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As an illustrator, graphic designer, animator and software developer for over 35 years, my advice is to start off by taking some drawing classes. Being able to

As an illustrator, graphic designer, animator and software developer for over 35 years, my advice is to start off by taking some drawing classes. Being able to draw means being able to _see_. Most people don't see, they look and recognize. Before you can evaluate a design you have to be able to see it. A lot of designers could stand to improve their "seeing" skills. If you can't find a class, get a hold of Betty Edwards's _Drawing on the right side of the brain_. A lot of it is mumbo jombo, but the exercises are excellent and work wonders. Once you've developed some observational abilities, get a copy of Andrew Loomis's _Creative illustration_, just recently back in print. It covers layout and design, and a good bit of color theory in a very accessible manner. Don't get discouraged, anyone can learn to observe and sketch usefully, but it oes take practice. And it is a fundamental skill for _anyone_ who wants to communicate visually..

radley 13y ago
That's not design - that's drawing. There's plenty of ways to design without getting into illustration. What's you're advising is similar to learning Assembly instead of Basic just to learn how to code. I agree with: Admire. Emulate. Innovate.
- commieneko 13y ago
  No, read what I wrote. It's about learning to see. You can certainly learn to see other ways, but drawing is the one of the most I direct and applicable.
  - radley 13y ago
    Many people know how to draw and still don't know a lick about web/app design. You're recommending a tangent, not a direct path.
    - commieneko 13y ago
      You just aren't reading what I wrote.
- SkyMarshal 13y ago
  You can't admire and emulate without being able to see first. Learning drawing is for designers as learning Lisp is for programmers. You may never use it, but some of the skills it teaches are transferrable no matter what the tool or medium, and will make you fundamentally better.
  - radley 13y ago
    Not saying drawing doesn't help. I am saying you don't tell someone brand new to programming to start with Lisp. You tell them to start with something simple like HTML. There's equivalents in design.
    - SkyMarshal 13y ago
      No, I don't tell them to start with HTML at all. That's not programming, that's markup/text formatting. I do in fact tell them to start with Lisp, Scheme more precisely. Best learning language available [1]. Real learning is about understanding the underlying concepts and being able to reapply them in different contexts. That's what Lisp/Scheme (and C for imperative concepts and memory management) does for learning programming, and drawing does for learning design. [1]: http://www.trollope.org/scheme.html http://www.trollope.org/scheme.html
thijsc 13y ago
That's similar advise to what my drum teacher always tells me: You have to hear it to be able to play it.
sgdesign 13y ago
I'm a designer, and I can't draw at all. I'm not saying learning to draw wouldn't improve my design skills, but it certainly doesn't seem like a practical way to start learning digital design.
- commieneko 13y ago
  If you've never learned to draw, why would you conclude that? To be honest, nearly all the people I know that are good at observational drawing are crackerjack designers. And they are not limited to popular fads and patterns. When you can see, and _know_ what you see, inspiration and information rains from the sky. Everything you look at becomes a source of ideas. And similarly, if you want to be good at color styling, learn to mix paint to match observation. Oh, it doesn't have to be _actual_ paint. Mixing pixels in Photoshop will work, the point is to try and match colors by observation and manipulation, rather than simply "eyedropping" it. Good photographers often pick up good color skills simply by doing a lot of color correction and manipulation. If I'm selling anything here, it's the importance of learning see and observe. Drawing, and painting, are simply an immediate and practical method for testing and improving your observational skills. (Plus it does come in handy when you need to whip up an illustration ...) And don't conclude that design skills has _anything_ to do with learning the current set of tools, digital or otherwise. Far too much design that I see these days falls into the category of "what's easy to do with, or automatically baked into, the tools I currently use." Similarly, don't confuse design skills with production skills, which can be heavily tool oriented. (Not knocking production artists and designers here. Theres a great deal of satisfaction that can come from designing a workflow and production pipeline. And a good designer _is_ concerned with production because it can have a great impact on how their designs are eventually realized.)
  - chestnut-tree 13y ago
    Great thoughts. Do you think someone can learn to "see" well without learning how to draw? I ask because I know there are Graphic Designers who do not know how to draw and many Graphic Design courses don't require drawing skills as a prerequisite (although I know courses encourage students to keep a sketchbook and to sketch ideas as much a spossible). I agree with you that drawing is a key foundation skill for anyone who wants to learn design. But then there's also layout, colour, typography: can someone excel at these latter skills without good drawing skills?

