How to Sharpen your Sense of Proportion as a Designer

Mastering Proportions in Design Sketching: A Quick Guide

Do your sketches look out of scale? And you are looking to elevate your design sketching skills?

One of the most crucial aspects of creating accurate and visually appealing sketches is mastering proportions. In this tutorial, we’ll explore a simple yet powerful technique to sharpen your sense of proportion, as featured in the Designer Starter Kit.

Feel free to download it and find the right elements for a good start in Design sketching.

How to Sharpen your Sense of Proportion

The Power of Halving

The key to achieving quick and accurate proportions lies in a surprisingly simple technique: dividing objects by half. This method offers several advantages over traditional guesswork:

1. Efficiency: Halving is much faster and more precise than incrementally estimating proportions.
2. Speed: By reducing the thinking process, you’ll significantly increase your sketching speed.
3. Accuracy: This technique allows for more precise estimations without the need for rulers.

Simple division exercise:

To obtain quick and fast proportions, take the good habit of dividing things by half.
It is much more efficient and accurate than guessing by incrementation (in pink).

Doing so, you will rise your sketching speed. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not about tracing your lines faster but reducing your time of thinking process. With this technique, you get instantaneous results. Some more, you won’t need any ruler.

Applying the Technique

To put this method into practice, follow these steps:

1. Start with a basic shape: Begin with the overall form of your object.
2. Divide in half: Visually split the shape into two equal parts.
3. Repeat: Continue dividing each section in half as needed.
4. Refine: Use these divisions as guidelines to sketch your final design.

Why It Works

This technique is particularly effective because:

• Symmetry in nature: Many objects in our world are symmetrical, making this method widely applicable.
• Instant results: You’ll get immediate feedback on your proportions, allowing for quick adjustments.
• Versatility: This skill can be applied to various design elements and objects.

Practicing the Technique

To hone your skills:

1. Grab your tools: All you need is a pen and some paper.
2. Start simple: Begin with straight lines then basic shapes and gradually move to more complex objects.
3. Increase speed: As you become more comfortable, try to divide shapes more quickly.
4. Observe your surroundings: Practice visually dividing objects in your environment.

Most of the things on earth are symmetrical.

So this technique gets really powerful to estimate proportions.

Beyond the Basics

As you master this technique, you’ll find that it becomes an intuitive part of your sketching process.
This will allow you to:

• Sketch faster: Reduce time spent on proportion calculations.
• Improve accuracy: Create more realistic and balanced designs.
• Enhance creativity: Focus more on design ideas rather than technical aspects.

Conclusion

Mastering proportions through the halving technique is a game-changer for design sketching. By incorporating this simple yet effective method into your practice, you’ll notice significant improvements in both the speed and accuracy of your sketches. Remember, like any skill, it takes practice to perfect. So grab your sketchbook and start dividing!

Don’t forget to download the Designer Starter Kit for more exercises and tips to jumpstart your design sketching journey

Happy sketching!

Cheers,
Chou-Tac

Previous video tutorials:

1. How to draw straight lines
2. How to draw perfect squares
3. How to draw awesome circles