Because we’re secretly amazing artists who just decided to build furniture?? Definitely not…(Ha! let’s be honest we’re both nerds who decided to pick up a pencil).
Nope, we got into sketching furniture because we learned that our clients really liked it and it got us all on the same page of what the piece was going to look like in the end! There were no surprises or unexpected elements when it came time for the reveal because the customer had already seen the details going into their piece!
So how did we get started??
We decided to look into some good sketching markers for both thin outlines as well as filling in with color. We also got some straight edges and a couple tools to help us draw curves should we need them as well. Last but not least? 2 big sketching notebooks to hold all of the practice drawings that we were about to do leading up to using this skill with an actual client. We ended up REALLY liking all of the materials we purchased (especially the markers), so if you want to check them out as well, the links are below!
Sketch Pad – https://amzn.to/321O7xM
Liner Markers – https://amzn.to/2Zdo1LA
Color Markers – https://amzn.to/2Hoc9v6
French Curves – https://amzn.to/2Hl9tOM
Architect’s Ruler – https://amzn.to/2Zcd9NP
We decided to start off by sketching pieces that we had already built in our own house…that way we actually had something to compare our sketches to when it came to perspective, dimension, and angles. If we just sketched a picture of something we found on Pinterest, for example, we would never quiteeeee know if we got all the angles correct.
Once we got pretty comfortable sketching what we had already built ourselves, we ventured out into Instagram and YouTube and sketched some projects that other makers had built…for example, this modern entertainment center by Chris Salomone from Foureyes!
We slowly but surely got comfortable with more complicated designs, but quickly realized that it was somewhat difficult to get these designs to the customers if all we had were hard-copy sketches! A digital version of the drawing would be WAY easier to save and put into documents, contracts, and e-mails! Enter the iPad….
We decided that this was a really awesome skill and that it would most definitely help clients visualize what their final product would look like – which many times enhances your potential of closing the sale! This was our train of thought…
“If sketching a $3,000 kitchen table in front of an indecisive client helps close the deal because it boosts their confidence in how awesome the final product will be…..isn’t a $1,500 one-time-expense iPad worth it?? Just imagine how professional it’ll look when you have a digital 3-D sketch of the client’s dream table in their inbox within an hour or less of closing the sale….”
And honestly, it’s done that and more! We are able to design professional looking pieces, insert measurements, customize colors, and have them uploaded to our portfolio within minutes! You can even get a photo of the client’s living area and sketch the furniture right on top for an even more realistic look!
The iPad has a super fast processing speed and the Apple pencil we got with it is very user-friendly for switching between the pen and eraser. This is NOT any sort of product endorsement by any means…we were just really happy with our purchase and would highly recommend it to other makers who maybe want a tablet as well. If you’d like to see exactly what we got, links are below!
iPad Pro (2019) – https://amzn.to/322C5Vg
Apple Pen (Gen2) – https://amzn.to/2ZmCm7H
Keyboard Cover – https://amzn.to/2Hla42Y
Despite being 2 nerds with marginal art skills starting out…we’re VERY glad we decided to get into sketching our builds with clients – we’ve already seen the results! If you want to see the video we made about sketching along with some sketches not discussed in this blog post, check it out below!
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This post may contain affiliate links for products we used to create this project! If you’d like to check them out, we do get a small percentage of the sale and they are of no extra cost to you! It all goes towards supporting the content creation of Jennie and Davis. BUT – we do not take tool sponsorships and there were no tool endorsements. Just our honest opinions!
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