Don't be fooled!

Many beginners feel intimidated by the polished design sketches they see online or in books. But don’t let these examples hold you back! What you’re looking at is often a designer’s best, carefully selected work—far removed from the messy, exploratory sketches that came before it.

What you rarely see is the raw, unfiltered sketching process—the quick iterations used to explore ideas, test functionality, and refine form. These early sketches, often drawn in simple side views, are the true backbone of the design process. They may not look impressive, but they serve a crucial purpose: capturing ideas fast and providing valuable insights.

The good news? These sketches don’t need to be beautiful. They can be rough, simple, and even messy. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s clarity and speed. And that means you can start sketching at a much lower level of detail than you might think.

Get started in 2D

After more than 20 years of teaching design sketching, I’ve seen many students struggle when jumping into advanced techniques—especially perspective sketching—too soon. Instead of building confidence, it often does the opposite. That’s why this course starts with a 2D-first approach. By focusing on simple side, top, and front views, you’ll quickly gain control over your sketches and make sketching a powerful tool in your design workflow.

A bit of theory

Read more about Design Sketching and how to get started in this reference book:

This is not a drawing class

Practice

Starting in 2D doesn’t mean skipping the fundamentals! To sketch fluently and with confidence, you’ll need to develop control over line weight, symmetry, proportions, and form. In this module, we’ll train these essential motor skills, helping you produce clean, high-quality sketch lines with ease.

Learning goal

• Master fundamental sketching techniques to create simple, high-quality 2D sketches with confidence and control.

Ready? Here we go!