnail sketch.

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Remember the rule of drawing starting from General to Details.

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We start with the base in perspective.

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We add the plug on top of it.
(Make sure you follow the same perspective)

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The contour lines help to better understand the drawing.

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Follow the tutorial, and you will climb the mountain step-by-step.

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Last touch up is to add the details.

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Congrats!

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Hope you enjoy today tutorial!
Let me know if there is anything you would like to learn by email or in the comments below.

Cheers,
Chou-Tac

PS: Thank you Akram for your kind message on Facebook. 🙂
(Akram is one of my students in my online course Sketch Like The Pros)