product design rendering and sketching by product tank

This is a product design sketching and rendering tutorial that I've put together for industrial design students. Sketching is something that I know I should do more of, but we're all busy people, so I've picked up a few drawing and rendering tips along the way to make things faster and look better especially for those of us who know we are not as good as we should be. I would like to thank Ben Davies from Rodd Industrial Design for teaching me most of this stuff, it was a long time ago, but - credit where its due.

In this video I set out how product design presentation sheets used
to be created using pen and marker techniques, which is making a come back at the moment. I then look at the common mistakes we all make from time to time and how to a few simple things will vastly improve the look of your presentation sheets. Finally I focus on how to make a very professional looking product design presentation sheet in a short space of time using Photoshop and then show that even if you prefer to use drawing programs or apps on your tablet or computer, the process is very much the same.

I hope you enjoy the video and if interested in seeing more, hit subscribe, because more good stuff is on its way.

[adammaqboul]

I understand that this is almost 2 years old at this point, but it's exactly what the internet need more of! Precise explanations and just constructive advice! Very helpful!

[TheSunDownProject]

I really appreciate that you don't get tired of saying how it really is. I know it from myself; This amazing skill, I need to aquire it - time? well how about 5-10 minutes? It doesn't work that way... Thanks again for encouraging your viewers to struggle and make progress from sketch to sketch.

[melangleart]

I really like the finish touch of adding pencil for an extra pop of color.

[ZandeKongo]

This is so helpful. I've recently been promoted from a web/graphic designer to an industrial designer, and sketching has always been an issue. So thank you for this.

[miguelk]

galing naman nito.. (This guy is really good)

[bomanijarvis]

Your SUPER TALENTED!
I wish I could do that kind of stuff.

[yassinekabbach]

Hello I Yassin I love design and I have a lot of wonderful designs in the field of military and civil design
I write to you today because I saw your design It's a great idea that I hope really see it in the markets soon, God willing
With the most sincere greetings to you and I wish you success

[Leechtime]

Using a ballpoint like a boss. Some nice advice in this.

[MrLarsson]

This feedback is not in first hand to the author of the video, but to young designers who need to know that the technique showed in the video also has some major cons when using it as a tool in the design process.

Like said in the video, this is very oldschool. I think that you loose a lot in the form experimentation stage when trying to create as few lines as possible in the sketches because you wanna keep them clean and tidy. That's very much focusing too much on getting a nice sketch, which most likely will affect the design in a bad way, especially if you are going to do an overlay of the sketch any way. I prefere to feel free when sketching, often resulting in really dirty sketches with thousands of very light lines, which I then try to clean up a bit when choosing the lines I was happy with, making them stronger. My opinion is that it still can look nice even if it is very sketchy and I agree with the video that the sketches become more interesting when using some variation of the thickness of the lines, for example thicker outlines to make the object pop. I also think that it was a really good point to do some sort of physical model to easier get an understanding of the form before deciding the design. In some projects that irrelevant though, but in the case of a hand held device the ergonomics, as well as the 3D dimensional form is so important that it's almost a must. Clay or PU (Polyuretan) foam or even 3D printing of quickly made CAD models can work as evaluation. Some times you can sketch both with the pen and for example clay and go forth and back between 2D and 3D through the design process.

However I really can't see the point of then creating the presentation material by hand. Maybe the rendering can get a certain hand made/oldschool feeling that can be nice, but when working professionally as a designer it's far more effective to create the presentation images digitally in for example Photoshop with a tablet or a "Cintiq" screen (don't really know a good more general word for them) and it also looks more professional in my oppinion. I would sketch the first sketches, which should be many and present many different variations of the design, by hand or directly in the computer, depending on what I feel most comfortable with. Sometimes it's good to mix different mediums and sketching techniques when sketching form and ideas, because different ways of sketching with certain pens/materials tend to generate different forms and ideas. Then I would use them as underlay and make the final sketch in photoshop and then maybe add some shadow and colour there. If I already like the original sketch I would probably don't care about cleaning it up, but just keep it there and put all the rendering layers on "multiply" (in Photoshop) so that the sketch still will shine through.

If I where to do a proper rendering with no sketch strokes in it I would not even bother doing an overlay on the first messy sketch, as long as it is clear what lines is the ones I should follow. Then I would use that as an underlay and do the rendering directly and when I got the perspective right and had done the major parts of the rendering I would just make the original sketch invisible and not use it any more. A good tip is to flip the canvas every now and then to try to see perspective errors, which really can destroy a sketch, but most of all renderings, and try to correct it using the liquify tool (in Photoshop) and some other tricks ^^ If the rendering should look photo realistic I might also make a quick CAD model, which really doesn't have to have all details in it, and render it in a rendering software, like for example Key Shot, and then use that as a base to build on in Photoshop.

I'm really not fully learned, but I've learned my lessons when trying to learn how to make perfect sketches, and the answer I found was that perfect is really to let it be a bit sketchy and unperfect. Please check out my sketchblog if you are interested!

/Simon Larsson, Industrial Designer at ÅF, Sweden (Graduated from the BA program in Industrial Design at Umeå Institute of Design in 2015)

[ofeenee]

Thank you very much for the video! Great tips! I enjoyed every second of it. I would love to see (and learn) more about the subject.

[benmiosi]

As a creative professional let me just say that your hand skills are not to be discounted. :) Well done!

[arjunadelhy]

I am impressed because all is sow natural

[UisamG]

"dont desing promises that cannot be made" What a quote for the students out there.

[Magsm]

Ugh you make it look so easy ! I hope to be this great a sketcher in the future

[socrates]

Awesome tutorial.. Man, you are really good at drawing curves. Excellent artwork.

[_onlysodo]

This was amazing!
Cant thank you enough for this!

[partickhillstation]

excellent drawing skills and great control of the pen

[novaamor]

"not the best sketcher out there" ... proceeds to draw the perfect line 🤯

[mioncmo]

You make it look so easy I can’t even draw a line without drawing it twice 😭😭

[DSEemployee]

Very clear. To the point. Great video! :D Thanks.