Thumbnails are great way to crank out several sketches when exploring options to create a larger rendering or piece of art.  I started sketching on post-it notes for a little while and really had a lot of fun doing it.  I used a 3X3 post-it note and try to squeeze in 3 sketches per post-it.  It helps you to work out your perspectives ,views, and rough composition without getting into the details.

I have always loved the 50′s and 60’s Grand Prix eras.   I remember being in total awe when I had the privilege of checking out Jay Shuster’s vintage grand prix racing story boards  a colleague had brought to work. Jay had this impeccable style of combining fast, fluid, dynamic lines coupled with the technical prowess of illustrating mechanical parts. His sense of composition and dramatic perspective views only added to the excitement and energy to his drawings. Of course Jay is off in the entertainment industry designing iconic  characters such as Wall-E and working on the next sequel to the movie “Cars” at Pixar, and I’m off drawing on post-it notes.  But Hell! He still is an inspiration to me!

Below are a spread of several post-it note and regular sized paper sketches that combines some of the techniques seen in story board and comic strip art.  Whether you are conceptualizing on small or larger media, it truly is a terrific way to sketch out several scenarios and ideas for either an illustration or of course…to tell your audience a story visualized by you.  

Post-its are also a lot less intimidating to work on. You’re not trying to be perfect…just trying to get ideas out.  It’s easier to focus on compositions and lay things out before working on a full sized drawing.  However, it can be used as a tool to create a foundation sketch that can be scanned in for full sized drawing.

So here is a “quick” photoshop rendering to increase the contrast and focal points and add a little “e-motion” to the sketch.  I say quick but it actually took me on and off a few hours since my 11 month old son wouldn’t leave me alone   Funny how things that usually take 1/2 hour to an hour turns into 1/2 day…but hey…I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The second and third set below were sketched on 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper. Again, the objective was to crank out as many ideas as possible.

Finally,  a little Photoshop action was used to add a little “punch” and visual interest to the sketches.  It’s definitely a different approach then our typical methods of drawing cars or anything else.  However, it also helps to expand and broaden your mind to new ideas that can help you to think and enable you to approach or solve a problem differently.  I may be no Jay…but that’s ok with me.

Arvind