radley 13y ago

That's not design - that's drawing. There's plenty of ways to design without getting into illustration. What's you're advising is similar to learning Assembly instead of Basic just to learn how to code. I agree with: Admire. Emulate. Innovate.

commieneko 13y ago
No, read what I wrote. It's about learning to see. You can certainly learn to see other ways, but drawing is the one of the most I direct and applicable.
- radley 13y ago
  Many people know how to draw and still don't know a lick about web/app design. You're recommending a tangent, not a direct path.
  - commieneko 13y ago
    You just aren't reading what I wrote.
SkyMarshal 13y ago
You can't admire and emulate without being able to see first. Learning drawing is for designers as learning Lisp is for programmers. You may never use it, but some of the skills it teaches are transferrable no matter what the tool or medium, and will make you fundamentally better.
- radley 13y ago
  Not saying drawing doesn't help. I am saying you don't tell someone brand new to programming to start with Lisp. You tell them to start with something simple like HTML. There's equivalents in design.
  - SkyMarshal 13y ago
    No, I don't tell them to start with HTML at all. That's not programming, that's markup/text formatting. I do in fact tell them to start with Lisp, Scheme more precisely. Best learning language available [1]. Real learning is about understanding the underlying concepts and being able to reapply them in different contexts. That's what Lisp/Scheme (and C for imperative concepts and memory management) does for learning programming, and drawing does for learning design. [1]: http://www.trollope.org/scheme.html http://www.trollope.org/scheme.html

thijsc 13y ago

That's similar advise to what my drum teacher always tells me: You have to hear it to be able to play it.

sgdesign 13y ago

I'm a designer, and I can't draw at all. I'm not saying learning to draw wouldn't improve my design skills, but it certainly doesn't seem like a practical way to start learning digital design.

commieneko 13y ago
If you've never learned to draw, why would you conclude that? To be honest, nearly all the people I know that are good at observational drawing are crackerjack designers. And they are not limited to popular fads and patterns. When you can see, and _know_ what you see, inspiration and information rains from the sky. Everything you look at becomes a source of ideas. And similarly, if you want to be good at color styling, learn to mix paint to match observation. Oh, it doesn't have to be _actual_ paint. Mixing pixels in Photoshop will work, the point is to try and match colors by observation and manipulation, rather than simply "eyedropping" it. Good photographers often pick up good color skills simply by doing a lot of color correction and manipulation. If I'm selling anything here, it's the importance of learning see and observe. Drawing, and painting, are simply an immediate and practical method for testing and improving your observational skills. (Plus it does come in handy when you need to whip up an illustration ...) And don't conclude that design skills has _anything_ to do with learning the current set of tools, digital or otherwise. Far too much design that I see these days falls into the category of "what's easy to do with, or automatically baked into, the tools I currently use." Similarly, don't confuse design skills with production skills, which can be heavily tool oriented. (Not knocking production artists and designers here. Theres a great deal of satisfaction that can come from designing a workflow and production pipeline. And a good designer _is_ concerned with production because it can have a great impact on how their designs are eventually realized.)
- chestnut-tree 13y ago
  Great thoughts. Do you think someone can learn to "see" well without learning how to draw? I ask because I know there are Graphic Designers who do not know how to draw and many Graphic Design courses don't require drawing skills as a prerequisite (although I know courses encourage students to keep a sketchbook and to sketch ideas as much a spossible). I agree with you that drawing is a key foundation skill for anyone who wants to learn design. But then there's also layout, colour, typography: can someone excel at these latter skills without good drawing skills?