Basic Drawing For Design
Hey everybody, here’s another video how-to.
Many non-designers assume that you have to really know how to draw to design good business cards, brochures or newsletters, and that’s not the case at all. When I got my first paying gig as a production artist I became frustrated over time because I didn’t get to draw anything. After all, that’s why I got into the business in the first place. I loved to draw. And even after making Lead Designer years later, I still didn’t do much drawing or illustrative work. The fact is, illustrations are only incorporated into a few projects that pass through a studio. A lot of time photos and graphical images are used. So you see, drawing is only a part of graphic design. Now it doesn’t hurt to be able to sketch a anatomically correct figure from memory, but it’s not a deal breaker if you can’t. In this video I’ll show you that if you can draw basic shapes you can design.
Before you hire a Graphic Artist…
There are many things to consider when looking for a Graphic Designer to take on your project. But before you start checking Designers off your list, you may want to check yourself. What I mean by this is that there are some points about yourself you’ll need to consider.
Ask yourself, “what are my needs?” “Well duh”, you may say, “that’s simple…I need a logo”. But that’s only the end product. Have you thought about the steps in between? Will you want to be involved in every aspect of the projects development, or are you just too busy to bother? The Designer you choose should have the flexibility to go either way.
Keep in mind that if you expect to be involved from start to finish, this may require more time and therefore more money. Make sure the price quoted reflects this. Case in point. I was hired to design a logo for a person that had this “vision” in their head and wanted to turn it into a logo for a website. After two meetings and many phone conversations explaining the details of my progress, we finally got a clear direction for the design and were well on our way to completion. I didn’t mind holding my clients hand through the process, that’s part of my job and they were willing to pay for it. But then it happened. (more…)
Not an Artist? Being Handy May be Enough.
At the heart of this site is the goal of inspiration for the Do-It-Yourselfer. Right off the bat, one of the first things that comes to mind when I think about helping you complete your design project is that you must have a can do attitude.
I’ve always been the kind of person that will Find-A-Way regardless of the circumstances. I may not have the right tools for the job, but when I get through you’ll never know. Growing up in a household where we didn’t always have much, my brother and I learned to make do with what we had. We couldn’t get the real G.I. Joe action figures, so we settled for the cheap molded plastic army men and had just as much fun using our creativity to build forts and little vehicles for them. Dad couldn’t afford to buy us new bikes, but we watched him collect (more…)
