Must one have a knowledge of fine art to be a Graphic Designer? Should all Graphic Designers know how to draw?

Question

Is it true that **nice design comes with a nice drawing?**Do designers have to know how to draw to be a good designer or not?

Answer 1

Yes, I draw a lot in design.

A hot button with me for sure. Just because you own a personal computer and have learned to operate software, does not make you a designer. In succinct answer to you, it depends on how far you want to go in your career. A "low hanging fruit" education will get you a job such as at a printer as a tech person, but a real design and art education will bring you to the "top of the tree" career. Up to you. Hope you choose well. ;)

Answer 2

The ability to draw is not something a person is born with; anyone can learn these skills. If you are going into any field of design you will likely be offered electives in Design Fundamentals and/or Life Drawing. Definitely take these classes as they will help you improve your skills at drawing and visualizing as well as to help build a credible portfolio enabling you to communicate with your peers and potential employers.

Design Fundies help build a foundation that all Graphics Arts are built upon and Life Drawing will help with taking your ideas and turning them into visual elements that help communicate your design solutions. Design ideas really don't mean anything until you can turn them into design solutions and that's only possible if your ideas can be explained whether in an animated powerpoint or a sketch on a napkin.

Truly the skill that is most needed here is Storytelling. If your crude scribbles and stick figures can tell a compelling story then drawing ability is of little importance. Just look at Don Hertzfeldt cartoons! A brilliant graphic artist and storyteller.

Still, being able to competently express your graphic and art abilities is going to be a huge factor in convincing potential clients that you have the skills and experience to achieve their goal. It is definitely worth learning drawing skills and can also be rewarding for other reasons like giving you new eyes upon the real world.

It all comes down to your clients' expectations. Are you offering them 3-4 mediocre mock-ups and expecting them to do your job of finding the correct solution by choosing the best one you have made available to them or are you an experienced designer that has confidently found the correct approach to the design problem and presented that as your assured and final design solution ready for application?

Answer 3

Well... the simplest and best answer to both questions is Yes! This is because a good knowledge of fine art can greatly enrich and enhance your approach to graphic design as a designer and knowing how to draw well is a skill that almost every good graphic designer uses. Most graphic designers create thumbnail sketches by hand for logo and layout mockups. Then they may often select the best thumbnails to show the client before creating it on the computer, or they will workup the best sketches on the computer and then show them to the client online. I have successfully used both methods professionally with my clients. This is usually the best process and is used for web as well as print applications by design professionals worldwide.

Answer 4

Good question. I am terrible at drawing but a pretty good graphic designer. So, I'm going to contradict myself with my answer. I did take drawing classes in College and history of fine art one and two. But I didn't continue to draw and lost the skill. However, I believe you must appreciate fine art to be a good designer and you must learn the principles of composition by studying the masters. Drawing is an essential skill for designers because it gives us the freedom to express our ideas without the use of technology. It saves time and time is money. Most designers, including myself, brainstorm on paper before sitting in front of the computer. Therefore, the better you draw, the easier it is to brainstorm. In smaller ad agencies, art directors draw ad campaigns and storyboards to show creative directors before producing client-ready comps. In larger ad agencies there are illustrators for storyboards. In design studios designers do the same for logos and layouts. So, yes, graphic designers should learn how to draw.