Why I switched from sketching on paper to using a tablet for pattern drafting

I spent about 5 years doing all my fashion designs on graph paper with colored pencils. It felt right, you know, very hands on. But last spring I got a cheap drawing tablet on sale for $80 just to test it out. The difference in how fast I can change colors and move pieces around is pretty huge. With paper, one mistake meant starting over or messy eraser smudges. On the tablet I can try 10 different sleeve shapes in the same time it took me to draw one. I still miss the feel of pen on paper sometimes, but for actually getting ideas out quick, digital wins. Has anyone else made the switch and found a way to keep the hand-drawn look they liked?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_webb2826d ago

ericb66, you really think paper works fine for most of us? lol okay, but that's like saying a horse works fine when cars exist. People used to say graph paper was good enough for blueprints too, now everything's done in CAD. If you're seriously trying to get into fashion design or pattern drafting at any real level, being stuck on paper is just handicapping yourself for no reason. I wasted so much time on paper trying to erase a crooked line or re-draw a sleeve three times because my colored pencil smudged. With the tablet, I can copy, scale, mirror, and undo in seconds flat. Paper is fine if you're doodling for fun, but for actual work where speed and accuracy matter, digital is basically the only way to go now.

ericb6626d ago

Is it really that serious though, paper works fine for most of us.