Partners & Spade.

Is it me or are sketches sometimes more fun to look at than the final artwork or actual photos? There is something raw and wonderful about hand-drawing. In fact, my sketchbook from senior year in college was one of the pieces that I used to bring out to my first interviews post-graduation. It was one of the last things I showed and used to get great feedback from my interviewees. So many people in this day and age (even people who graduated when I did from design school though not Syracuse) just jump straight to the computer when they get a new assignment. To this day, as it has been since the day I started graphic designing, I MUST start all projects with paper and pen in hand. It's an integral step for me. Throw me right on the computer and I am borderline lost. Because of this love of sketching, I love to look at OTHER people's sketches. Most artist showcases in museums have a small section of their sketches. I think you can tell so much about the artist through them. It's their first ideas! It's the less perfect but sometimes better thoughts coming through. I know in the case of design, its usually the best ideas. It's before marketing has had their hands in it, sales has thrown in their two cents and also printing logistics.

In honor of sketches, here is a fantastic grouping of them from Partners & Spade's website. In order to share with possible customers their store's collection, they have sketched out all of the pieces in black and white under "store inventory". Online it's actually a horizontal scroll through (I have cut it into segments so you can see it all). Definitely click on each image above to get a larger view!