I like to do some “sketch hacking”. I take a technique somewhere to import and improve my Product Design sketching skills.

It might be how designers create there own style anyway. But for me, I intend to provoke it, and make it continuously evolving.

That’s something I hope you will enjoy doing as well.

Quick sketching is fascinating for the movement and posture you give to people. I usually quick sketch in the street or watching movies, but I started by something very challenging ! Drawing dancers.

Nicki Minaj – Anaconda – Choreography by Tricia Miranda.

I usually draw from video without pausing. This time round, I cheated and made an exception. The poses change so fast and are so unusual to me that my brain couldn’t remember much.

Why ? Because in real life, people body posture follow a common body language. You know when someone is sad, his back tend to curve.

If he’s happy, his torso will rise, and so on. It’s a kind of “pre-existing template” that all of us are familiar with. Here, the dancers’ choreography breaks all these codes, and creates a total new body language.

So, the biggest challenge I train here is: instant memory.


To achieve that, your first line is the MOST important.

Don’t try to reproduce exactly what you see, but a movement. With more practice, you will gain in accuracy.  Observe and catch the energy from the body movement. When you got it, trace it.

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Once again, I would like to mention that feeling the movement is important. Enjoy the music, let it drives you and your lines will follow the rhythm. If you can, rise the volume of the music loud.

In quick sketching, we love exaggerating the body movement to make it more expressive. It’s a common technique used in comics. The trick to make it even more dynamic, is to play with the movement of the hair. Make sure, it goes in the right direction.

I saw this video in my Facebook feed. This video became viral and I actually immediately liked it! Maybe because it’s from Japan.

Aya Sato, workshop

I never saw such dance before. Have a look, the young gothic duet is hypnotic.

It’s up to you to define the level of details. In quick sketching, the rule is “Less is more”. Once again, no rubber is allowed. Imagine in your mind each curve before tracing it. The challenge is to do it fast before you forget the next lines.


I will carry on dance study. I want to be able to CATCH ANY INSTANT moment, and be able to reproduce it on paper. If I can do this, drawing people in the street will be a “piece of cake” !

If you don’t know how to draw people, it’s interesting to experiment live drawing. It’s a good exercise for practicing your sense of proportion. It will get naturally better. Many urban sketchers have no clue about body proportion, and for x reason the result looks nice. Once again, don’t stay in that “comfort zone” too long. To learn Design Sketching, accuracy is important.

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Always challenge yourself to target the next level. Keep this in mind and this step-by-step journey will bring you very far.

Time to open YouTube!

Choose a choreography you like, and try ! Then let us a comment to share your impressions.

RELATED ARTICLE:
To know more about sketching live people: My very first TIP 1 of the 365 KEEP SKETCHING CHALLENGE!

Where I sketched my friends playing football in Ho Chi Minh, with my digital graphic tablet and Sketchbook Pro.

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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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  • 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
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  • 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
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  • 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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