I used to sketch every single idea by hand and it was killing my speed

For like 5 years, I had this rule that real design started with a pencil and paper. I'd fill a whole sketchbook in a month, easy. Then last fall, I got a tablet for my birthday and started using a basic drawing app. The game changer was the 'undo' button, no joke. I can try a wild sleeve shape, hate it, and zap it away in a second instead of starting a whole new page. My output went from maybe 10 solid concepts a week to 30, because I'm not scared to mess up. Has anyone else made a switch like that and found it totally changed your creative flow?

3 comments

3 Comments

hart.uma2mo ago

Actually, that undo button is probably hurting your final work. Getting it wrong on paper forces you to think harder the next time. Speed just means more bad ideas, not better ones.

emery3562mo agoProlific Poster

But @hart.uma what about people with motor issues? The undo button isn't about speed for them, it's about ACCESS. Being able to fix a shaky line means they can even start.

patking2mo ago

My uncle had a tremor that made his handwriting look like a seismograph reading. He tried to get back into drawing a few years back and the undo button was the only reason he could finish a single sketch. The argument about it hurting the final work misses the point entirely, like saying a ramp ruins the building's design. For him, and I guess for people like emery356 mentioned, the tool isn't about making art faster or better in some pure sense. It's about making the act of creation possible at all. Getting it wrong on paper just meant he'd give up in frustration, not think harder.