It’s late at night, it’s quiet and I suddenly saw a small booklet I handmade with watercolour paper and a golden pliers I bought at Tokyu Hands shop. I grab the closest ballpoint pen I see and sketch.

Sketching is like practicing sport. Start with a warm up!

My first lines are a bit rigid. So I relax my wrist and start sketching with a light pen pressure. Slowly, my lines get more confident meanwhile my hand muscles are warming up. It’s like starting any sport session, with a good warm up. You can feel free to sketch a series of ellipses, circles and straight lines for 5 minutes for example.

Adidas sneaker ball point pen design sketching the design sketchbook Chou-Tac Chung
Can you spot the different line weight?

There is an other reason why you should start sketching with a light pen pressure. Whenever you draw with a ball point pen. Start your first construction lines very lightly. So you can slowly bold your lines along the way. This is how you will make your sketch of product much more comprehensive.

If like many beginner, you start straight away with bold lines, your sketch will easily get overwhealming.

Remember that I don’t want you to erase, but keep iterating on top of your sketch. We are human, not machine. So whenever our lines get approximative, improve it. Drawing is somehow like sculpting. We start with a main shape, that we refine along the way.

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This is why in Product design sketching, it’s always great to learn with NO pencil neither eraser. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we should bannish it forever. But as a beginner, you will take good habits with a pen.

Make sure to choose a pen with good pressure sensitivity.

Choose any ball point pen that gives good pressure sensitivity, or a felt pen such as a the Stabilo Stylist for example. Try avoidind Gel pen that are “mono pressure”.

Adidas sneaker ball point pen design sketching the design sketchbook Chou-Tac Chung c
Nothing beat the feel of a ballpoint pen drawing on paper =P

Iterating is the fastest way to gain your confidence while you draw and not being afraid of making mistakes anymore.

Be proud of your mistakes! They help you improve.

At school, we learned that making mistakes was “bad” and they deserved to be erased to be replaced. This is why you neeed to twist your mindset. In sketching, it’s recommended to keep the mistakes you do and correct on top of your lines. Why? Because every single sketch you do wil help you get the next one even better! Keep track of them, don’t be ashame of them. Learn from them and you will keep progressing.

Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any question in the comments. See you!

Cheers,
Chou-Tac

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Hello! I'm Chou-Tac, a Product Designer from France.

If the sketching methods I’ve acquired aid me in my life and in my industrial design career, I believe that they can also help you reach your dream goal as a student or professional designer.

Leave a comment in the blog or send me an email at choutac@thedesignsketchbook.com : )

Chou-Tac

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  • yazid: “jaime le dessin de designJul 16, 05:38
  • Dharanii: “i found. this. through chatgptJul 15, 22:34
  • Sam: “From the US. I want to become an industrial designer but I need to get thoughts out of my head.…Jul 15, 08:40
  • Samuel Adeniji: “Lagos, Nigeria. It is important for me to learn how to sketch to visually explore and communicate ideasJul 14, 06:26
  • Sajid Munir: “Live in the UAE, am 50 years old. Want to learn so I can be busy in my lonely time.…Jul 13, 12:28
  • Jarul Thakur: “I’m an international student from India, currently in my first year studying interior design in Malaysia. I truly believe that…Jul 12, 00:17
  • BSwin: “This post is super helpful! The Random Product Technique sounds like a fun way to spark creativity and break through…Jul 11, 02:36
  • Mark Thompson: “I m 59 South African I love drawing but have bad habits. I want to start from scratch as though…Jul 9, 17:04
  • Mark Thompson: “I m 59 I love drawing but have bad habits. I want to start from scratch as though I am…Jul 9, 17:03
  • Sam Grosjean: “Pensacola, FL 22 years old I want to bring my ideas and imagination to paper. I did a Google search.Jul 8, 19:46
  • Jo: “Hi, Australia, 50, Im looking for a new hobby, I remember loving to draw when I was younger So hoping…Jul 8, 17:35
  • Spencer: “Austin, TX 50 yrs old I want a way to bring my creations to life I found your blog searching…Jul 8, 10:44
  • Chou-Tac: “I just replied in your email Dion. :)Jul 6, 17:02
  • Dion Lee Uren: “My days are short, I have bowl cancer & before I part this earth always loved to draw muscle cars…Jul 6, 16:28
  • Rashon Richardson: “1 – Florida. 19. 2 – currently studying to be an electrical engineer but I have an interest for designing…Jul 6, 02:07
  • Chou-Tac: “My pleasure Linda. I do have some content about Urban sketching. Hope it helps! Feel free to leave me a…Jul 5, 21:37
  • Adam: “I’m 40 y.o. from Czech. I need to improve to visualize my sketches. I dicover this from Google.Jul 5, 13:06
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