As a photographer, I’ve got used to hearing that “the best camera is the one you have with you” and up to a point, I agree. For most things, capturing the moment is what’s important, and the quality or fidelity of the resulting shot is secondary.
Similarly, as a UX professional, I can sketch with whatever stylus and surface happens to be available at the time because communicating the idea is often more important than the aesthetic quality or fidelity of the resulting sketch.
Lately though, I’ve been thinking a bit about how I can improve my sketching ability and make life a bit easier for myself while improving my sketch-based communication.
Now, it’s no secret to anyone who’s ever worked with me (even for a very short time) that I have something of a stationery fetish, so it’s not like I ever need an excuse to buy more/different/better supplies, but I’ve been experimenting with different pens, to see which ones work best, and in which situation.
Making a Point
For a while, I’ve been using a set of Stabilo 88 Pens that I got from Sainsbury’s and they’re fine up to a point, partly because of their fine point.
They’re great for taking notes, sketching in Moleskines and for adding fine detail to larger sketches, but they’re not so good when you’ve got a whopping great expanse of Goldline Marker pad and you’re trying to quickly get an idea across.
Enter the Sharpie
If getting engaged was the most exciting bit of my trip to San Francisco last summer, browsing the stationery section of WalMart is definitely up there in the top five.
I was persuaded that 24 colours of Sharpie were more than enough and returned to the UK with more colours than are available on this side of the pond, and I’m really glad that I did, because they’ve got me through a couple of fairly sketch intensive projects.
The downside to this is that I’ve discovered that I like to sketch in grey/pastels rather than black/brights and I’ve completely knackered the two grey pens and now can’t get hold of replacements.
Fiddlesticks.
The Sharpies also start off nicely sharp and then get blunt, meaning if you’re doing a set of sketch based paper prototypes, the last sketches are often less detailed and neat than the first ones.
So, they’re not perfect either.
Double the Fun
Most recently, I was in a craft shop and wandered across Copic Ciao Markers, which are double pointed and bought a few, in the colours I thought would be most appropriate for the work I’ve been doing recently: black, two greys, two blues, a green, a red and a yellow.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realise the tip I thought was Sharpie-like was actually more of a brush. It’s not a huge deal-breaker, but it’s just not quite what I was hoping for. They’re still nice pens though.
Three’s a crowd?
After a bit of a conversation with m’colleague Fred I was reminded of Letraset Tria markets, which have three nibs.
I’d seen them before but always written them off as too expensive, but that was before I found Cowling & Wilcox and their better than half price sale.
Needless to say, I fell in love at first sight.
After a bit of dithering, I bought the Product Design set, because I felt like it would give me the best range of colours for sketching in greyscale as well as a decent range of colours for adding meaning, where appropriate.
I haven’t had much of a change to use these in anger yet, but I’m hoping with the double whammy of being able to a) refill them and b) get new nibs for them, they’ll last me for years and be worth the investment.
I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours
Of course, tools are a very personal thing, and while I think this might be the thing that works for me, I’m always interested in how other people work.
What’s your “Go To” sketching kit?
I use loads of sharpies and I have more pencils than any human being could require (I tend to buy technical drawing pencil sets more than sketch though- I prefer a harder lead). Sharpies are just great for strengh of colour, but I find their palette limiting for anything serious.
I recently bought a load of Letraset Promarkers, though, and am experimenting with them (I’ll be using them on vinyl and maybe also on bristol board, but they work on just about any medium). They come in much more subtle tones and can be shaded/blended, streak-free and are double ended. A lot of people appear to use them for comic/cartooning. I’ll flickr results as I get stuff finished. I bought 11 single colours (in the vague schema I needed for my Trikky project) plus a blender pen for £23 (inc. p&p).
Would be interested to know how stuff turns out with the Tria markers – are they essentially the same as Promarkers under the plastic?
Hey Ann,
Traditionally using 20cm square ringbound booklets and pencil. Interestingly, I’m moving more and more over to my new Livescribe pen and pads. Originally for note taking during meetings as it records the conversation, but now doing basic sketch layouts as these are *so* easy to transfer to the Mac from the pad. These then get uploaded to Base Camp (and Dropbox) so I’ve always got a reference wherever I am. Highly recomened!!
Keith.
After hearing about Sharpies from my friends in the US, I discovered an art store here in Copenhagen (Tutein and Koch) that sold Twin Tip Sharpies – one pen with a super fine tip and a, I guess, normal tip. I love them, but they bleed through the paper. I had an A3 drawing pad and was dismayed to find markings on the second page. I didn’t think I pressed hard and don’t want to be thinking about pen pressure as I write. I’ve dug out the kids’ old colored pencils, but many are too faint to see and I must press hard on even darker colors. I am leaning toward old-fashioned real pencils with a very few colors on the side for highlights or whatever. People rave about using tons of colors, so I am personally relieved and feel justified to see that you choose to limit your range.
Oooh nice – thx for the half price pen link – consider them ordered. Been after a set of greys for ages, and found them always overpriced.
I use either red n black spiral bound for rough ideas and notes, and for UI sketching I use whitelines notebooks and a black ink pentel.
I also love using 6 up templates.
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