Now let's review some 2D drawing and construction methods.

We're going to practice ideation sketches (a.k.a. thumbnails).

Ideation sketching is "Thinking through Drawing". We use ideation sketches to generate as many ideas as we can.

These can be in 2D or 3D.

Today we will be focusing on 2D.


General rules are:

  • Each thumbnail can take up to 30 seconds to create but you should not spend more than 5 minutes total on any one thumbnail (30sec - 5min)

  • Each thumbnail is generally no larger than 1"x1" to 3"x3"

  • You should not do major corrections (fixing mistakes or major erasures) with thumbnails (That's right! You heard me!)

  • Ideation is an exercise in volume not quality. The more the better

  • Ideation should explore different solutions to your design challenges. Use your sketches to explore as many possibilities as you can.

Here is an example of Furniture Designer quickly ideating different iterations of a chair. They start with a simple idea on the left side and quickly iterate and vary the design. Each thumbnail stems from that original shape on the right. Notice how so many different ideas can be explored with just a few lines.


You can see how the designer used "Drawing as a means of Thinking". They started from a simple shape and explored.

Your first idea for a design may be "Good" but it's almost always not your "Best" idea. Use drawing to find your BEST ideas.

Exercise: Waterbottle exploration


We are going to start drawing our own water bottle, and then start exploring ideas for NEW water bottles.

  1. If you have a water bottle, please put it up on your work desk. If you do not, please pull an image of a water bottle up online.

  2. Take out (or turn to) a fresh sheet of paper and get out a drawing utensil

  3. Use the 2D construction method to draw it in a Front view on the upper left corner of your page.

  • Remember these are fast and unedited thumbnails so this should about a minute

  • You will end up with a lot of construction lines (excess lines from your primitives). Do not erase these.

Start with a primitive

Look at your object closely and draw a primitive shape that best encapsulates your object. It may be a rectangle, square, circle, triangle, or other polygon. However, more likely than not, it will probably be a rectangle or square.

Add more primitives

Break down your object into more primitive shapes using 2D primitives to divide the sections up. You can begin to draw out the form of your object.

Add details

Add fillets, chamfers, and draw in an outline to start defining your objects complex form.

Beautify

Finally, use hatching, more line weights, and draw in details if possible. This final step will help to visually communicate your ideas to others who may be looking at your drawings.

And we're not even drawing in 3D (yet)!

Once you have drawn your first bottle, now let's start ideating. Use this quick 2D method of drawing to come up with different variations of water bottles. The goal here is to come up with as many different things a water bottle could be. If you get stuck, try:

  • changing an element from your original drawing (size, shape, texture)

  • coming up with a water bottle made for a specific sport or activity

  • designing a water bottle designed for a specific leisure activity (gaming, lounging, etc.)

  • designing a water bottle that is an irregular shape

  • designing a water bottle that can hold/transport a gallon of water

  • designing a water bottle inspired by the future or a specific century

  • designing a water bottle inspired by something from nature

Example Water Bottle Ideation