With over two decades of experience teaching how to design, draw, and render at the highest college level, concept designer Scott Robertson knows a thing or two about what it takes to make concepts ‘stick’ for his students. And as one of the most widely-recognized design sketching masters, he’s proven these concepts in his own practice through and through. In How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination, the Art Center educator consolidates years of design sketching knowledge—from thumbnail sketches and perspective grids to shaded renderings—into a digestible self-study program that can take anybody’s sketching ability to the next level. Frankly, if you’re even remotely serious…

We’ve said it time and time again, but the Raspberry Pi is just so dang cool and we believe all designers and engineers should have one in their toolkit—if not on their desktop. While there is a bit of a slight learning curve, it’s nothing that today’s designers and engineers can’t handle on a leisurely Saturday. So why not start now? The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle includes 8 courses to get started creating your very own Amazon Echo or even a ‘vintage’ streaming internet radio over a weekend. Throw in your own 3D printed housings, and the opportunities are limitless! For a limited time, The Raspberry Pi Mastery Bundle is…

Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll get the groove going with “Ran Ran Run” from Pavo Pavo before diving into sweet melodies from Fantasy Guys, De Lux, Mike Edge, The Blow, and others before wrapping up with “The Ocean” from Young Rival. Rock! Have…

Based on the title, you may be wondering why antiquarian horologist Brittany Cox doesn’t look centuries old. It’s because she isn’t. While her age has nothing to do with her profession, her job is ancient as it gets. Brittany is one of the few people in America with a masters in horological conservation. This means she keeps old antiques working so they can be enjoyed by future generations. Specifically, she specializes in automatons – self-operating, creepy lifelike machines which follow a set sequence of operations. In this video by Great Big Story, Brittany details the importance of preserving the craft and her constant fear of passing on without someone who…

Calling all designers, engineers, and would-be sketching aficionados! Grab your drawing sticks because Inktober 2017 has officially kicked off! For those of you not familiar with Inktober the short story is that it’s a 31-day drawing challenge created by a guy name Jake Parker back in 2009. His aim was/is to inspire creatives to improve their drawing skills and to have fun doing so! Have a look at his video for the full scoop. https://youtu.be/pk2l5yFa200

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee, and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top ten stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. This ‘Laputa: Castle in the Sky’ Minecraft Recreation Took Years to Complete Studio Ghibli could be considered the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney Pictures. If you haven’t watched at least one…