Product design sketching is the first visual step in industrial design and product development, where designers explore ideas quickly with conceptual sketches drawn either by hand or in software using a hardware graphics tablet. They are the first product representations used internally for teams to consider different design styles and iterations rapidly—without costly consequences—before progressing to concept CAD modeling. Firms also often use product design sketches to gauge customer opinion before investing time and money in the design.
Product design sketching is a crucial early stage of product development as a fast, low-cost way for designers to explore their best, most imaginative, or most unconventional ideas. Sketches are the first opportunity for designers to convey visual design concepts to collaborators and stakeholders. Improvements made during the product design sketching phase can prevent headaches and rework down the line.
Product sketches don’t have to be basic, pencil-drawn images. They can be simple or highly detailed; hand-drawn using pens, pencils, markers, and rulers; or drawn digitally within a mobile app or software using a tablet and stylus.
Creating product design sketches in software benefits designers by letting them quickly and efficiently create, edit, and share sketches with team members and stakeholders anywhere in the world for quick collaboration. In-software digital tools like pencil, pen, and marker brushes; colors; and shading emulate physical drawing instruments, combined with software efficiency enhancements like capturing lines, circles, and ellipses with predictive strokes. Layer management also makes it easy to edit and refine aspects of product sketches without affecting the entire design.
Design software like Autodesk Alias supports hardware essential for product design digital sketching, like Wacom graphics tablets. Alias goes even further by incorporating modeling tools, providing an efficient way to transfer product design sketches into 3D models. Alias also seamlessly integrates Autodesk VRED and Flow Production Tracking, merging product design concept sketches with product development in extended reality (XR) and project management workflows.
Using software helps streamline the product sketching process and offers designers greater precision and accuracy than traditional sketching due to easily adjustable dimensions, scale, and other parameters. Sketching in software lets product designers bring realistic previews of product form and function to life in a more efficient and collaborative way.
Industrial design software to sketch, concept model, surface, and visualize. Available as Alias Concept, Surface, and AutoStudio.
3D virtual prototyping software for automotive design—available as VRED Design, VRED Professional, and VRED Presenter
Whether sketching traditionally on paper or doing product design digital sketching in software, product design sketching is an important early stage of the design process, with the following benefits:
Product design sketching is a visual brainstorming session, where designers can quickly explore different ideas. Innovation flourishes when designers explore their creative freedom through sketching.
Whether product developers are conveying pitches to stakeholders or eliciting feedback from customer surveys, product design sketches can be a quick, low-cost way to translate early concepts into tangible images that designers can easily modify before modeling and prototyping.
Product sketching with software adds powerful digital tools like layer management; plenty of pencil, pen, and marker brush choices; colors; and shading. Software sketching is an efficient way to work that makes it easy to adjust for more precise dimensions and scale.
When product sketching in software rather than paper, designers can easily share their work with colleagues anywhere in the world for quick collaboration, feedback, and adjustments.
Certain CAD software like Autodesk Fusion and Inventor can reference concept art to assist in 3D modeling. Product design sketching software such as Autodesk Alias integrates with visualization software like Autodesk VRED for developing products in immersive virtual reality (VR).
LUCID
To create their Air EV sedan, “the most aerodynamic luxury car in the world,” Lucid wanted to completely repackage the interior space of the vehicle. Lucid started with product design sketching, developed 3D models from 3D concept sketches in Autodesk Alias, and then iterated quickly in virtual reality using Autodesk VRED.
Image courtesy of Lucid
KOLB DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
When a product’s appearance under different lighting conditions affects customer perception, such as with automotive design, clay modeling based on product design sketches still beats digital simulation and visualization. Integrating Autodesk PowerMill and PowerInspect has allowed clay milling machine maker Kolb to speed up clay modeling cycle times while reducing material waste.
Image courtesy of Kolb Design Technology
KISKA
To update the classic 1955 Husqvarna Silverpilen motorcycle for the 21st century, KISKA sat designers down with pencils and paper for weeks to let their imaginations run wild. The design firm then progressed to CAD, CAM, and VR software before finally manufacturing two beautiful new bikes. They called Autodesk Alias the go-to software to translate 2D product design concept sketches into 3D models.
Image courtesy of KISKA
Brush up on all the updated sketching tools, markup tools, and workflows needed to create annotated drawings and product sketches in Autodesk Alias 2025.
Automotive designers have a wealth of creative power available in software tailored to their needs, such as Autodesk VRED and Alias AutoStudio. In an agile digital environment focused on efficient product development and iteration, teams can move smoothly from product design digital sketching to modeling, surfacing, visualization, and 3D VR prototyping.
Learn about product sketching with Autodesk industrial design software that includes 3D sketching features for working out product shapes, sizes, colors, and other details before transitioning sketches into 3D models.
Hear from ex-Ford Chief Designer Ehab Kaoud on strategies to enhance product design sketching by using generative AI to inspire conceptual art for automotive design, industrial design, and other industries using visual concepts.
Product designers and concept artists can save time and broaden their creative horizons by intuitively making product sketches in a 3D virtual reality environment. This article introduces sketching in Create VR for Alias, and there is also a getting started guide here.
Product design sketching is an important part of the design process—the first visual stage of product development when designers freely express their design ideas and refine them according to stakeholder feedback.
Product design sketches may be very basic or highly detailed, and they can be hand-drawn or created in software. Regardless, product design sketches are rough, meaning they are different from the engineering drawings that include precise sizes and dimensions that inform the manufacturing process.
The four main types of product sketching are thumbnail, concept sketches, renderings, and CAD drawings:
Software helps with product sketching by providing powerful digital tools like layer management; pencil, pen, and marker brushes; colors; and shading. Software product design sketches are also easy to adjust for more precise dimensions and scale. Being digital, they are ready to share with colleagues anywhere in the world for quick collaboration.
Some product sketching software, such as Autodesk Alias, incorporates modeling tools, making it efficient to transfer product design sketches to 3D models. Alias also features seamless integration with Autodesk VRED and Flow Production Tracking for product sketching in virtual reality and project management, respectively.
